For fresh consumption, storage and processing, many gardeners grow Detroit beets. About 100 days after the emergence of seedlings from the beds, you can collect medium-sized rounded root crops that will delight you with a beautiful maroon color and excellent taste.
Beetroot Detroit
Detroit Beetroot Has Juicy Pulp
Dark Detroit Beets without White Streaks
Grade description
Beetroot Detroit is the pride of Italian breeding, which was registered in 1994, and after 3 years it entered the State Register of Plants of the Russian Federation for cultivation in the Central and Far Eastern regions. The variety is also successfully grown in Moldova and Ukraine. Its characteristics can be found in the table below:
Parameter | Description |
Ripening time | The variety is mid-season - the period from seedlings to technical maturity is 85-105 days. |
Cultivation regions | The crop is suitable for open field cultivation in regions with a temperate and warm climate. It has a powerful leaf apparatus and a strong root system, so it tolerates drought. It can also be cultivated in cool and moderately harsh climatic zones under film cover, as it adapts well to climatic changes, tolerates minor frosts and grows together even with winter sowing. |
Plant | A medium-sized leaf rosette is semi-erect and consists of small oval leaves that “sit” on long cuttings. The leaf plate has a bright green color and is diluted with red-violet veins stained with anthocyanin. Its surface is slightly bubbly and wavy at the edges. The petiole, painted in a red-purple hue, also attracts attention. |
Roots | Fruits in root crops with the following parameters:
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Application | Table type beets can be consumed fresh, used in cooking, including for the preparation of decoctions and juices. It can also be grown in order to sell beam products. |
Productivity | With 1 sq. m beds will be able to get up to 9 kg of fruit, and from 1 ha - 362-692 c. The output is at a good level - 82-91%. |
Keeping | Root crops can be stored until the next season without loss of taste and marketability. |
The characteristics of Detroit beets are described in the video below:
The official producer-breeder of the Detroit variety is TM Clause (France). Seeds can be ordered on the official website of the company or purchased in branded garden stores.
Varieties of Beetroot Detroit
Given the excellent characteristics and popularity of the culture, breeders used it as a basis for creating the following subspecies of beets:
In the garden, you can simultaneously sow all the variations of Detroit beets, so that next season you can choose the variety that will bring the greatest yield, will be resistant to diseases and pests.
Methods and terms of landing
Detroit beets can be cultivated in two ways:
- Through direct sowing of seeds into the ground. A popular technique that allows you to grow a crop in two seasons, as the seeds can be sown both in the spring and in the winter. In the first case, the optimal sowing time is from the end of April to the beginning of May (after the land warms up to + 10 ... + 13 ° C), and in the second - at the beginning of November.
- Seedlings. It allows you to save seed and get an earlier crop, as root crops ripen 2-3 weeks faster than when directly sowing seeds in the ground. However, this technology also has drawbacks - it increases the sensitivity of seedlings to temperature fluctuations and lowers their resistance to diseases. Sow seeds for seedlings in early April. After about a month, the sprouts can be transplanted into the garden.
Site selection and preparation
To get a rich crop of root crops, you need to cultivate beets in a properly selected and well-prepared area. When choosing a landing site, you need to consider the following requirements:
- the site should be sunny and protected from drafts, since the plant can not tolerate shade and is demanding on the intensity of lighting;
- the place should have good humidity, since Detroit beets are moisture-loving vegetables;
- it is advisable that last season on the site grow cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes or onions (all kinds of cabbage and carrots are unacceptable predecessors);
- the soil on the bed should be loose, fertile, and with mild or neutral acidity.
Best of all, the crop bears fruit in medium loamy and sandy loamy soils with a sufficient amount of organic matter.
A place with suitable parameters needs to be prepared for beets in advance - from the autumn, dig a shovel on a bayonet, remove plant debris and add organic fertilizers (humus, rotted manure). If the soil has high acidity, ash, dolomite flour or lime must be added to it.
Seed preparation
Beetroot seeds germinate slowly, so before sowing in open ground or for seedlings, they must be processed. Here are some effective ways:
- Soak the planting material for a day in warm water. During this procedure, change the water 2-3 times, and then dry and sow in the ground. If the seeds, when soaked, are held together, they cannot be separated so as not to cause irreparable harm to them.
- Fold a piece of tissue in 2 layers and soak in water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and then put on a saucer. Place 50-100 seeds on it and cover with the same damp cloth. Place the saucer in a warm (+ 18 ... + 25 ° C) place for 4 days. During this time, you need to regularly moisten the fabric so that it does not dry out. It is also impossible to fill it with water, so as not to cause rot of the planting material.
- For vernalization, put seeds in an enameled pan with a layer of 3-4 cm and pour 50 liters of water. After 32 hours, add as much water. Keep the pan at a temperature of + 15 ... 20 ° C for 2-3 days, previously covering with a damp cloth. Then pour the seeds into a drawer with a layer of up to 3 cm and remove for 10 days in a cool room.
Prepared seeds will be able to germinate better, show resistance to many diseases and give an earlier harvest.
Beet Planting
Before sowing, the bed should be abundantly poured at the rate of 10 buckets of water per 20 m. If sowing is carried out on a flat surface, it is better to prepare two-line tapes.
The scheme for sowing seeds is as follows:
- the distance between the seeds in a row is 15 cm;
- row spacing - 35-30 cm;
- planting depth in ordinary soils - 3 cm, and in peat - 5 cm;
- seeding rate - 1-1.5 g per 1 square. m
After sowing, the seeds should be sprinkled with earth, the bed should be mulched, and in cool regions - covered with a film. Under optimal conditions (air temperature + 4-5 ° C), the first shoots will appear in a week.
When sowing, beet seeds can be mixed with spinach seeds. This will help prevent the development of weeds that are dangerous to Detroit. When its first sprouts appear, the spinach needs to be removed or left for another month, and then harvested.
If beets are grown through seedlings, then seedlings need to be transplanted to a permanent place when the soil warms up to + 15 ... + 20 ° С. Between the furrows it is worth withstanding 10-12 cm, and between the rows - 45 cm.
Landing care
The Detroit variety is not whimsical to care for, but requires the timely implementation of a number of agrotechnical measures, which is especially true in the case of growing beets through seedlings. Proper care involves the following manipulations:
- Watering. Until the formation of root crops, intensively water the bed, and then reduce the frequency of moisture to 1 time per week at the rate of 15 liters of water per 1 sq. m. It is advisable to water the site early in the morning or in the evening. The land should not be either excessively dry or excessively wet. A month before the proposed harvest, watering should be completely stopped.
- Loosening and weeding. A wet bed must be loosened to improve gas exchange and air permeability of the soil. The formation of earthen “lumps” cannot be allowed, since they do not allow nutrients to penetrate the soil and slow down the growth of bushes. It is equally important to constantly “clean” the plot, since weed grass drowns out the young plantings, reducing the quality of the crop.
- Mulching. To retain moisture in the soil and suppress the germination of weed, the garden is worth mulching. It has been noticed that root crops grow larger in the mulched area.
- Thinning. The procedure should be carried out 2 times a season and only in cloudy weather. Thinning beets should be according to this scheme:
- in the phase of appearance of 2-3 real leaves - remove grass and weak shoots, leaving 3-4 cm between the bushes;
- in the phase of formation of 4-5 leaves - expand the spaces between plants to 7-8 cm.
- Top dressing. Fertilizers must be applied several times during the season, but they must not be oversupplied, as this will provoke cracking of root crops and the formation of voids in them. Here is the optimal feeding scheme:
- in the phase of 2-3 leaves (after thinning) - apply organic fertilizers to saturate the soil with nitrogen;
- at the weeding stage - to introduce potash fertilizers into the ground (16-20 g per 1 sq. m).
The feeding pattern can be adjusted depending on the appearance of the plants: if the tops are lightening, add potassium, and if the veins on it turn red - sodium.
- Protection against diseases and pests. For Detroit beets, rot (white, gray) and downy mildew can be a danger. Among pests, a bear and a winter scoop are dangerous. To prevent their defeat, you need to feed the plants with potash fertilizers and regularly weed the area.
Harvesting and storage
With spring sowing, root crops can be harvested in the last decade of September. By this time, they will fully mature and will be of the highest quality. In order not to miscalculate the harvest, it is worth paying attention to the condition of the stems - in ripened root crops, they dry out and turn yellow.
Harvesting beets is best in dry, warm weather in the absence of dew. This will allow the roots to dry for some time in the sun, which will favorably affect their keeping quality.
Beets are unpretentious to storage conditions. The main thing is to keep it in a cool place without excess moisture. The optimum room temperature is + 2-3 ° C. Many gardeners store beets in the cellar along with potato tubers or in plastic bags with a capacity of 15-20 kg. The bags need to be tied, but slightly opened for the time when condensation forms, so that it evaporates through a small hole.
Pros and cons of the variety
The value of Detroit beets lies in the following characteristics:
- grows evenly and gives a consistently high yield;
- Fruits in equal shape and size root crops with excellent commercial qualities and universal purpose;
- shows resistance to diseases and flare;
- tolerates short-term freezing of the soil;
- has a powerful vegetative mass and root system, therefore it is not afraid of heat and adverse growing conditions;
- subject to long-term storage fresh without loss of taste and useful properties, and also stably transfers transportation over long distances.
Unlike many other beetroot varieties, Detroit does not give arrows when setting hot weather.
Deficiencies in this culture were not detected.
Beetroot Detroit reviews
Timofey Dmitrievich, 42 years old. I grow a variety on light, rich in organic soil with a weak reaction. As a rule, I sow in early June to get root crops suitable for winter storage. I advise you to pay special attention to caring for thinning, otherwise the heads will turn out to be too small. I appreciate the variety for excellent taste.
Julia Weber, 34 years old. For me, the main thing in beets is its sweetness, not its gigantic size, that's why I choose the Detroit variety. It brings exactly those root crops, as I want. Yields are good, but you don’t have to put too much effort into planting care.
Irina Alexandrovna, 57 years old. I grow Detroit beets regularly. Always happy with excellent germination. The main thing is to water the plantings on time and feed them several times. From beets of maroon color I am preparing a real Ukrainian borsch and vinaigrette.
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Detroit cultivar resistant to low temperatures can be cultivated in garden plots, in home gardens and small farms. In the warm season, it will be possible to double-harvest the crop of dark red root crops for table use. They can be used in cooking or laid for winter storage.