Fertilizers for carrots and beets

Carrots and beets are the most unpretentious vegetables to grow, so gardeners manage with the most minimal set of agricultural practices. However, top dressing of carrots and beets in the open field gives results in terms of yield, surpassing the previous ones not only in quantity, but also in quality.

Top dressing carrots

Carrots are a very popular vegetable, present on our table every day. Gardeners never give up growing carrots. On each garden plot, a place for carrot beds is necessarily allocated.

Carrots tolerate acidic soils well, unlike beets. However, if the fertilizing efforts do not bring results, the root crops grow bitter, then the point may be that the soil acidity index is too high. Then, before planting the root crop, it is deoxidized with chalk, slaked lime, dolomite flour or ash.

Prepare the soil for planting carrots in advance in the fall. Well-rotted manure is introduced, which improves the quality of the soil, building up a rich humus layer. Carrots love loose fertile sandy loam and loam. If the soil is not depleted, then carrots can be grown without fertilizer, however, the yield will be far from ideal. Therefore, top dressing of carrots is carried out several times per season. Usually 2 times, late varieties can be 3 times.

The first feeding of carrots is carried out after the seedlings hatch, after 3 weeks. Carrots grow well and bear fruit in the presence of potassium, magnesium and sodium in the diet. The plant has fewer requirements for the content of nitrogen and phosphorus in top dressing.

For 1 sq. m plantings are used: potash – 60 g; phosphorus – 50 g, nitrogen – 40 g of fertilizer.

The next time carrots are fed 3 weeks after the first. The same composition of mineral fertilizers is used, but the consumption is reduced by half.

Another fertilizer option for top dressing: ammonium nitrate – 20 g, superphosphate – 30 g, potassium chloride – 30 g. The mixture is applied per 1 sq. m seedlings after 3 weeks from their appearance, counting another 3 weeks, add potassium sulfate and azophoska (1 tbsp per bucket of water – 10 l).

Another scheme for feeding carrots: a month after sowing, they are watered with a solution of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. Use nitroammophoska or nitrophoska (1 tbsp each), dissolving in 10 liters of water. Then repeat the steps after 3 weeks.

Carrots respond well to the application of complex fertilizers with a high content of boron, sulfur and sodium: Kemira-Universal, Mortar, Autumn. Be sure to read the instructions before feeding and act according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

For more information on how to feed carrots, see the video:

Folk remedies

Many gardeners are against the introduction of chemistry under plants. Therefore, they resort exclusively to folk wisdom. Top dressing for carrots from available funds does not require large financial investments:

• Nettle herbal tea is prepared 2 weeks before the planned feeding activities. 2 weeks are needed for the tea to infuse. A week before readiness, the infusion for feeding carrots can be enriched with yeast and ash. When watering, the infusion is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10;

  

• Yeast can also be used as a growth stimulant for carrots, especially if the plants are unfriendly. 100 g live yeast per bucket of water, 2 tbsp. l. sugar to activate them, leave for 1,5 hours and pour carrot seedlings;
• Ash for feeding carrots can be used both in dry form, applied to the soil before planting or in the form of an ash solution: a glass of ash per 3 liters of water. For greater effect, use hot water or even let the solution boil. Infuse for 6 hours and water the carrots, adding clean water – 10 liters and adding a couple of crystals of potassium permanganate. From such top dressing, sugar content in carrots increases;

  

• One of the ways to prepare carrot seeds for planting can be safely attributed to folk remedies-finds. First you need to prepare a paste. To do this, starch (2-3 tablespoons) is stirred in a glass of cold water until smooth, the mixture is poured in a thin stream into a saucepan with hot water, stirred and boiled until thickened. Too thick a paste does not need to be made, as it will be inconvenient to use. Then 10 g of carrot seeds are poured into the paste, stirred so that they are evenly distributed. This mixture can already be placed in the prepared grooves using a large syringe, pastry bag or container with a spout. The paste is a kind of top dressing for seeds and facilitates their planting. However, you can enrich the paste by adding a pinch of boric acid and phosphate fertilizer (0,5 tsp).

  

Folk remedies for feeding carrots are used by gardeners who strive for the ecological purity of grown root crops.

Beet top dressing

Beets are no less popular and favorite vegetable. Found in every homestead.

The plant is unpretentious in cultivation. Beets respond well to top dressing.

The main type of fertilizer for beets is organic. Bring it in in the fall. Fresh manure is scattered around the site and dug up along with the soil. Perhaps someone will consider this technique sufficient to provide beets with nutrients. And there is a certain amount of truth in this.

Manure is a natural natural fertilizer that is used as much as a person grows various crops. The composition of manure includes nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, magnesia, silicon. A feature of natural fertilizer is that over time it turns into humus, which forms humus, and not a single plant grows without humus.

However, along with the introduction of manure, it is also worth enriching the soil with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, since manure has an extremely unbalanced composition. The modern type of fertilizer “Autumn” is applied 50 g per 1 sq. m of soil. It contains, in addition to potassium and phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and boron. Despite the name, fertilizer is shown to be applied under beets and in summer, during the period of fruit formation. So, a good harvest is laid. Application rate: no more than 30 g per sq. m planting beets. It is more convenient to make grooves along the rows. Then you need to water well.

The plant itself will tell you about the lack of any nutrient element with its appearance:

• Phosphorus is especially important for beets. You can determine what is missing this element by the appearance of the leaves. If there are completely green leaves or, conversely, completely burgundy, then we can safely say that the beets lack phosphorus.

  

• It also happens like this: the gardener knows that fertilizers have been applied since the fall, but when growing according to external signs, he concludes that there is still not enough phosphorus. The reason lies in the following: due to the increased acidity of the soil, phosphorus is in a form inaccessible for absorption by beets. For central Our Country, the phenomenon is not uncommon. The problem is eliminated by the introduction of slaked lime, dolomite flour in the fall;
• If the plant is deficient in potassium, then the leaves turn yellow at the edge and begin to curl;

  

• The lack of such a macronutrient as nitrogen is manifested in the yellowing and death of the leaves, the newly growing leaf plates are small. With an excess amount of nitrogen, abundant tops grow in beets to the detriment of the underground fruit part;
• Lack of boron leads to root rot. The leaves turn yellow, brownish spots form on them. The plant dies. You can quickly correct the situation by carrying out foliar top dressing of beets with boron;
• The lack of zinc, iron, molybdenum leads to leaf chlorosis. The leaf plate is lightened, and the veins remain green;

  

• If the beets lack magnesium in their nutrition, then the leaves begin to turn yellow from the edge. You can solve the problem if you carry out foliar spraying with magnesium sulfate;
• With a lack of calcium, the plant lags behind in growth, the leaves darken and curl up.

In order to prevent a shortage of any nutrient, use complex fertilizers.

During the growing season, it is recommended to feed the beets 2 times. The first time – after the emergence of shoots in about 10-15 days. Apply potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, as well as nitrogen.

Potassium-phosphorus fertilizers include:

• Nitrophoska (potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen). Fertilizer consumption: 50 g per 1 sq. m planting beets;
• Nitroammophoska (potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur). 40 g per 1 sq. m – application rate;
• Potassium chloride and superphosphate are applied in the following way: grooves are made along the beet row, on both sides of the plants, 4 cm deep. Potassium chloride is laid on one side, and superphosphate on the other, based on the norm of 5 g of each type of fertilizer per 1 m Then the grooves are covered with soil and watered well.
• The complex top dressing “Kemira” for beets has proven itself well. In addition to the main nutrients: phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen, it contains: boron, sulfur, calcium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc. Thanks to microelements, beets ripen faster, root crops have a good taste, sugar content, and plants resist adverse weather conditions.

The second top dressing during the development of root crops. Make ammonium nitrate and superphosphate.

If you do not want to feed the beets with mineral fertilizers, then you can pour slurry or infusion of chicken manure. The infusion is diluted with clean water in a ratio of 1:10 and watered with a solution, spending 1 liter per meter of beet row.

Folk remedies

Principal opponents of the use of mineral fertilizers can use folk recipes for feeding beets:

• It happens that the beets become bitter or tasteless. Gardeners know how to avoid such a problem and get a harvest of delicious juicy root crops. Using a simple solution of table salt (per 1 liter of water-1 tsp of salt) to water each plant in the first half of August.

  

• Ash is rich in potassium, calcium, phosphorus. Everything that a beet needs is in the ashes. Ash is fed after germination and at the initial stage of root formation. It can be applied dry, in prepared grooves between rows. But it is much more efficient to use an ash solution. On the intricacies of using ash, see the video:
  Ash. Features application of ash

• Herbal tea is an affordable and effective beet feed. Prepared from weeds obtained by weeding. For 2 volumes of grass use 1 volume of water. The mixture is infused for 2 weeks, then diluted 1:10 and the roots are watered.

Folk remedies for feeding beets are in no way inferior to their purchased mineral counterparts.

Conclusion

Beets and carrots are everyone’s favorite root crops. Without them, the preparation of everyone’s favorite dishes is not complete: rich borscht, herring under a fur coat and various other salads. Summer chores in the garden will provide you with delicious root crops. Support your plants with fertilizers and they will thank you with a decent harvest.