Transplant question about beets.

I was told to plant the entire cell and not to separate these beets. Doesn't sounds right to me.  Any advice?

I don't think you would have decent root development if you put them in like that.  Ideally, they should have been thinned when they were about 1-2" tall using scissors and just cutting the ones you "sacrifice".  

I don't know how they do with transplanting or separating at this stage, I always direct sow them.  Beet seeds are a cluster actually, so you can get many seedlings from one seed.

Anybody transplant beets?

I transplant beets -- but mine were quite a bit younger. I agree that planting the whole cell doesn't seem right -- I don't see how they can get big that close to each other. I'd be tempted to split some apart carefully - wet them well first. Make sure to water your transplants well -- maybe even with aspirin water since you'll be disturbing the roots quite a bit.

I never transplanted beets.  Let me know how it turns out!

KBeetlesPerSqFt wrote:   transplant beets -- but mine were quite a bit younger. I agree that planting the whole cell doesn't seem right -- I don't see how they can get big that close to each other. I'd be tempted to split some apart carefully - wet them well first. Make sure to water your transplants well -- maybe even with aspirin water since you'll be disturbing the roots quite a bit.

Yes, asprin water, good Idea!  Eases the transition!,  let us know how it goes!

I watered separated all of the beets and transplanted them. Even the little tiny ones. I waited until late afternoon when it cooled down a little. Temp was in mid 70's and partly cloudy. When I checked on them later in the evening, they had wilted down a little which I had expected.

It's just getting daylight here now and I'll check them again this morning. I'll post pics.
As an experiment, I transplanted 6 beets I had started from seed and they are doing well. The variety I planted was "Bull's blood" and supposed to be really cold hearty.

Fingers crossed!

I never really had much success in transplanting round " globe beets , even though I put some with the globe ball a good 1/4" under the soil .
 However with the flat beets ( a flattened globe ) I've had far more success  by just putting the globe ball  top level in lightly pressed down soil .

 I watered the soil well a good half hour before I did the transplants , made  the hole with a chopstick that had tape round it as the depth marker ..... to about 3 inches deep and flooded soil in the hole around the seedling ( aka ..Puddling the plants in " .

Once the beet plants get thicker than a match stick  the success diminishes considerably .

The ideal way is to buy pelleted pre-germinated seeds and sow one seed at each station . but it might be expensive for it's not every year you can get them in small quantities .
Over here the farmers packs are about 2 KG ( 4.5 pounds )  box sizes 4,000 pelleted seeds  .

Scorpio Rising wrote:Fingers crossed!

Looks like about 75% of the beets are going to make it. Some of the little tiny ones look a little "iffy". We had a cool front come through with temps down to 56 degrees at night. I think that helped.

I'm going out at daylight this morning and take a look and get some pics to post.

Looks like the beets are going to make it ok. I won't be transplanting anymore though.

Looking good!

Yep!  You are going to be eating some beets!  I think I will do beets as fall crop next year.  I did Ruby Queen and Chiogga this spring and I am just not a good cooker of veggies.  They are still in my fridge, waiting.  Carrots, and radishes and turnips no prob!  Eat raw!   I do better with eat raw veggies until temps get cooler.....

Learn along the way!  I do love beets.  I plan to put mine in a foilpack on the charcoal and roast them!