Beet leaves with no beets!

[jhook1997]

I planted my beets seed Feb. 25th which if you care was a "root crop" moon day and just right for my area according to past years.

3 months later I now have nice leaves with no beets. I'm getting ready to pull them up because I normally have them harvested by now and they are in the way for a crop of sq.

Maybe a problem with my ph? Any suggestions?

And can I start another crop this late?

 

[ducks4you]

Are you positive that you didn't plant Swiss Chard, instead? Beets originally had pretty much NO bulb. Then, the bulbous ones were bred and developed. THEN, people that liked the leaves rebred them to the current bright, multicolored Swiss Chard.
Still, the leaves are often quite tall when I grow beets before they bulb up. Maybe it hasn't been warm enough yet?

 

[jhook1997]

Are you positive that you didn't plant Swiss Chard, instead? Beets originally had pretty much NO bulb. Then, the bulbous ones were bred and developed. THEN, people that liked the leaves rebred them to the current bright, multicolored Swiss Chard.
Still, the leaves are often quite tall when I grow beets before they bulb up. Maybe it hasn't been warm enough yet?

Well, if I planted chard the seed company messed up. I have chard planted and it does not look the same. It's plenty warm....I had already harvested by this time last year.

 

[ducks4you]

Last year was record-setting warm. This year, although cool, is more normal. Do you know that according to "Farmer Boy", which took place in upstate New York, they were pouring water on their corn crop to fight a freeze on July 4th?!?!?

 

[vfem]

jhook, you didn't by chance plant 'bulls blood beets' from Baker's Creek did you? I'm in the same boat! ugh!

 

[catjac1975]

I had the same problem with beets until I added greensand to my soil. Root crops seemed to like this ammendment.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

I had the same problem with beets until I added greensand to my soil. Root crops seemed to like this ammendment.

What is greensand?

 

[jhook1997]

jhook, you didn't by chance plant 'bulls blood beets' from Baker's Creek did you? I'm in the same boat! ugh!

Not "Bulls Blood" but yes both types of beets I planted were from Bakers Creek. I've never had any problem with their seed before and this year I planted in the same soil, nearly the same time and nearly the same location.

I yanked them yesterday because I needed the room. Hmmmm.....considering contacting Bakers Creek

 

[Ridgerunner]

It would be interesting to know what Baker Creek said. I've been looking on the internet to see what I could fine and its not much plus I don't know ho reliable the few I found are. One said that too much nitrogen will cause them to grow big leaves instead of bulbs. Another said the poor babies got too cold when they were young. There were some comments that they need a looser soil, not a hard clay, but that didn't sound like it would cause them to not bulb up at all. I'd think that would be a case of them doing better in a loose soil.

I grow Detroit Reds and get the seeds at a local Mom and Pop garden center. I always have a few that don't bulb up, some years worse than others. I really don't know what causes it.

I trust you ate those greens. They have more nutrients than the roots.

 

[897tgigvib]

Howdy Smiles. Greensand is 70 million year old former shallow seabed sediment that comes from certain places.

I'm not sure, but I think it comes from shallow seas that were even more stuffed with Kelp than the Sargasso Sea. I guess 70 million years ago there were lots of shallow seas with very warm water. Anyhow, lots of nutrient rich sediment sank in them. Then an asteroid banged onto our planet 65 million years ago, and then some of the shallow seas became places like Nevada and Nebraska. Not sure where the Greensand mines are.

Greensand has Potassium, Potash in it. It is 0 0 3 plus some trace minerals.

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Root crop seeds are supposed to be saved carefully with an eye to selection. I sure hope Baker Creek is doing that right. Not every plant is to be saved for making seed. At the end of the first season's growth, all the seed Beets are supposed to be carefully dug up and sorted. Only those that bulbed up perfectly are to be planted back to grow for seed. It would be mighty poor practice for a seed company to save money by skipping that step, just letting them all go to seed. Additionally, during that sorting process, the seed company sorts out the very very best bulbs to grow in a smaller plot to go to seed for their own following year's seed crop, and to repeat the process each year.

So, root crops for seed farmers are especially critical to select and organize. If, and only if Baker Creek or any seed company is not selecting their root crops properly, they need to be told loud and vociferously<<<is that the right word?

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But I don't know why or for which reason your Beets did not bulb up. There are a few ancient varieties of Beet that do not bulb up. They just make a wide root that is supposed to have an extra strong Beet flavor that gourmet french chefs like. One called Crapaudine or some european word like that. I want to try growing that ancient variety sometime.

Golden Beet seems to bulb up easily. Cylindra fattens up nicely but takes almost twice as long as the packet says.

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A good seed company to try is Bountiful Gardens. I know they do strong selecting. Seed strongly selected and also grown in organic, strict organic, systems for many years develops a more sustainable and cropping variety. Skip selecting for bulbing up and the variety goes caput.

But maybe your problem was a nutrient or ph imbalance, or maybe the weather. If your leaves looked real good, or maybe even too good, then they got too much Nitrogen.