Sugar Beets. When to plant? Spring/Fall?

I want to plant about a 1/4 acre of Sugar Beets but not sure when the best time to plant them is? Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks

i would say that depends.

Is this going to be the only crop in this 1/4 acre?

if yes then you could prob get by waiting awhile. i planted some last year around middle of august broadcast in my soybean plot and they just didnt produce anything, i waited until we got a nice slow rain to make sure they made good contact with the soil but they still didnt produce anything bigger than a large marble. im planting a mix this year with them in it and its going in the ground an the next few weeks. next year when i go back to beans in the plot i will try it again but plant them much earlier.

the only thing ive heard as far as planting them in the spring is that sometimes they get huge. im not sure if a sugar beet is anything like a radish but radishes get woody if they grow to long and get too big.

hope that helps a little.

I have a 1 acre pc that is turned, disced (last Friday), and limed 2.5-3 weeks ago. The pH of the soil is at or very close to 6.5.

I plan to plant .5 Imperial Clover, .25 Evolved Harvest “Pro Graze”, and finish off the last .25 with BioLogic Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets.

I will be planting the Clover and Pro Graze this week sometime but wasn’t sure if I should plant the Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets at the same time? From what I’m reading on-line most articles say “late July/early August in MN”.

I just want to make sure I do it at the right time and maximize their potential.

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I have a 1 acre pc that is turned, disced (last Friday), and limed 2.5-3 weeks ago. The pH of the soil is at or very close to 6.5.

I plan to plant .5 Imperial Clover, .25 Evolved Harvest “Pro Graze”, and finish off the last .25 with BioLogic Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets.

I will be planting the Clover and Pro Graze this week sometime but wasn’t sure if I should plant the Winter Bulbs and Sugar Beets at the same time? From what I’m reading on-line most articles say “late July/early August in MN”.

I just want to make sure I do it at the right time and maximize their potential.

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for best results Sugar beets should be planted as soon as you can till the soil in the spring. They are very fussy about soil type and ph levels. planting rate should be around 45,000 seeds per acre or about 1 every square foot Good luck on the plot please keep us posted on your results

I have not had luck planting sugar beets in the late July to early August time frame. I have used them mixed with turnips and radishes and the sugar beets did not produce. What I have learned is that spring planting is mostly likely your best bet. Sugar beets mature at around 90 days and are not very good competitors with weeds and other species. This is due to the fact that they do not like alot of shade and the beets themselves are not a very tall plant. They usually take 45-65 days in order for their canopy to shade the ground so keeping up with the herbicide use is a definite benefit to producing sugar beets. I know there are several mixes out there that have sugar beets, however, I do not think ill be mixing my beets with anything else for as long as I plant them.

I am not sure what your ‘winter bulb’ mix is for species, but I have had my best luck planting turnips and radishes in the late July to early August time frame. Hope this helps

Good luck on the food plot. We have many fields of sugar beets in our area in ND and those darn deer draw to them like magnets.

I usually pick up what did not get harvested in a friends field and throw them out on some of my stand locations and they do not last long there.

Deer candy to say the least.

We have one 60 acre field that is rented out and the renter put in beans in that field last spring. To our suprise, seems some beets seeds got into the bean seed or he could have added them but the bean field had many beet plants and boy was that field full of deer all fall.

Doesn’t one usually start to plant around the beginning of spring? I thought that was the same with sugar beets too? I ordered all my gardening plants from UK just to being able to plant them on time when spring sets in completely – I already started with the sugar beet on the weekend. Was that all wrong?

Spring planting of sugar beets is the recommended method.