About
Beta vulgaris 'Solo' is an annual vegetable cultivated for its round, smooth, deep red root that boasts a high sugar content, resulting in a sweet taste. It can be harvested early as baby vegetables or allowed to mature fully. This variety is monogerm, producing only one or two seedlings per seed cluster instead of the typical three, which minimizes the need for thinning the crop.
About the genus
Beta comprises annual, biennial, or perennial plants characterized by rosettes of basal foliage and robust, fleshy roots. This genus encompasses various wild species alongside cultivated varieties like beetroot, chard, and sugar beet.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil type
- Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H3
Plant details
- Plant type
- Annual Biennial
- Habit
- Bushy
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 1 year
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Best grown in a fertile, free-draining soil in full sun. Sow at fortnightly intervals from March to July for a successional harvest. See RHS Grow Your Own Beetroot Guide
- Pruning
- No pruning required
- Propagation
- Propagate by seed. See sowing vegetable seeds
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to aphids, flea beetles and beet leaf miner
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to downy mildews, foot and root rots and leaf spots