Why are beet tops purple? Why do beet leaves turn red? Video “How to grow beautiful beets”

It’s rare whose garden is not decorated with beets. This culture is unpretentious in cultivation. Therefore, the plant is loved by many summer residents. Even with insufficient care, beets can produce a good harvest. However, there are exceptions. In some cases, problems may arise. For example, the leaves of a vegetable turn red. Why this happens and how to prevent the consequences will be discussed below.

A little about beets

Beetroot is a biennial plant. In the first year after planting, the crop forms a fairly large rosette of leaves and a root crop. The size and weight of such root crops vary depending on the variety and growing conditions. In the second year, flower stems appear. These green flowers form seeds.

Beet varieties

There is a wide variety of varieties. However, we will talk about the main ones. The Egyptian variety includes varieties of the crop that ripen early and quickly. The root crop of such beets is flat or rounded-flat. The group of Bordeaux varieties includes mid-season varieties. Root vegetables have a round shape. The Erfurt variety includes beet species that ripen late. The root crop has a conical shape.

About crop rotation

Beets are a self-poisoning plant. Why - you ask. The fact is that the crop should not be planted for two years in a row in the same place. Beets tire the soil, so they then don’t want to grow on an old plot of land.

Maintain crop rotation. Beets can be returned to their original place only after four years.

How to care for beets

The amount of fertilizing depends directly on the condition of the beets and soil fertility. It is better to feed the crop twice. After the second thinning, add ammonium nitrate to the ground at the rate of fifteen grams per square meter. Two weeks later, when root crops begin to appear, add superphosphate and potassium chloride to the soil at the rate of ten grams per square meter.

Because Since beets are a moisture-loving plant, they need to be watered not only before and after planting seedlings, but also during the period of crop growth. The main rule is not to overdo it with water. A month before beets are harvested, watering should be stopped. Otherwise, the growth period of the plant will be prolonged, and the shelf life of the vegetable will sharply decrease.

The soil near the beets needs to be loosened. It is recommended to increase the depth of processing gradually: from three centimeters to ten.

Why do beet leaves turn red?

The main reason for the decrease in beet yield is various infections. Why? If diseases are not controlled, the harvest can be reduced by eighty percent. To prevent such an outcome, it is important to learn how to identify an infection in time and know how to get rid of it. After all, minutes count.

The leaves turn red both during the growth and development of seedlings, and during the growth of the vegetable in open ground. There are many reasons for the redness of seedlings. For example, you could mix sea sand into the ground instead of river sand. To prevent consequences, replant the seedlings and rinse the root thoroughly with clean water.

The second reason for reddening of leaves is fertilizer added to the soil mixture. Excessive content of microelements in the soil immediately leads to reddening of the leaves, and then to drought of the plant. If the leaves of the crop began to change color while in open ground, there may be even more reasons for this phenomenon.

This may also be a lack of phosphorus fertilizer. Unlike fungal diseases, this issue can be resolved quickly and easily. You need to compensate for the lack of a microelement with a special preparation purchased in advance at the store.

Increased soil acidity levels can also cause vegetable leaves to turn red. The fact is that the acidic soil layer prevents the plant from normal consumption of fertilizers. This means that fertilizing and minerals do not reach their destination.

This is why the crop stops growing and the leaves turn red. The plant is capable of producing a large harvest only if the pH of the soil is neutral. You can neutralize the acidity of the soil using ash. Sprinkle the soil on which the beets grow with ash.

Some gardeners use ash tincture. It's not difficult to prepare. Just add a couple of glasses of the substance to a ten-liter bucket of water. Before watering the area, stir the solution, as... the crop runs the risk of not receiving the phosphorus fertilizer contained in the sediment. In addition, the leaves of the plant should be treated with salt water, which is prepared at the rate of a glass of salt per ten-liter bucket of water.

Some gardeners use honey and dolomite flour to reduce soil acidity. However, this should not be done. These substances have a delayed effect. In the summer there is no sense in such treatment. But in the fall, folk recipes will come in handy.

Thus, there are many reasons for the redness of beet leaves. The main thing is to notice the problem in time, find out the cause and eliminate it. Otherwise, the harvest will suffer greatly, and your efforts will not pay off.

Beets are considered an unpretentious garden crop to grow. But still, gardeners are faced with such a problem as red leaves on the plant.

Why do beet leaves turn red? What to do?

Most often, this phenomenon occurs in case of growth retardation, as well as if the root crop is not formed and the tops do not develop. Red leaves appear during the growing period of seedlings and already on planted beds.

If redness along the stems occurred on the sprouts while still in seedling containers, then this could have happened for the following reasons:
- you purchased a planting mixture with the addition of sea sand, not river sand. This indicates poisoning of the entire plant, with the roots suffering the most. In such a situation, replanting into soil with a different composition and washing the root system will help.

Lack of humidity can cause discoloration. To do this, check the degree of moisture and change the watering scheme.

Over-fertilizing can be bad for beets. The finished soil already contains the required amount of fertilizers, and summer residents add them again. As a result, the plant may become poisoned, and its leaves will turn red or even wither. Overfeeding can be solved by transferring it to another soil or washing the old one with running water.
Redness in open ground occurs due to the following reasons:

1. Acidic soil
The most common cause of problems in growing beets is an obstacle to the absorption of necessary components from the soil. Not all soil acidity levels are suitable for beet growth. In such a situation, the tops turn red, the leaves grow small, and the tubers grow small, have a bad taste and are quite hard.
Therefore, it is necessary to determine the acidity level of the soil. It's very easy to do. You will need baking soda and vinegar. Then take a handful of earth, moisten it a little and make a cake out of it. Pour vinegar onto the surface of this cake and wait for the result. If the soil is alkaline, then bubbles should appear; if this does not happen, then the soil is neutral or acidic. Make a second cake and sprinkle baking soda on it. When a reaction occurs, the soil is acidic.

To eliminate this problem, before planting the crop, you need to fertilize the soil and treat it with an ash solution. To prevent the soil from being acidic, you need to add ash depending on the pH level. Most often, 100 grams of solution is taken per square meter.

Soil with neutral acidity is suitable for beets.

2. Lack of phosphorus and potassium.

As a result of a deficiency of these elements, the tops fade and darken, at first they receive a slightly greenish tint of color, and then the leaves of the vegetable turn red. If there is a catastrophic lack of phosphorus, you need to choose the right fertilizers added to the soil. To do this, you will need a solution of slurry manure in a ratio of 1 to 10 or bird droppings (1:20). If there is a lack of these elements, you can also feed with superphosphate.

Beet leaves turn red and immediately curl, this indicates a lack of potassium. The situation can be corrected with the help of potash fertilizers, as well as wood ash.

3. Lack of manganese and magnesium

The deficiency of these elements leads to the fact that the leaves of the beets turn red; this deficiency must be corrected with the help of fertilizing.

4. Lack of sodium.

The leaves of the root vegetable have changed color, possibly due to insufficient sodium. You can change the situation by watering with saline solution. To prepare it you will need 250 grams. A liter of solution is consumed per meter of soil. If the beet leaves turn red, you already know what to water, but it is important to treat the leaves with the prepared solution, and not try to water the root itself.

If you decide to water it with saline solution, you should know 100% why the leaves of beets turn red. If you're not sure, excess sodium can reduce crop yields.

5. Feeding.

When over-fertilized, the tops initially turn red and then dry out.

There are several reasons for the redness of the leaves and the cessation of growth of beets. But the problem should be eliminated only after the cause has been accurately determined. If you do not pay any attention to this process, you risk losing the harvest.
If you use basic techniques in time, you can eliminate the appearance of redness on seedlings and on plants already planted in the ground. If you know that your summer cottage plot has a high level of acidity, then it is better to add lime in advance. Preventive measures will help in the future not to fight crop diseases, preventing their development.

Beets are unpretentious to grow, but if the rules of agricultural technology are not followed, reddening of the leaves may occur. Such crops are stunted and develop incorrectly.

Let us immediately note that reddening of beet leaves is not always a sign of any disease. In some varieties ( Sugar And Burgundy) the tops become red as a result of frequent and abundant watering. Typically, such vegetables are poorly stored, but this redness does not affect the quality and quantity of the harvest. Therefore, if the plant develops normally, there is nothing to worry about. But if there is growth retardation, you need to identify the cause as soon as possible and eliminate it.

Reason 1: acidic soil

This is the most common cause of redness of beet tops. The crop prefers soils with neutral acidity, so before sowing the seeds, the acidic soil must be limed (spill with a thoroughly mixed ash solution - 2-3 cups of wood ash per 10 liters of water). And in the fall, before digging, it is recommended to add chalk or dolomite flour to the soil (450-500 g per 1 sq.m.).

Liming the soil will not only reduce acidity, but will also help the beets absorb phosphorus - an important element necessary for the proper development of this plant

Reason 2: Battery deficiency

Redness of beet tops can be caused by a lack of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, manganese or sodium. Thus, with a phosphorus deficiency, the above-ground part of the plant first acquires a dark green color, and after some time becomes red.

With a lack of potassium, the tops also become dark red (especially around the edges), and in severe cases, they become sick and dry out. This disease is often called marginal necrosis.

With a lack of magnesium, the tops turn brown and curl upward; a deficiency of manganese and sodium also leads to redness of the cut part of the plant.

Regular fertilizing will help replenish the missing elements in the soil. To eliminate magnesium and manganese deficiency, it is recommended to use a solution of slurry (1:10) or chicken manure (1:20). In this case, the fertilizer consumption is 1 liter per 1 linear meter.

Beets need properly fertilized soils with neutral acidity.

Fertilizing with lime and potassium is also useful for beets: 200 g of lime and 80 g of potassium chloride are dissolved in 10 liters of water, everything is thoroughly mixed and the plants are watered every 14 days at the rate of 1 liter of solution per 1 linear meter. Feeding is stopped when signs of nutritional deficiency disappear.

To eliminate sodium deficiency, you need to add table salt to the water for irrigation (at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). And the lack of phosphorus is compensated with superphosphate in a dosage of 30-40 g per 1 sq.m.

Please note: if there is an excess of micro- and macroelements, beet leaves may also turn red. Therefore, follow the correct dosage of applied fertilizers.

Reason 3: beet cercospora

This problem is more difficult to deal with than the previous ones. If the beet leaves not only turn red, but have a border at their edges, and the entire leaf blade is covered with brown-burgundy dry spots that gradually turn into holes, then the plant is attacked by a fungal disease - cercospora.

Symptoms of beet cercospora

This disease affects both sugar and fodder beets. Most often it appears in the second half of summer in humid weather. The fungus can reduce the harvest by almost half. Therefore, it is important to start treatment on time and not forget about preventive measures.

Before sowing, treat the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate. After the emergence of seedlings, spray the plantings with any fungicide 3-4 times during the growing season, and treat them with copper-containing preparations (for example, a 1% solution of copper sulfate) every 10-14 days.

In addition, promptly remove damaged and dried leaves from the garden bed. Plantings should be well ventilated. In hot and dry weather, water the plants generously and loosen the soil around them.

Growing beets is not so difficult, but it also faces certain dangers. Very often, health problems in beets are reflected primarily on the leaves. Usually, if something goes wrong, they acquire a red tint that is unusual for the variety. In this case, it is urgent to find the cause and correct the situation.

Causes of redness of leaves

There are beet varieties whose foliage in normal condition is redder than others, and then there is no need to sound the alarm. Sometimes the leaves turn red from heavy watering and fertilizers; If the plants develop normally, measures can be waited. But basically, the main color of the leaf is green, and its significant redness is a signal of some kind of violation. All reasons for redness of beet leaves can be reduced to three groups.

Soil acidity is too high

Beets thrive in neutral soils, and the slightest increase in acidity leads to a change in leaf color. With increased acidity, the leaves not only turn red: they grow smaller than usual, and root crops also grow poorly.

Beetroot juice is even considered a good natural acid-base indicator: its color, like the color of the juices of many berries, depends on the acidity of the environment.

In general, it’s a good idea for every gardener to know in advance what the acidity of the soil is in his area. The compact devices that exist for this purpose are not very expensive; Even a simple set of reagents can help, and approximately, universal indicator paper. And if sorrel, mint, sweet clover, horsetail or wood sorrel grow well in the garden, you don’t need to look for reagents, you need to immediately neutralize the excess acidity.

To neutralize the soil, it is most reliable to lim it (use slaked lime, dolomite flour or chalk), but wood ash also gives good results, at the same time saturating the soil with potassium, necessary for the development of beets. Moreover, the ash will act faster, and the rest of the listed funds contributed for the autumn digging will only be used for the next year. You can simply generously sprinkle the bed with ash, or you can use it in the form of an ash solution (0.5–1 liters of ash per bucket of water).

Video: the effect of soil acidity on beets

Nutrient deficiencies

It is the deficiency of potassium, contained in abundance in wood ash, that most often accompanies acidic soils, but a deficiency of this element can exist on its own, with normal acidity. With potassium starvation, the leaves become dark red not over the entire surface, but only at the edges. In addition, such leaves often curl.

If the soil is neutral, potassium fertilizing will be sufficient: the same wood ash will help, but any soluble potassium salt will give a faster effect (most often they use potassium sulfate or chloride, apply according to the instructions on the package). In combination with increased acidity, the problem is corrected in a comprehensive manner: to speed up and neutralize the soil, potassium fertilizer and lime are applied simultaneously.

To prepare the mixture take:

• 80 g potassium chloride;
• 200 g slaked lime;
• 10 liters of water.

After dissolution (the lime will not completely dissolve!), 1 liter of solution is used per linear meter of beet row, repeating the feeding after 10–15 days.

Browning and dulling of leaves indicates a lack of phosphorus. In this case, superphosphate (30–40 g/m2), diluted in the required amount of water, is used as a top dressing.

The easiest way to eliminate sodium deficiency, which also leads to reddening of the leaves: for this you can use ordinary table salt. Dissolve a glass of salt in a bucket of water and pour this solution over the beets directly over the leaves. It’s a good idea to add ash to this solution.

Redness of the leaves can also be caused by a lack of magnesium or manganese. But it is not necessary to use store-bought preparations: these elements are contained in manure or droppings, so fertilizing with infusions of organic fertilizers easily solves the problem.

As a rule, with a lack of nutrition, the leaves not only turn red, but also become very small.

Diseases

The most severe case is the occurrence of real diseases; in some of them the leaves also turn red. Most often, redness is accompanied by a violation of the structure: the leaves become covered not only with spots, but also with holes. This happens with phomosis and cercospora - diseases caused by fungi.

With cercospora blight, there are spots, continuous redness, and sometimes perforation of the leaves.

Cercospora blight initially causes brown spots to appear, but then they merge and give the appearance of reddening of the leaf. The disease spreads quickly and spreads to the root crop, which is difficult to save. Only at the initial stage of infection will the measures taken be effective. Infected specimens must be removed, and then the plantings must be sprayed weekly with copper preparations (Bordeaux mixture, copper oxychloride, etc.). Autumn digging of the soil with fungicides is mandatory.

Fomoz is a similar disease, it is treated in the same way, but the spots on the leaves are of a slightly different color; It is difficult to call the infection reddening of the foliage.

Reddening of beet leaves is not always dangerous, but often requires urgent intervention. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cure diseases, and other problems can be solved relatively easily: by normalizing nutrition, humidity conditions and soil acidity. If you immediately follow all the rules for growing root vegetables, problems with leaves almost never arise.

One of the most unpretentious garden crops, it does not require special growing conditions. But beets also have enemies - pests and pathogens, which can not only destroy the crop in the garden, but also destroy the reserves harvested. Beet diseases can affect both the root crop and the leaves. It doesn’t matter from which side the trouble came, in any case the whole plant suffers.

The fight against diseases is carried out in two directions: preventive and curative. Any problem is easier to prevent than to eliminate, so prevention should be given maximum attention.

How to protect the future harvest from diseases?

Prevention of any beet disease is a complex undertaking. It lasts from the moment the seeds are selected until the harvest for the winter. Includes:

• selection of varieties with high disease resistance;
• feeding plants with fertilizers;
• proper care;
• timely harvesting taking into account weather conditions;
• inspection of root crops before storage.

Competent agricultural technology and timely fertilizing will make beets virtually invulnerable to infectious agents. Well, if trouble does occur, it is important to know how to get out of the situation with the least losses.

Beet diseases: signs, causes

Any gardener will benefit from information about the most common beet diseases (with photos) and how to combat them.

There are brown spots on the beets. What is this?

The beets are almost ready to harvest, but suddenly the leaves, and then the fruits, begin to become covered with brown spots. These are the signs phomosa- fungal disease of beets. During storage, infected root vegetables not only spoil themselves, but also spread the infection to healthy ones.

The first manifestations of phomosis are hardly noticeable: small, slightly elongated spots on the leaves can be overlooked. But at this time the fungus has already penetrated inside the plant and all the beets disappear.

Correct crop rotation, disinfection of planting material and fertilizing with potassium fertilizers at the final stage of the growing season will help to avoid this insidious disease of beets, which, when stored, can destroy the entire winter stock. Sick plants are treated with fungicidal agents.

By the way, the appearance of small spots on the leaves can also be caused by improper watering (sunburn due to bright sun) or an overdose of fertilizers. Beets should be moistened in the evening and the dosage of fertilizing applied should be correctly calculated.

Why do young beet leaves turn light and dry out?

If you observe the following picture on your beets: the leaves selectively lighten, and then curl down and dry out, then the crop is infected downy mildew or false. This fungal disease can be identified by a grayish-purple bloom on the underside of light-colored leaves. Peronosporosis is provoked by prolonged rains and prolonged cold weather.

If signs of this beet disease appear, treatment must be started immediately. Options for remedies for peronosporosis:

• Bordeaux mixture at a concentration of 1%;
• copper oxychloride - 50 g per 10 l. water.

The composition is used for spraying immediately after detection of infection and ten days later.

Fungal diseases of sugar beets and table beets can be prevented by pre-sowing seed treatment using formaldehyde, as well as by observing crop rotation (do not plant beets in one place more than once every three years).

Beet seedlings die before they have time to grow. What's wrong with them?

Sometimes young fodder beets die in this way. Diseases that cause this condition are called root beetle. Root beetle is caused by microorganisms living in moist, heavy clay soils. In conditions of waterlogging, seedlings often suffer from this problem. Regular loosening of row spacing is the best prevention of root beetle. With this simple action you can save the harvest from this disease of sugar beets and table varieties.

Why do the leaves have brown spots with red edges?

Among the fungal diseases that primarily affect sugar and fodder beets are cercospora also worth paying attention to. Signs: reddening of areas of leaf blades. Most often, the disease affects beets overgrown with weeds. Leaf diseases (photo of manifestations of cercospora blight below) progress rapidly, as a result of which the plant remains without foliage and dies.

Keeping beet beds clean, timely weeding and fertilizing the soil is the best way to avoid this trouble.

The petioles of beet leaves turn black. What's wrong with them?

If the leaf petioles turn black at the base, dig up the root and inspect it. Cracks covered with a white coating will definitely indicate Fusarium rot. A similar picture occurs when affected by brown rot, only in this case the coating will be brown in color.

Deoxidation of the soil with lime, chalk, and drainage of areas with stagnant water can protect against rot. Complex fertilizing needs to be enriched with boron. Regular deep loosening of row spacing is also of great importance. If an infected plant appears in the garden bed, it should be immediately removed from there and destroyed (burned).

Beet pests

What other pests and diseases of sugar beet, fodder and table beets are found on farms? These are beet and leafminer flies, beet aphids, flea beetles and shield moths.
ON THE PICTURE:

All these pests attack leaves, in particular:

• yellow beet fly larvae eat holes in the leaves;
• white leaf miner fly larvae act similarly;
• beet aphids suck the juice from the petioles, which disrupts the nutrition of the leaf and causes it to die;
• the flea beetle lives in the roots of beets, its larvae feed on thin roots;
• The beet stink bug looks like a bug; the insect damages the seedlings and leaves of adult plants.

Pests die as a result of preventive measures, such as weeding and deep autumn digging of beds. As control measures, you can use a decoction of onion peels or special insecticides.

Knowing about the most common diseases of sugar beet and measures to combat them, you can quickly and accurately make a diagnosis, begin treatment work and achieve complete victory over pests or infection.

Don’t forget the most important thing: only weakened beets are affected! Diseases and pests are unable to defeat the natural immunity of a healthy plant.

Have a good harvest!