Detroit Dark Red Beet - Certified Organic

·         Fluctuations in the weather can cause white zoning in the roots.

·         Keep beets well weeded. Beets fighting for space become tough and stringy.

·         Too much nitrogen can cause a lot of leaf growth at the expense of root development.

• Full Size Roots: ~300M seeds/acre (12lbs/acre) using 10 seeds/ft, 18” row spacing.
• Babyleaf: ~ 20M seeds/100’ (~13oz/100’), 200M seeds/1000’ (~8lb/1000’) using 40 seeds/ft on 30” beds.

• Leafhoppers are small wedge shaped insects suck the juice from leaves rather than eating holes through them. If leaves are yellowing and curling under, examine the underside for leafhoppers. They overwinter in the Louisiana area and arrive with storm fronts in other parts of the country.
• Flea beetles can present a problem, particularly for young plants, by chewing small holes in the leaves.  Healthy plants usually outgrow the damage to produce a fine crop. Where undamaged leaves are desired or flea beetles are especially problematic, use floating row cover (see Supplies) from time of planting until two weeks after leaves emerge.

• Aphids can be washed off plants with a hard stream of water. They have several natural predators that control populations including parasites (aphids appear grey or bloated), lady beetle larvae and lacewings.
• Leafminers are generally controlled by natural predators. Deep plowing in the spring can help, as well as controlling alternate hosts such as lambsquarter, chickweed, nightshade and plantain.

• Cabbage Maggot can infect transplants and young seedlings as they feed on roots, use nematodes to alleviate transplant damage in trays.

• Leaf spots are commonly caused by either Cercospora beticola or Phoma batae and are most prevalent in mid-late summer, during periods of frequent rainfall and high humidity. 
• Pocket Rot is caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani and is spread plant to plant, creating pockets of infected plants. Damping off and root rots are caused by a number of individual fungi.
• Downy Mildew, Pernospora sparsa, may appear in mid-to late summer. There are no resistant beet varieties available for these diseases. Prevention includes removal of plant debris, crop rotation (preferably with grains), and increased air circulation.
• Scab is caused by the bacteria Streptomyces scabies and is most severe under dry conditions and high pH soils which result in boron deficiencies. Prevention includes rotation of susceptible crop types (potato, radishes, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips), a soil pH below 5.5 and moist conditions in early tuber development.