Divisi
How to grow Beetroot
Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris · Amaranthaceae
Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC0
Beetroot (Beta vulgaris) is a cool-season root vegetable grown for its round, deep-red, sweet root — and its young leaves double as greens, cooked like spinach. You sow it straight into the ground (no nursery), and lift the first roots in as little as two to three months. Two things make or break the crop. First, the root swells into one smooth ball only in a loose, stone-free, evenly-damp bed — stones, hard clods, fresh manure or on-off watering make it fork, crack or grow whiskery. Second, beetroot must have a trace of boron in the soil, or the heart of the root rots black. Get the bed right, thin the seedlings so each root stands alone, feed a little potash and boron, and keep the water dead steady — and you lift firm, round, sweet roots.
Kolforn · CC BY-SA 4.0 
Dag Endresen · CC BY 2.0
- Days to maturity
- 55–90 days
- Row spacing
- 35 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 8 cm
- Sowing depth
- 2–3 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will beetroot actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Beetroot
beet · beetroot · table beet · red beet · betterave · beterraba · biti · bitiruti
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing beetroot, stage by stage
Your beetroot season from bed to basket — dig a loose, stone-free bed, thin the seedball clumps to single plants, feed potash and boron, and keep the water steady so the roots swell smooth and sweet.
- Get the bed ready
- Sow, then thin to single plants
- Grow the leaves — feed light, weed shallow
- Swell the root — steady water, potash and boron
- Lift the roots
- Top, clean and store
13 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for beetroot — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack beetroot
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your beetroot right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does beetroot take to grow?
Beetroot takes about 55–90 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for beetroot?
Space beetroot rows about 35 cm apart, with roughly 8 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should beetroot be planted?
Sow beetroot at about 2–3 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack beetroot?
The ones covered in this guide are Amaranth leaf webber, Beet leaf miner, Cercospora leaf spot. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow beetroot with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first