Sugarbeet Feature Stories

     Bigger may not automatically translate into better; but if and when the situation calls for it, adding some size can make a lot of sense.
    That’s Chris Hong’s philosophy when it comes to planter capacity.  In the spring of  2012, Hong Farms, based at Buxton, N.D., used three 48-row planters to put in their sugarbeet, corn, soybean and edible bean crops.  The three Deere DB88 48R22s covered about 17,000 acres last spring, including 7,400 acres of beets.

By Robert Harveson

    Sugarbeets in Nebraska and other areas of the Great Plains may be affected by a number of diseases from all pathogen groups, including fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes.  Fungal diseases are commonly encountered causing leaf spots (Cercospora, Phoma, and Alternaria), root rots (Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Aphanomyces,).  Bacteria are generally less problematic in this region but can cause both foliar blights, leaf spots (bacterial leaf spot) and root rots (bacterial vascular necrosis and rot – formally Erwinia root rot).  Both viruses (rhizomania and beet soilborne mosaic) and nematodes (sugar cyst and false root-knot) commonly are found residing in soils, resulting in root disease problems.