When to plant sugar beets?

Before planting, adjust the soil to a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Although sugar beets can be drilled or planted in rows, perhaps the easiest way to plant them is to broadcast the seed. Broadcast seed at a rate of 8 to 10 lbs./acre. Because of their lack of tolerance for competition, sugar beets do best when planted as a stand-alone crop. read more

Plant sugar beet seeds about 1½ inches (3.8 centimeters) deep in the soil. Don't plant them too close to each other, as the roots can get intertwined. Cover the seeds with a layer of soil. read more

Plant sugar beet seeds about 1½ inches (3.8 centimeters) deep in the soil. Don't plant them too close to each other, as the roots can get intertwined. Cover the seeds with a layer of soil. When weeding around the beets, be careful, as the roots of the sugar beets are shallow and you can easily damage them. read more

Planting sugar beets. Sugar beets are similar to the familiar red-rooted garden beet, but are much larger, reaching about 2 to 4 pounds when mature. They tend to have shiny, white roots, and as you might guess, a high sugar content, containing 13 to 22 percent sucrose. read more

Remember that sugar beets stop growing when they run up against a hard freeze, so plan to plant in late spring in northern climates, although you can plant in early spring or even late winter in more southern locales. Sugar beet seedlings compete poorly with weeds, and even larger sugar beet plants may not be able to shade out problem weeds. read more

Sugar beets can reach maturity in 90 to 100 days and grow best when daytime temperatures are between 60 to 75 degrees and nighttime temperatures between 40 to 50 degrees. Sugar beets can be planted in late spring in the North or early spring in more southern locations. read more