“Beet” boron deficiency with U.S. Borax
Once upon a time, a leafy plant with a thick, fleshy root flourished around Europe’s Mediterranean coasts. Called
Beta maritima, it was the ancestor of today's sugar beet—which now produces almost half of the refined sucrose used by consumers and industry.
The beet prospered in coastal areas where sea spray deposited an abundance of boron. Found mostly in the form of boric acid H
3BO
3, boron is one of the major dissolved components in seawater.
[1] Whether this abundance created a boron dependence or beets would not have evolved without it remains a sweet mystery.
Sugar beet cultivation
People discovered that the thick roots of the beets contained sugar that could be extracted and crystallized. Years of selective cultivation—choosing the plants with the biggest roots and highest sugar content to breed from—produced our modern sugar beet,
Beta vulgaris. But while sugar became more plentiful because of the crop, the plant still required high levels of boron to grow and produce good yields.
In fact, sugar beets are one of the more boron-intensive crops, and often, soil cannot naturally supply enough to meet the plant’s demands.
Spotting boron deficiency in beets
What happens when there's not enough boron in the soil for plant uptake? The growing points of the root and the shoot languish quickly. The young leaves in the developing crown die, creating the traditional symptom of "hollow heart" later in the life of the crop. The hollow fills with rainwater, creating a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi, and "heart rot" results.
By the time the symptoms are visible, it's usually too late to treat the problem. All a grower can do is top the beets at harvest, cutting off significant root material along with the leaves and stalks. Both bulk and the high-sugar content are lost.
Prevent boron deficiency
We recommend that you monitor boron levels in your fields with periodic soil and plant tissue analysis. This is particularly important if you’re growing in light, sandy, or alkaline soils.
U.S. Borax's
Solubor® provides the necessary boron for sugar beets. As a foliar spray, it’s convenient to use, and it’s easy for growers to calculate the right amount to use in their foliar mixes.
Learn how to mix Solubor into spray tanks for desired boron rates [link to: https://agriculture.borax.com/resources/agronomy-notes/boron-in-fertilizer-applications/amounts-of-solubor-to-mix-into-spray-tanks]
Bigger and sweeter with Solubor
Avoiding boron deficiency helps produce optimal crop and sugar yield. You can limit topping to the green components alone—leaving beets with maximum root weight and sugar content. Studies have shown that boron-supplemented beet crops can deliver 30% higher root weights, and 40% greater sugar content than comparable plantings.
Solubor can easily be added to sprayers along with other fertilizers or herbicides. It should be used as a soil spray before or at planting, or as one or preferably two foliar sprays when plants reach four-to-six and 10-leaf growth stages. A dry summer can also indicate the need for an additional spray later in the season.
Our regional teams can discuss boron needs that are specific to your growing conditions. Link to contact us page.
Resources
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703709007789