Agree with Bejay - beets are slow. In your zone and direct seeded only what - 6 weeks ago - I wouldn't expect much from them yet unless you have been unseasonably warm and dry. But they should have true leaves at least and since they don't I suspect you haven't thinned them yet and they are over-crowded. Possible?

Take care to avoid over-feeding them, especially nitrogen, or all you will get are tops and no roots.

Dave

I think they should have grown more than that. Beets I planted around the same date are about 4 inches tall with probably 8-10 leaves.

I've had the same types of problems with beets, though. I don't know what it is -- I suspect part of it might be disease issues, part overcrowding, part low soil fertility.

When mine did this a couple of years ago, I gave the a couple of doses of high N fertilizer (I used lawn fertilizer , but make sure NOT a weed and feed product!) and they finally came around and grew.

I am in the mid-atlatnic area as well. Even though beets are slow growing compared to other cool season crops, the ones I sow about 3 weeks ago have 2 pairs of true leaves. So yours do seem a bit slow.

How much sun are they getting?

beets are SLOOOOOW! I am south of Richmond, planted all direct saw seeds around 4/20, look at the progress:

the blank upper left corner are beets area; the bottom are radish, the right upper corner is lettuce - all planted same day, treated with same nutrients

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I thinned them out 10 days ago - hard to do, but have to. Now, end of May - here is the beet leaves, about half foot long, but no definate fruit forming yet:

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We've had pretty rainy spring, I am sure you did too in Maryland. I feed them diluted seeweed concentrate the first few weeks. Haven't fed anything lately so I guess they could use some P or K additions?

I usually plant all my garden at the same time. I first concentrate on eating the early, cool season plants: lettuce, spinach, radishes, etc.

Then early corn, and some early tomatoes show up, then beans and cucumbers and I forget everything else, for a while. Finally the beets bulge up way above ground, and I start eating them.

You beet boilers should try roasting them! I wash them off, dry, and cut stem and root to about an inch. I use a glass baking dish, and cover it with foil. Roast at 400 F. for about 75 to 90 minutes for a 2" beet, less for 1" or 1 1/2" beets. Let cool in the dish.

Put on your latex glove, slip the skins off, slice, look up a recipe for "Harvard Beets", cook them up, and enjoy!

This year, if the rain ever quits and I can plant my garden, I am going to try some golden and some white beets along with the red ones. Perhaps I will not have to use a latex glove to avoid "getting caught red-handed".

They also grow well in my greenhouse over the winter and spring. I have some beets in there (and carrots) that are ready to harvest now.

Can one of you successful beet growers tell this newbie if I’ve set up my beets for success or failure? I’m growing in containers (Burpee video says you can do that). What it doesn’t tell you is how to amend the soil. I’m using ProMix with Mycoactive. I assume it’s a basic blend because there’s no HP or MP or any such lettering. So, I read that composted manure is good to use so I added 20% Black Cow. The container is about 7 gallons (16”w x 12”d). Actually, I left an inch at the top so it’s likely closer to 6 gallons. I added 2 tablespoons of pelletized lime because I thought the ph of 5.5-6.0 was too low (I didn’t know nutrients raise it). I added granular

5-10-10 fertilizer. Also, 2 tablespoons Azomite. I‘m hoping I set them up for success. It does look like the manure made the mix a bit heavy, but they have sprouted, no true leaves yet. About 1-1.5” tall. Been about 2 weeks. I haven’t thinned yet.

Have I done anything wrong? What should be in the mix, what should not? Do I need to start over while I have time?

Thanks!

You may have gone a bit overboard on the nutrients, but you should be ok. You don't have to be precise. Promix really does not need amending for the first three months. Beets are slow growers but not a major problem except for heat. Germination gives many folks a problem but should not in Promix. They will not stand high soil temps. As air

temps approach triple digits they do tend to quit.

If they've sprouted, you should be good to go. Getting them to sprout is the hard part.

Keeping them alive at high temps is no problem for me. I'm harvesting my last beets in July, with 100+F temps. I will say that at those temps, the flavor tends to fade away, though.

Thanks for the input, guys. I may pot up another batch and leave out the manure. I’m concerned it made my fluffy mix heavy. It’ll be a good test I guess. My son said he never did anything special for his (snartass), but he plants in the ground.