Sugar Beet Growing Guide

Target a uniform 100,000 established plants/ha - BBRO calls this arguably the single most important driver of high sugar beet yields. Drill 2-3 cm deep into moist soil, at 15-18 cm seed spacing on 50 cm rows or 17-20 cm on 45 cm rows.

Drill as soon as soil conditions genuinely allow rather than by calendar date, aiming to finish by end of March in temperate systems. Germination starts above 3 C soil temperature but is slow below 5 C, and drilling after mid-April can cost over 4 adjusted t/ha per week.

Choose a low-bolting variety when drilling early. Bolting is a defect, not maturity: a single bolter per square metre cuts yield about 11%, each plant sheds roughly 1,500 viable seeds, and buried weed-beet seed stays viable for more than 20 years.

Hold soil pH near 7 (6.5 on peat); below pH 5.5 growth is unfavourable. Watch boron and manganese in particular - sugar beet needs more boron than most crops and is more manganese-sensitive, and boron deficiency shows as heart rot.

Feed nitrogen to the canopy early, then let it run down. Excess or late-applied nitrogen produces larger tops and smaller roots with lower dry matter and less accumulated sugar, so it costs sugar even where it adds tonnage.

On saline ground, protect the seedbed rather than the crop: established beet loses nothing up to ECe 7.0 dS/m, but early growth needs ECe below about 3 dS/m. Frequent light irrigation leaches the topsoil and limits crusting; avoid sprinkling young plants with saline water.