Seed Saving: How to Save Beetroot Seeds

Are you a beet lover? Find out how to save beetroot seeds to plant next year in this article from our seed saving series!

 

How to Save Beetroot Seeds

Step 1: Store at least 6 beets in your fridge or root cellar for the winter.

Step 2: To save beet seeds, replant the beets in the ground in the spring.

Step 3: Isolate beets from other varieties by 5 miles or use the bagging technique to prevent cross pollination.

Step 4: Harvest the beetroot seeds when they are brown and dry.

 

 

Beets are a biennial crop. That means that they usually don’t produce seeds until their second year. To save seeds from beets, you’ll have to keep them alive over winter so they can bolt and produce seeds the following spring. Keep reading to learn exactly how to save beetroot seeds from your garden!

 

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Overwintering Beets for Seed

 

Two techniques can be used to overwinter seed beets, depending on where you live.

 

 

How to Save Beet Seeds in the South

If you live in the south, you have it easy when it comes to saving beet seeds! In warm climates, beets can be planted in the fall and left in the ground over winter. The following spring they will bolt, or send up tall flower stalks.

 

How to Save Beet Seeds in the North

While beets need a period of cooler temperatures to signal to the plants that it is time to go to seed, they cannot tolerate hard frosts.

If you live in a cool climate, you will have to dig the beets in the fall. Brush the dirt off, but do not wash the beets. Trim the tops off, leaving 1-2″ attached to the root.

Store the beets in a root cellar, or in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until the ground thaws in the spring. When the ground is thawed, the beets can be planted back out in the garden.

 

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How Many Beets to Save for Seed

 

For good pollination, allow at least 6 plants to go to seed. Ideally, save seeds from 20 or more plants to keep your variety from getting inbred.

20 plants will provide a large quantity of seed, enough to last the typical home gardener many years, so you don’t have to save beet seeds every year.

 

Can Beets Cross with Other Plants?

 

The most important thing to remember when learning how to save beetroot seeds is that they can cross with other kinds of beets growing miles in any direction.

All types of beets, including garden beets, sugar beets and mangel or forage beets, are the same species and can cross with each other. Beets can also cross with Swiss chard.

Beets are pollinated primarily by wind, not by insects. Beet pollen can travel up to five miles!

If you think any of your neighbors could possibly have beets flowering at the same time as yours, you might want to use a technique called bagging to keep your variety pure.

To bag beets, you’ll want to plant clusters of around six plants together. When the stalks begin to form, but before the flowers open, drive a stake into the soil in the center of the plants. Gently bend the stalks towards the stake, tying them if needed.

Place a large paper bag upside down over all the stalks. Wrap a little batting around the stake at the bottom of the bag as insurance to keep foreign pollen out, and staple the bottom of the bag shut as tightly as possible around the stake. Each day when you visit your garden, shake the bag a bit to move the pollen around.

Note: Beets can only cross with other varieties if they are flowering at the same time. If your neighbor grows beetroots for the table but does not allow them to flower, they will not cross with your variety.

 

 

Harvesting Beetroot Seeds

 

Beetroot seeds are green when they are first forming. They can be harvested with they turn brown and dry out.

You can either harvest the seeds a few at a time as they ripen, or pull the entire plant when the seeds are mostly dry.  If you are pulling the whole plants, hang them in a dry place with good airflow to continue drying until the seeds easily come off the plant.

Use gloves to strip the seeds from the stalks. For larger quantities of seed, you might find it easier to place the dry stalks on a tarp or in a bag and and stomp on the plants.

Make sure the seeds are completely dry before storing for next year!

You can find information on seed storage here, and printable seed packets here!

 

 

More Seed Saving Advice

Did you enjoy learning how to save beetroot seeds? You can find more seed saving articles right here!

Simplifying Seed Saving

 

Are you overwhelmed by everything you need to know about saving seeds? Don’t worry, that’s completely normal, and we can help!

There is so much to learn, and the information can get so confusing!

But we have created a simple online seed saving course that takes you through everything you need to know to save seeds from your garden. The course is organized into a simple, visual and easy to follow format that can be completed in as little as an afternoon!

In the course, you’ll learn how to save beetroot seeds, as well as seeds from more than 20 different vegetables.

Along with the course, you’ll get downloadable reference charts for common garden vegetables to make it easy to remember what you learn!

Who is this course for? Anyone who wants to learn how to save seeds from their garden!

Who is the course not for? All those now experienced seed savers who wasted years of time and effort figuring it out on their own.

Check out the course here!

 

 

Happy Seed Saving!

-Kait