Beetroot Pests And Diseases

Beetroot is best planted in soil that is manure free, as manure rich soil can cause the roots to grow misshapen.

In general though beetroot is a relatively pest and disease free vegetable to grow, although there are a few pests and diseases to be aware of.

The first one to be aware of is when small blisters appear on the beetroot, which are caused by mangold leaf or leaf milner. These are small white grubs that tunnel into the beetroot, the tunnels then turn into blisters. This in turn can cause the plants leaves to go brown and then stunt the plants growth. It can be easily treated however by removing the affected leaves at the earliest sign of attack and destroying them e.g. they should not be placed in your compost bin but placed out with household waste or burnt.

Bolting is another problem where plants can turn to seed and this is best avoided by using a bolt hardy variety of seed.

Beetroot can also be susceptible to aphid damage, which very similar to the damage caused to chili plants by aphids can cause the leaves to warp and twist. The aphids can be removed by encouraging ladybirds to attack and feed on the aphids. Alternatively wash the leaves with mild soapy water, although note you may have to do this regularly.

Leaf Spot is another common problem that occurs, and takes the form of brown spots that appear on the leaves and the center of the spot then drops out as though eaten away.

Whilst it looks bad it does not actually affect the beetroot yield that much, and it can be easily treated by removing and destroying the affected leaves. This beetroot disease is best prevented by rotating the crop and not sowing beetroot in the same place year after year. If you do have to sow it in the same place then add a good liquid fertilizer prior to planting.

Swift moths are one of the worst pest as they are virtually unseen with the first signs of problems being that your beetroot plants appear stunted and unhealthy, whilst there is no effect seen on the leaves, thus making it a hard problem to detect, and sadly the only cure is to remove the affected beetroot plants and destroy them. Overall though Beetroot is a very easy vegetable to grow and many of the above pests and diseases are very easy to treat.

Interested? Then find out How To Grow Beetroot

By Richard Allen -