Planting and Maintenance of Roundup Ready Sugar Beets

You have received your order of Roundup Ready, RR sugar beet seed and received your license to plant it from Monsanto.  Now what, is it any different than planting RR corn or soybeans? What land location or preparation is necessary? Do I have to buy special planting equipment or can it be seeded with simple hand tools? What can I expect to experience by planting it, is it the magic bean or am I expecting too much?

Well, there are similarities but it ain’t planting RR corn. There is special land preparation for best results and location is important. Yes, you may decide to use planters that have special seeding plates for sugar beets or with a little practice use an inexpensive hand spreader and do fine. Your experience, (good or bad) will be largely influenced by the soil type used, your location, planting practice used and your maintenance of the plot till September. No, it is not the magic bean, but you will see things you probably haven’t seen before and most of these sights are pleasant. We will be covering a few areas mentioned in a previous article, ‘Roundup Ready sugar beets are here’ in order to make this one a complete guide.

Location, Location, Location

Yes, location is important and that is where we start. Soil type is job number one, with a medium to heavy loam preferred. Sand, will not work. The lighter soil such as loamy sand is not recommended unless there is a high water table. Planting alongside a drainage is a good idea for any soil type especially loamy sand. For the more heavy soil types, loamy clay, planting on a slight southern slope helps aid drainage. Pure clay also will not work. While all growing sugar beets love moisture, especially as they reach maturity, young sugar beet plants are sensitive to excessive moisture and easily killed, so please, keep this in mind. You want to stay away from hills of lighter soil and try to plant in the valleys between these hills. Think lower elevations for more moisture but don’t forget about the drainage factor. Sugar beets are also fussy about the sun. Don’t use suntan lotion. Sugar beets love the sun and this means you need to keep the area cleared. If you are planting a narrow strip of sugar beets in a wooded area and want to keep the clearing to a minimum try to plant in an East to West direction primarily and stay at least 30 feet from the wooded edge. This 30-foot strip can be planted in forage more tolerant of shade, such as white or ladino clover. You haven’t lost a thing, in fact you added to the attractiveness of the area. Let’s see, woods, a strip of clover, a strip of sugar beets, another strip of clover and woods again, in two jumps the buck is in safety.

Soil preparation

Sugar beets contain many nutrients, which means they take it from the soil. For you to have a good crop of sugar beets, the soil must have high nutrient and organic matter content. It may take you years to build up that lighter soil found too many times in typical hunting lands. No problem, you can build it up in preparation for that future sugar beet planting, while at the same time pull and hold deer by following the instructions found in our book, ‘Ultimate Deer Food Plots’ in the chapter, ‘Soil and its characteristics’. Even with better soil types such as loam that has good drainage, the nutrient level should be very high along with the organic matter content. Take soil tests of selected plots and think very high nutrient levels. Soil tests results may show grades such as low, medium, high and very high and or in, ‘Parts per million’ PPM. For PPM think phosphorous at 40-150 PPM, potash and magnesium at 200-300 PPM. Get that Ph at 6.5 to 7.5. That first year planting of sugar beets should be in a field that was sprayed and tilled the previous fall or following an effective plant rotation.

Plant rotation

Sugar beets take many nutrients from the soil and are hosts to several pests from insects to mold, fungus and other villains. We need to break that cycle of pests and replace those nutrients. Plant rotation does this very well. There are several effective plant rotations recommended by agricultural agents. Here is one of them. A four-year rotation is recommended. Plant RR sugar beets that first year, the second year plant RR soybeans in spring. The third is winter wheat broadcast into those still green soys in early September of the second year. In September of the third year you will spray one quart of Roundup and one pint of 2-4-D ester per acre in mid September to kill any wheat or weeds. Four to six weeks later till the field for the fourth years planting. The fourth year you will be planting Mammoth red clover in spring. Do not mow the clover. As we sprayed and tilled that winter wheat prior to the following spring planting of clover, so to in mid September we spray Roundup and the 2-4-D ester. 4-6 weeks later till the Mammoth red clover for the following spring planting of RR sugar beets. Note: the last planting of Mammoth red clover is designed to rebuild the organic matter and add nutrients to the soil. Plant Mammoth red clover not medium red clover for maximum green manure and don’t be concerned if deer shy away from it. You are not only breaking the pest cycle you are also building up the soil. We asked in the beginning what might your experiences be when planting RR sugar beets? Well, here is one practice that will influence an improved hunting experience. You have kept the field fresh and free of pests. You have built up the nutrient level and organic content. Couple that with timed spraying and fertilizer applications of the sugar beets and you created an edge in your favor that is unbeatable, even in an agricultural area. The deer know what is best for them and will gravitate to your field, Big time.

Planting and fertilization of sugar beets

Sugar beets are a long season crop and need to be planted as early as conditions allow. They are a cool-season forage and can take fairly cool weather but not freezing when young. In Mid Michigan It would be advisable to think late April to an early May planting, further north, a late May to early June planting may be advised. Sugar beets are grown commercially from Maine to California, with the planting date in California being September.

Tillage is usually recommended prior to seeding sugar beets. If you have tilled the previous fall and have a clean field as recommended above, you can plant beets using a heavy duty, (or no-till) V double coulter planter that slices into the mellow but not spring tilled soil, drops individual seed spaced correctly and has compress wheels for good seed soil contact. Many planters can also incorporate fertilizer. Even with no-till, never plant into wet soil. Plant sugar beet seed ½- ¾ inch deep. You are finished. All you need to do is several timely sprayings and additional fertilization. Unfortunately this is not the situation for most food plotters. We just do not usually have a $30,000 planter that has the ability to seed corn, soybeans or sugar beets. So we adjust

We do have that clean field that was tilled the previous fall. We will take a soil test the previous fall, even with a top-notch soil build up program. If you haven’t, broadcast 300 lbs of 19-19-19 and 25 lbs of magnesium sulfate per acre. Till in the broadcast fertilizer with the blades set no deeper than four inches. Around six to eight weeks later broadcast 100 lbs of urea, 46-0-0 per acre. Around September 15th broadcast another 100 lbs of urea. per acre. Never till wet soil. You are setting up a condition of the soil surface being brick hard after drying, which prevents plant emergence. Make a ball of dirt with your hands, then drop it on your foot. If it breaks up, the soil should be dry enough to plant, if not wait. Patience is a virtue not seen often enough when dealing with Mother Nature, but patience you need, for Mother Nature wins every time.

We now have a tilled field that has fertilizer incorporated. We will now broadcast RR sugar beet seeds by hand and accurately. There is an old style hand spreader called cyclone that has been around for a century. It has a seed opening plate that shuttles from side to side. A hand lever sets the seed opening plate to a desired width. The seed then falls onto a whirling plate that broadcasts seed. This old hand spreader works rather well, except for sugar beets, which due to its odd shape and light-weight tends to not flow well. Even with the shuttle action, beet seed either doesn’t flow or with a slight more seed opening, seed rushes out. A slight improvisation takes care of this problem. Near the front of this shuttle seed plate, 1/4 inch from the front edge, drill seven holes at 1/2 inch spacing for a 1/8 inch copper POP rivet. Have the POP rivets facing into the seed compartment. This creates furious seed agitation and works well for all seed. There is an inexpensive newer hand spreader made by Earthway, model 2750,  www.earthway.com that has a unique wobble plate that forces seed out. Both work more than satisfactory. It is recommended by Monsanto that sugar beet seed be broadcasted at the rate of 50,000 to 60,000 seeds per acre for best results. The RR sugar beet seed is pellitized, seed hairs removed, and coated for disease and insect protection. Most seed will be the large number five-size. Set the seed plate opening with a 7/64 drill as a starter and lock the setting. Use a full sized paper shopping bag and duct tape it to the lower part of the spreader to catch seed. Pick your pace and walk a measured distance of 50 feet.  The normal width of broadcasted pellitized sugar beet seed should be 15 feet. 50 feet long times a width of 15 feet equals an area of 750 square feet. A seed count of 860 seeds in the paper bag equals 50,000 seeds per acre. A seed count of 1033 seeds would equal 60,000 seeds per acre. Try for the 50,000 seeding-rate for better growing conditions to a maximum of the 60,000 rate for less than optimum growing conditions. It may take a few dry runs to get the feel of broadcasting seed accurately but accurate you will be. You will learn in a short time the rhythm of turning the crank and walking speed for minor adjustments. For smaller seed sizes change the plate opening a bit using a drill as a gauge. You have now fertilized, tilled and accurately broadcast RR sugar beet seed. Last item for planting is to cultipack to create good seed soil contact. This is vital and you will get seed near the surface to germinte. Please cultipack twice and slow. If no cultipacker a quad run over works OK. Sugar beet seed should be planted at the depth of 1/2 to 3/4 inch, with firm seed soil contact.. The above sequence of tillage, (disking, rototilling, field cultivator) to a depth of 3-4 inches and no more, then broadcasting seed, followed by a slow double cultipacking pass will accomplish this. Your kill, (attraction) food plots should be small in size, (1/8 acre is fine) while a destination, (feed) plot, which is best not hunted can be what you decide.

Spraying Roundup

This is now an easy chore compared to the delicate task of yesterday and thanks to the technical expertise of Monsanto and their sources. It is very important that we still spray timely and an accurate amount, which we will now explore.

From Monsanto’s  ‘Roundup Ready Sugar beet Technical Bulletin’.

“Roundup ready Sugar beet varieties have in-plant tolerance to Roundup agricultural herbicides, enabling growers to apply labeled Roundup agricultural herbicides from planting through 30 days prior to harvest for unsurpassed weed control, excellent crop safety and preservation of yield..

Sugar beet seedlings are extremely sensitive to weed competition for light, nutrients and soil moisture. Research on sugar beet weed control suggests that sugar beets need to be kept weed free for the first eight weeks of growth to protect yield potential. Therefore, control weeds when they are small (2-4 inches in height) to minimize weed competition and preserve yield potential”.

The following spraying recommendations are very important. You will spray more than once. Early season weed control is critical. Always add spray grade ammonium sulfate (AMS) with Roundup herbicide to maximize product performance.

Your first spraying should take place around 3-4 weeks after planting. You should be planting sugar beets as early as soil conditions permit. This may mean cool soil temperatures, which suppress weed emergence. Things happen and you may not be able to plant till the late May. Soil is warmer and weeds grow fast, therefore a spraying two weeks after planting may be necessary. Your first spraying should be before weeds exceed two inches in height or when the sugar beet plant reaches the two-leaf stage, whichever comes first. If you use a four-gallon backpack sprayer add one cup of sprayable ammonium sulfate, AMS to a half full tank of water. Add four ounces of Roundup, (1/2 cup) then, top off with water. You are set to spray 1/6 of an acre. Know the acreage of the plot being sprayed and spray accordingly. I recommend small kill plots of 1/8 acre or less. You should have spray material left after spraying this size of a plot. The above is not difficult. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes fun.

If you have a quad with a spray tank and spray boom mounted, it becomes easier. For a 14 gallon tank that is set up normally to do an acre, fill with water to ¼ full, add one quart of AMS, add 24 ounces ¾ quart of Roundup then fill with water. Know what speed, (usually 5-6 miles an hour, a fast walk) you need to travel to spray one acre.

For larger setups, (fifty gallon or more spray tanks) add 17 lbs of AMS per 100 gallons of spray solution. Know your spray system and what it takes to spray an acre of land, then add that 24 ounces of Roundup per acre.

The second spraying and all subsequent sprayings use the same amount of AMS and Roundup per acre, with a maximum of 96 ounces, (or four sprayings) of Roundup being used per acre. The second spraying take place before the weeds reach four inches in height, (approximately three weeks after the first). Weeds should never grow higher than the beets. You are now close to six weeks after the planting date and may be close to full canopy cover, which suppresses weeds in a big way. Full leaf canopy cover is your goal then, you should not need to spray any more.

If the third spraying or more is needed, follow the rule above, “Spraying takes place before the weeds grow to four inches of height”. Think 3-4 weeks after the second spraying. The above spraying instructions are in detail for a reason. There are there to insure your success. The last maintenance is to broadcast urea, (46-0-0) at 100 lbs per acre around September 15th.

Roundup Ready sugar beet seed is here and available. Monsanto inc, originator of Roundup herbicide and seed, requires that all growers however small get a license to purchase or plant this patented seed 

For Monsanto license applications, ordering seed and/or additional information, see our website www.deerattraction.com or call 586-784-8090.

Keep the fun in hunting!

Ed Spinazzola, Board Member, Mid Michigan Branch, QDMA

                           Board Member, National, QDMA

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