by After collecting a good harvest of beets and carrots, it is also important to preserve the root crops during the winter period. How to do this? Find out from the article.
First of all, keep in mind that only healthy root vegetables can be stored, since even one diseased vegetable can cause damage to the entire crop.
When to store beets and carrots
To preserve the harvest as long as possible, it is important to know when to dig up carrots and beets. The time for harvesting root crops depends on weather conditions.
It is important to remember one rule: beets are dug up in the fall before the first frosts (since this crop, having frozen, will not be stored for long); and carrots are left in the garden longer, until the first snow (after all, chilled root vegetables are stored better than those that were harvested in warm weather).
An exception is a rainy autumn. If the weather is quite warm, but there are often heavy rains, it is better to harvest the entire crop earlier, since root crops that have absorbed a large amount of moisture are stored poorly and risk getting rot.
Before you remove the beets from the garden, pay attention to their stems. In ripe root crops, they turn yellow and dry out.
How to Prepare Beets for Winter Storage
Beets are harvested in dry weather, it is important that the soil is crumbly. Therefore, root crops stop being watered 2-3 weeks before harvesting.
The plants are dug up with a shovel, the tops are cut off, leaving a 1,5 cm long petiole, and left to dry for several hours. The root vegetables cannot be washed, they must be cleaned of dirt by hand, trying not to damage the peel. Before storing, the beets are sorted: all rotten and damaged root vegetables are rejected.
How to Store Beets in Winter
Beets are placed in permanent or temporary storage for the winter, taking into account that root crops do not have a dormant period. At a temperature of 7°C, they begin to grow. Therefore, the optimal storage conditions are 2-3°C and fairly high humidity.
The most common ways to store beets
- Most often, beets are stored in a cellar on potato piles. Root crops are laid in 2-3 layers on top of tubers, which “share” their excess moisture with the beets.
- Another popular way to store beets is in sand. To do this, the root vegetables are placed in layers in a box without holes, and each layer is sprinkled with slightly damp sand. The boxes are stored in a basement or cellar.
- You can store beets in polyethylene bags with a capacity of 15-20 kg. At first, they are tightly tied. And when condensation appears on the walls, the bags are untied, leaving a small hole for the evaporation of excess moisture.
- Beets can also be stored well in boxes in the basement or in the garden in small piles. To do this, dig a hole about 40 cm deep, place the root crops there in the shape of a prism (the height of the prism is usually 1-1,3 m), cover them with a thick layer of straw so that the height of the pile is about 2 m, and fill with earth, and in winter additionally cover with snow. Before storing, it is advisable to treat the beets with chalk powder (200 g per 10 kg of root crops).
Beet varieties suitable for winter storage: Incomparable, Bravo, Bordeaux 237, Red Ball, Podzimnyaya, Odnorostkovaya, Nosovskaya Flat, Mulatka, Saladnaya, Detroit and more.
How to Prepare Carrots for Winter Storage
Carrots are no longer watered a month before harvesting. The soil is dug up with a shovel (or a blunt pitchfork), the root vegetables are carefully removed and placed to dry. Then the carrots are cleaned of any remaining soil and the tops are completely cut off (you can leave only a few millimeters).
How to Preserve Carrots for the Winter
Compared to beets, carrots are more demanding in terms of storage conditions: they are more susceptible to mechanical damage and retain moisture worse. Root crops quickly wither and sprout even with a slight increase in temperature in the cellar. Carrots are stored in a storage facility with a temperature of 0-2°C and high humidity so that the root crops remain juicy as long as possible.
The most popular ways to store carrots
- Recently, it has become common to store carrots in plastic bags. They are filled with up to 5 kg of root vegetables and tied tightly.
- You can also leave carrots for the winter in bags with a capacity of up to 20 kg. In this case, it is advisable to pour an 8-10-centimeter layer of wet sawdust on top of the root crops.
- It is very popular to store carrots in sand: pour a 2 cm layer of sand onto the bottom of the box, place the root vegetables in it and sprinkle them with a 1 cm layer of sand. Then repeat the manipulations. Keep in mind that with such a layered arrangement, the root vegetables should not touch.
The following varieties and hybrids of carrots are best stored in winter: Gribovchanin F1, Monanta, Canada F1, Mango F1, Nanteyska, Nandrin F1, Nantes 4, Incomparable, Nevis F1, Nerac F1, Rosal, Samson, Typhoon, Tsirano, Chance, Valeria, Moscow Winter and more.
However, it is important to remember that only properly sown root crops, which were carefully looked after during the growing season and protected from diseases and pests, are stored well.
