Defining top dressing of Beets in August. Get Big and Healthy Root Vegetables Hassle-Free
From the beginning of August until the onset of frost, sugar and other substances accumulate in the roots of the beets, which increase the taste of the vegetable. If a late or medium variety grows in the garden, then you should not dig up the beets before the onset of August - the roots will quickly deteriorate, and will not even last until the new year.
How to properly feed beets at the end of summer
From the very beginning of August, it is necessary to feed the plant with salt. This will increase the sugar content of the vegetable. For one bucket of water, I give a rounded tablespoon of salt. You can use both sea and common table salt.
Pour the solution not on the plants, but between the rows, at a distance of about 5 cm from the roots. It is best to do this after rain.
You also need to fertilize the garden with potassium and phosphorus. The use of potassium sulfate and superphosphates is allowed. I re-feeding at the end of the month with organic fertilizers without nitrogen.
It is important to consider that all mineral fertilizers should be in the form of a solution, since the crystals will not have time to dissolve in the soil until the end of the season.
The easiest and safest way is to use wood ash. I give 300 g of ash to a bucket of water and insist for about 4-5 days. I bring this solution to the garden at the end of August, when about a month remains until the end of fruiting.
This solution contains all the necessary substances, but at the same time the beets do not accumulate harmful nitrates in the roots.
Points to consider when caring for beets in August
First of all, you should organize the correct watering. Enough once or twice a week. It depends on the characteristics of the soil and weather conditions.
At the beginning of the last month of summer, I perform selective harvesting of beets. All plants whose roots do not exceed 4 cm in diameter should be removed from the bed. As a rule, they go to feed pets.
You should not expect a good harvest from such specimens. They will be small, tough. Often these roots have a bitter taste and tough fiber. The distance between plants that remain in the garden should be at least 6 cm.
All dressings should contain sufficient potassium. But if the leaves of the beets become stained, turn yellow or wither, then potassium chloride can be added to the soil. If the beets grow and develop very slowly, then add mullein infusion to the feeding mixture.
All top dressing must be done a month before harvest. If nitrogen is contained in the feeding mixtures, then a large amount of nitrates will accumulate in the root crop, and the vegetable will become unusable.