Growing Sugar Beets in East Texas

Sugar beets are grown throughout the Midwest, but may also be grown in East Texas.

Sugar beets are a cash crop with multiple applications including sucrose, which can be refined into sugar as well as molasses and pulp for livestock feed, alcohol, pharmaceuticals and yeast for baking. The sugar beet is a major cash crop in the Texas panhandle, although it may also be grown as a crop in eastern portions of Texas through zone 8. Problems that East Texas farmers may encounter while growing sugar beets include insects common to subtropical regions, as well as diseases such as mold or powdery mildew that come from the wet climate.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Bucket
• Newspaper
• Plastic food storage bag
• Rototiller
• Compost
• Rake
• Hoe
• Straw mulch
• Fungicide approved for use with sugar beets
• Insecticide approved for use with sugar beets

Instructions

1. Dig up 1 quart of soil from over 10 random locations throughout your garden or field. Place these soil samples in a bucket and stir them with your shovel. Empty the bucket's contents onto a newspaper and leave them to dry. Scoop two cups of soil into a plastic bag and send them to the Texas A&M University Soil, Water and Forage testing laboratory for testing. A soil test will reveal the soil's structure and nutrient content, and help determine soil amendments that you can add to your soil to improve it. Sugar beets will grow well in the sandy clay that is common to East Texas. But most soil can benefit from an additional amendment of compost.

2. Break up your soil with a rototiller to a depth of 12 inches. Spread a 4-inch layer of compost over the soil. Mix the soil and compost with the rototiller.

3. Rake up hills, furrows or raised beds for planting sugar beets. Most sugar beets grow well in areas that receive 20 inches of rainfall yearly, but rainfall in East Texas may reach between 30 and 60 inches. Water will drain away from sugar beets planted in raised soil and will prevent the plants from rotting in the soil.

4. Plant sugar beets during times when the plants will receive optimal temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees F. Sugar beets will grow from seed to harvest over 90 days. The best time period for planting sugar beets in East Texas is from mid March through late May. Sugar beets may also be planted from late September through late November, if they are given protection from heat early in the season and from frost late in the season. To plant sugar beets, open planting furrows in the soil that are three times as deep as the beet seed at its widest point. The seed should not be planted deeper than 1-and-1/2 inch wide. Plant seeds at a rate of 2 pounds per acre in rows that are spaced 18 to 24 inches wide.

5. Thin sugar beet seedlings until the plants are 4 inches apart.

6. Remove weeds by plowing in between sugar beet furrows and removing individual weeds in sugar beet rows with a hoe. Weeds will prevent sugar beets from attaining a useful size prior to harvest, and must be stringently controlled.

7. Observe sugar beets daily for signs of disease including fungus and powdery mildew or insects such as grubs, cutworms or root maggots. Fungus and powdery mildew are a particular problem in wet environments found in East Texas during sugar beet growing season. If you see evidence of disease, treat sugar beets with a fungicide approved for use with sugar beets. Insecticides, trap crops or predator insects can help with control of insects that can harm your sugar beets. Your local county extension service can recommend the best fungicides and herbicides to treat your crop.

8. Remove sugar beet foliage prior to lifting sugar beet roots from the soil. Removing foliage prevents it from sprouting again in storage piles. Pull sugar beets from the soil and brush all dirt off of the beets. Store beets on paved ground in piles, or transport beets to beet-processing centers in trucks.

Tips & Warnings

• A rototiller is suitable for breaking up garden soil. For larger fields, use a disk plow and a tractor. If you do not already have such equipment, you can either rent the equipment from an equipment rental store, or hire a local farmer to do the work for you.

References

• Purdue University Extension: Sugar Beets
• Texas A&M University Extension: Texas Commodity: Sugar Beets
• East Texas Gardening: Soil Testing
• The Handbook of Texas Online: East Texas
• Current Results: Average Annual Precipitation for Texas
• 9KTRE: Climate Data

Resources

• Sugar Beet Research: Production Guide