Beetroot protaction

Polytunnels, cold frames, greenhouses, propagators & more. How to get the best out of yours...

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JohnN
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Last year my beetroot were virtually destroyed by leaf miner (I think) which, I gather from other posts, can't be defeated by spraying. Would covering the bed with Enviromesh after sowing stop the little blighters? The bed is long and narrow and has a timber surround, so I could pin it all round with drawing pins and leave the mesh fairly slack so the beets push it up as they grow?
Beryl
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I'm surprised you lost your beetroot last year JohnN usually beetroot is a trouble free crop to grow. In very dry weather wood lice can be a problem but they don't usually destroy all of it. Hopefully you were just unlucky and this year will do better. You could grow under enviromesh but if it was me I would try and raise it under some form of cloche hoops rather than letting the plants try to push it up.

Best of luck

Beryl.
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oldherbaceous
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Myself and Old Codger where losing whole rows of beetroot seedlings to Sparrows, so we have to cover them all with netting now. Once they are a decent size, they can be uncovered and the sparrows don't seem interested anymore...
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Beryl
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That's a new one on me OH. Must be a very tasty variety you grow.

Regards
Beryl.
Monika
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OH, our house sparrows only discovered a taste for beetroot leaves about three years ago and since then we have had to cover them tightly with small-gauge netting. If the holes are too large, the little b*****s squeeze through to get at the plants.
They also nip the tops of pea plants but at least at the moment they don't eat the pea pods ....

But otherwise, JohnN, beetroot seems to be almost trouble-free. You are sure it's not sparrows in your case, too?
PLUMPUDDING
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Have you tried removing the leaves that have the damage as soon as you see it, and/or covering with enviromesh can keep the leaf miner moth off as a prevention if you get a lot of damage.
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JohnN
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The leaves curled up, developed brown and yellow patches and the beets didn't get any bigger than a large grape. Perhaps the small size was due to erratic watering - how often should one water in dry weather?
Beryl
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Maybe JohnN but then I don't water any more after planting.

I sow in modules about 5 seeds to a cell and plant out in clusters. They get a good watering in and then the roots have to go down and find their own. I thin when they are about the size of a golf ball and eat those first, these are the best of the season. I can't ever remember having had any failure.

Beryl.
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