First time BEET

[Brisel]

Both the active ingredients in Punch C have been withdrawn years ago. There are plenty of alternatives. A decent agronomist will advise you on these.

You'll make far more money out of getting the soil and establishment right at the beginning of the growing season than you will from fungicides.

 

[Exfarmer]

Neighbour used to use an Armer, but it was abandoned 25 years ago. Can you still get parts? They are good for not picking up stone and i can see the advantage in AD there. Soil wise not sure if there is much to choose between any on light land. Possibly the armer is better, but had no direct experience working with them
Biggest problem is a heavy early frost knocking leaves off.

On fertiliser front. As you should be aware most beet growers use salt , except on the heavy clays. Salt should always be ploughed down, generally a combination salt , phosphate and Magnesium fertiliser is put on before ploughing.
Then a starter With some P and K with half the nitrogen is worked into the seedbed. Beet can suffer from germination issues if this is not worked and placed on surface after drilliing although i have never seen it.
Only half the nitrogen is put in seed bed so it is. Not washed beyond root layer. Other half of N is put on at 4-6 leaf stage.
Broad leaf weed control is critical!
Do get a pre em on.
I used to put a sniff of Glyphosate on at this stage if I was certain no beet had emerged. Once weeds get any size you will not control them.

 

[Kam]

Some good advice above but I would suggest getting the second dose of fertilser on as soon as crop has fully emerged.

Quote from BBRO email sent out on 07/04/16:

Emergence
Crops which have been sown have had plenty of moisture and reports are of a very even seed strike in the majority of cases. Radicles are developing well and some crops will not be very far off emerging. Be ready to apply the second dose of nitrogen fertiliser to crops as soon as they have emerged.

All the info you'll ever need is here http://bbro.co.uk/publications/reference-book/

 

[Brisel]

If you use AN the prills can scorch the growing point if they lodge between the first true leaves. Bear in mind this is April so a dry spell can mean it doesn't get washed in for a while - less bulk and higher aminos later on

 

[landslave the 2nd]

Used to grow 30 acre fodder beet......
Had 2 single row " armours "
Great for stonefree product
Parts OK from agrifac near Cambridge way (Google )
With an " armour "extra forward speed needed to knock themup out the ground as lifter arm underneath the ground pushes them up,we found that welding a scuffel Tyne on the duck foot lifter made it better for the belt to grab the stems .need a good mirror on the left side or a very sore neck,
We drilled at 20 inch rows,small tractor 80 hp 4x4 on 72 inch wheels as bigger tractor and bigger wider wheels meaning the 3rd joystick was pushed rightout so no room for correction at fast forward speed.
Good day 8 till 5 would do 3 acres with 2 harvesterst..remember you need long low trailers as hopper lift hight not great
Beet will stand a -6c but not -9c
Does still keep growing in winter and sucks up rain to keep ground dryish
Season dependant...September 18th yield 14 - 18 ton/ acre ...January more like 25-33
Defo put something else on headland but a 20mts boom (first time round) takes a20 to 33 % of your field out of beet.

 

[ollie989898]

Put all the AN in the seed bed. Save driving through it all the time.