Hi all
I have some beetroots which have bolted. I've allowed them to flower and wonder if it's worth saving the seed for next year. Any advice would be appreciated.
Roy
My limited knowledge is that if they have bolted you will be saving seeds from beetroot who have a tendancy to bolt. That said other conditions may have been the main factor so in a better year they may be ok :-\
I
Yes if they bolted after being in the ground for months, then you can't blame them for that ;D
They're quite a quick and easy crop, so what have you got to lose by trying? If they make horrible beetroot, just compost them.
They should do fine. Be careful if you also have Leaf Beet (Perpetual Spinach) about which as gone to the seed at the same time as you can then get a mixture of beets growing from the seeds produced and also beetroot with long roots.
I usually keep a few beetroot each year, overwinter them in the shed and plant them out in Spring. These then produce seeds for the next year. Also do the same for parsnips although can be left in the ground if you want.
I had fantastic success with letting lettuce bolt last year which produced vast amount of seed all of which was viable .
Beetroots are biennial so you should pick only your best ones, overwinter them and save from the seed the next year.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MGowmpTP5iQ/UBznipvPF9I/AAAAAAAABAw/4JHYUpPD6s0/s1600/IMG_0165.JPG)
This is a pic of my Dobbie's Purple - we saved from the quickest ones to get to eatable size, left them all winter and as you can see, they will produce lots of seed for us, seed circles and the rest will go to HSL. The top of that is over 6ft tall. There are 5 beets there.
Really don't bother collecting from plants that bolted and set seed in their first year, as you are saving the tendency to bolt. Save from the ones that don't bolt this year, and save them next year.
I'm hoping to collect seed from an overwintered-and-then-gone -to seed rhubarb chard, which I believe is just leaf beet under another guise - how do I know when the seeds are ripe? The plant is huge and terribly in the way, if I uproot and hang it somewhere, will the seeds (which are the right size and shape, but green still) ripen?
You can tell when it's ready, it's all bobbly and brown and dry, not soft at all and certainly not green. Many seeds are very small, so I save the big fat ones.
It takes some months to ripen, and yes it does get in the way and is a bit hard to control! ::) The root and stem afterwards is also very tough and hard to dig up!
I wouldn't hang it to dry this early, I would personally leave it to ripen in situ. But I've never tried it any other way.
It leans over, as it ripens, which I expect helps it sow its seed in the wild. I suppose if you wanted it out of the way you could stake it upright?
Thanks, Pigeonseed, I'll just have to work round the monster - worth it if I can save seed from my new Favourite Vegetable.
Thanks for your advice, everybody. I had a feeling that I might be saving seed with a tendency to bolt - so it's off the the compost heap with them.
Roy