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Beets- quite cold-resistant culture. In the autumn, the plant increases its mass to the last; excessively early harvesting leads to its shortage. Therefore, it is important to correctly determine when to dig beets.
When to remove beets for storage
Maximum late. This will shorten the storage time, increase the yield: the crop fully uses cool, but it is quite warm autumn days to grow.
The appearance of growths on the leaves, their yellowing and wilting - a signal of the approaching time of harvesting.
But you shouldn't be late either. The root crop prominently protrudes above the surface of the earth, and is therefore affected during frosts. Frozen beets will not be stored! Another disadvantage: if you wait for the autumn rains, the beets will be saturated with moisture. At the same time, safety is worse, and the process of harvesting is difficult, and the earth sticks to the roots, and work is uncomfortable. Usually, they are harvested in September, before cleaning the carrots( it is completely in the ground, therefore it is less afraid of frost).
If the roots ripen unevenly, and the weather is unstable, you can do so. When we remove the beets from the garden, we leave small plants in the ground. If you are a little lucky with the weather, they will be able to grow well, then we will remove. If not - well, let it be, all the same, there is little sense from these tails.
Organization of cleaning
Usually, beetroot is easily pulled out of the tops. If the ground is heavy and part of the roots stubbornly sticks out in the ground, we dig. It is more convenient - in advance, easier forks than a shovel. Then we take out, we tuck in a little and we put on the vacated place with small little pieces, rooted in one direction.
Crop tops. As short as possible, but for fear of damaging the top of the root. The knife should be well ground, and then quickly tired.
Simultaneously clean the soil, if stuck. The geezer suitable for use in livestock feed is thrown into heaps separately from the ground and dry leaves. It is convenient at this stage to sort the roots, simply throwing two heaps.
Root crops damaged by diseases or pests and injured during harvesting will not be stored for a long time! Not only will reduce the safety of the rest of the harvest! Smaller ones lose their weight during storage: dry. Such root vegetables, when you harvest beets for storage, fold separately, for use first.
We leave in heaps with a thin layer for drying. Day or two dried stored better. Sometimes you have to leave the field for a long time. Or there is a suspicion that this may happen, for example, insecure in a neighbor with a machine that promised to bring the harvest. Then be sure to cover the heap of trimmed tops! Saves and frost( and suddenly?), And potential thieves will not callus the eye. There is nothing to seduce honest people. ..
How and where to store beets for the winter
Recycle. Preserves, borscht dressings, pickled and salted beets.
In the refrigerator. In polyethylene, in the vegetable compartment. It makes sense only for a small amount.
In special warehouses - warehouses, cellars, basements. The construction of any storage is expensive. But only in them it is convenient to control the wintering of vegetables. And easy access to farmed products:
- On racks, in bins, compartments. Convenient for access, it allows you to select and change conditions for different batches of products, diseases are immediately noticeable, it is easy to limit the focus of damage from healthy plants. The area is unproductively used: poor ratio of the volume under vegetables to the total storage size
- In containers - boxes, containers, bags and the like. It is less injured, which improves preservation, is convenient for access and use, control over storage. Rising expensive savings due to the additional cost of the container, part of the volume is not occupied by the product itself.
- in bulk. The easiest way, the area is used as much as possible. Complicates preservation, treatment and isolation during an outbreak. Yes, and notice the resulting lesion problem.
- In trenches and clamps. Allows you to do without the cost of the construction and maintenance of serious storage. Inconvenient access, if you need to take a part of the product: to break off because of a single borage bottle? Difficult to control when saving. An excellent choice if you need to keep a large amount of root crops for a long time and at the same time unwillingness to spend money on the construction of capital buildings.
If we decide to plant a hog, since it is really convenient to store beets at home in it, we take into account the following factors when choosing a place:
- On a slope or level territory, it is desirable to dig a groove fromwicking.
- Away from outbuildings and ricks of straw - mice.
- Wind protection is welcome - walls of buildings, a fence, trees.
- Not in a lowland( it will flow in spring) and not at a point of high groundwater level.
- In a place convenient for the access of transport and not interfering with the spring garden processing, if the shelf life is delayed.
Immediately after the bookmark is covered. Usually use straw as the most affordable material. But covering with dry leaves or shavings is acceptable, even has a small plus. In the straw, often when threshing, unmilled grains remain, which attracts mice. We put wooden boxes for ventilation and temperature control, in which we lower the thermometer on a string.
From above we fall asleep with a small layer of earth, only so that the wind does not blow away the rain water. With the onset of cold weather, we increase the soil layer covering the kagat. In the frosts of the box we plug in straw. With any method of storage, we try to maintain the lowest possible but positive temperature. Ideally, from 0 to +1 ˚C.
Practically no beets have a rest period, when heated to +7 - +8 ˚С starts to germinate even at the beginning of winter.
Features of harvesting and storage of fodder beet
She is valued for her high yield. Almost all the above written about storage applies to fodder beet. The only thing that grows her usually contain pets. So there is a sense of tops, suitable for feeding, like the smallest roots, fed immediately or used for silage. Dry leaves are composted.
Features of harvesting and storage of sugar beet
Its yield is slightly lower than the fodder. As a foodstuff. .. for our grandmothers, baked sugar beet was a delicacy, but much has changed since then. So the culture is grown more often in large farms for processing into sugar, and it is rarely grown in the farmsteads. If anyone is curious - here is some information.
Sugar in it from 14%( this is the base figure), the maximum possible in the root - 20-22%.Sugar cane has 17-22%, but it grows up to 5-6 m. And gives a lot of mass per hectare. Moreover, the reed after cutting should quickly go to the plant: as soon as it was cut, the sugar content immediately begins to fall. It is believed that the reed should go to the plant on the day of cutting. There is no slavery in the countries of the Caribbean, but labor is cheap, so manual labor is widely used. Yes, and the machine can not cut the bottom, the sweetest part of the plant.
The harvesting begins before the sugar beet comes into full maturity. The goal is to start up and make better use of the plants. At the same time, part of the harvest of the farm is not harvesting, but this is offset by increased purchase prices at this time. Sugariness of beets with poor storage drops quickly. With a good, even perfect - slower, but still decreases. Therefore, cleaning and transportation are combined, trying to stretch the time of harvesting, to deliver the root to the plants without storage, “from the wheels”.Stored in piles, harvested later, just before the frost, to stretch the work of the factories, which is economically advantageous. Although part of the sugar during storage is lost.
Magnold, or leaf beet
Common in the Mediterranean and little-known in our culture. Beautiful, there are leafy and petiolous varieties. It is appreciated, except for gardeners, flower growers - for high decorativeness. Gives very early production, before receipt of other greens. They keep it for a short time in the refrigerator, but it is easier to break off the stalks as necessary: new ones grow all the time. Productivity - up to one kilogram from one plant.
Since ancient times, a synonym for hunger was “loboda ate”.Beets are from the family of the lobsters, they are relatives. Young leaves of any beet, not only leaf, are suitable for salad, they can be cooked tasty. But this does not depend on the plant, but on the skill of the cook.
