Sugar beet planting technology and per mu benefit

Beet, also known as red turnip and purple radish, looks similar to radish. Both are fleshy tubers that contain about 20% sugar. It has a similar function to sugarcane and is mainly used as a sugar raw material. It is a very important glycogen. So what are the planting techniques and per-acre benefits of beets? Let’s learn more about it below.

The per-acre benefit of sugar beet cultivation

The per-acre benefit of sugar beets is generally higher than that of corn. The average yield is between 3.5-4.5 tons/mu. If calculated based on 4 tons, the profit per ton is around 440-480 yuan, and the net income per acre can reach around 1,500 yuan, which is considerable.

Beet planting technology

1. Site selection and land preparation

When planting beets, you must choose a site with fertile soil, flat terrain, and good drainage. It is also best if the site has not been planted with wheat , corn, potatoes, melons, and vegetables for more than four years to avoid repeated planting. After selecting a good site, prepare the land in time, deep plowing and compacting to maintain moisture content. Deep tillage should reach 35 cm to break the plow bottom layer, make the soil layer loose, and avoid dry layers and large soil clods.

2. Preparation before sowing

First, it is necessary to apply enough base fertilizer. The base fertilizer requires a mixture of sheep manure and bean cake or cotton cake in a ratio of 4:1 and fully fermented organic fertilizer . The organic fertilizer does not contain any living insect eggs, living pathogens, weeds that can germinate, or other crop seeds. It should be evenly spread on the soil surface before autumn turning, and then mixed into the soil tillage layer through a turning machine.

The second is to choose good varieties. It is recommended to use high-quality, high-yield, disease-resistant pelleted seeds. And dry the seeds for 2-3 days before sowing to increase the germination rate, and treat them with chemicals. Add 1 kg of methyl thiocyclophosphate to 50 kg of water to make a solution, soak 50 kg of seeds in it for 24 hours to prevent and control pests in the seedling stage.

3. Key points for sowing

(1) Timing: Seeding should be done early, with the soil temperature at 5-10 cm reaching 5°C, that is, when the average temperature is 10°C.

(2) Sowing method: It is recommended to use a seeder for sowing because it can place seeds evenly, dig trenches at a consistent depth, and retain moisture well, resulting in uniform and strong seedlings. If there are no conditions for machine sowing, the furrow sowing method can be adopted, with a row spacing of 40-60 cm and a sowing rate of 15-22.5 kg per hectare (dry seeds). But it should be noted that furrow sowing is generally not good for protection, so the soil should be covered and pressed immediately after sowing.

(3) Depth: Sowing depth should be 2-3 cm in depth with 1 cm soil covering. The sowing depth in heavy clay soil and heavy saline-alkali soil should be 1-2 cm, the sowing depth in low-tidal land with high groundwater level should be 2-2.5 cm, and the sowing depth of film-covered beets should be 2 cm. The seeds must be sown on wet soil, and the seeder should be equipped with a depth limiter and a local roller.

4. Post-sowing suppression

After sowing, the soil should be compacted in time, which will make the seeds in close contact with the soil, thus facilitating the rise of moisture in the lower layer of the soil. The time and method of compaction should be determined according to the actual conditions of the soil. If the soil is heavy and has a high water content, it can be lightly compacted. In addition, after direct-seeding beets, if drought occurs, furrow irrigation or sprinkler irrigation should be carried out immediately to avoid water shortage during the seedling stage.

In general, the per-acre benefit of beet planting is still very good, but the prerequisite is to master the correct planting techniques and methods to obtain high yields in order to effectively guarantee the planting benefits.