Beetroot is a well known root vegetable. Which has lot of nutritional benefits.Its also used as a food coloring and as a medicinal plant. And now you can grow the beetroot on your terrace . In this blog it includes how to grow a beetroot in a terrace garden .

Potting media and sowing

1. How to select a media – Beetroot prefers neutral, moist, fertile soil without too much lime or acidity (pH 6.5-7.0).The potting mix should be soft and not have too much clay or too much sand. It’s always suggested to prepare potting mix with right proportion instead of going for only soil.

2. Selection of container – Its always better to choose a container which provides good aeration and which allows excess water to drain out from the media.

3.How to sow the seeds – You can select the seeds from your local nursery or garden centers. Sow the seeds at the depth of 2 cm or ¾ to 1 inch.  Provide spacing of at least 10 to15 cm .

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4.Watering- Water daily until the leaves begin to sprout.At the beginning the plants may need plenty of water for the process of germination.

Avoid over watering as the it causes more leaves and less root and yield.Less watering or water stress creates woody roots.

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5.Thinning – Thinning is done to maintain proper plant population. When the plants are around 1 -1.5 inch length cut the weaken seeding.

Don’t pull the seedlings as they affect the root system of the adjoining plant.

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5. Nutrient management- Apply thin layer of vermicompost at 30 days after sowing.

Apply 5-6 gram of multinuteint at the 45 days after sowing.

Apply 5-6 gram of Pottassium which improves quality, taste, color and also helps the plants to improve immunity system.

6.Harvesting-You can harvest at any time after 8 weeks of sowing. You can have an idea of sizeof the root when you can start seeing the root on the top.

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7 .Pest and Disease Management-The common occurring pest is leaf minor and disease will be cercospora leaf spot and leaf minor in most of the terrace gardens.

Cercospora Leaf Spot -Symptoms include circular leaf spots that may have a reddish margin. The center of the lesions may start off a light brown and turn to gray after the fungus (Cercospora beticola) begins to sporulate.
Control Measures- Give a spray of neem oil as a precautionary measure to avoid disease. You can go for spray of any systemic fungicide in case of severe incidence of disease.

Leaf Minor-The leaves of the infested plant become marked first with translucent tunnels, then these grow to become blotches. The upper leaf surface takes on the texture of parchment while the lower one eventually turns brown. Further inspection will reveal one or more small whitish larvae (maggots) inside the leaf. The blotches are caused by the larvae as they eat the cells that make up the inside of the leaf, leaving only the upper and lower epidermis intact.

Control Measures-Give a spray of neem oil as a precautionary measure. Also neem oil reduces the egg laying capacity of female fly. Handpick the larvae and remove the affected leaves .Its better to throw away the infected leaf to avoid the spread of the insects.

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Here some health benefits of beetroot

1. Provides more number of nutrients with few calories

2.It can improve athletic performance

3. Helps to fight with inflammation

4. Helps to maintain good blood pressure

5. Improves digestive health

6. Good for brain

7. Has good anti cancerous properties

8.Helps to lose weight.