05/30/24 Mark Bloomquist

Today we have an update from the southern portion of the Valley. Mark Bloomquist, Director of Research for the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative has the latest on crop emergence, plant populations and cover crops. 

What is Sugarbeet Report?

“Sugarbeet Report” presented by NDSU Extension, features growing tips from NDSU sugar beet specialists and researchers.

Bruce Sundeen: 00:00

This is the Sugar Beet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. Today, we have an update from the southern portion of the valley. Mark Blomquist, director of research for the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, has the latest on crop emergence, plant populations, and cover crops. Mark, how did spring planting go in your area this year?

Mark Bloomquist: 00:22

In 2024, SMBSC experienced one of the earliest planting windows of the past several season. The first planting window opened on April 12th and went until April 15th. Rainfall of 1.5 to 2 inches began falling on the evening of 15th and over the next few days, which put a stop to the sugar beet planting. During this 4 day planting window, 55% of the SMBSC crop was planted. A second planting window was April 22nd through 25th. During this second planting window, another 40% of the SMBSC sugar beet crop was planted. In total, 95% of the crop was planted by April 25th. This is an excellent planting date for SMBSC and one of the top 5 in the past 20 years. Following the second planting window, several rainfall events limited field activity until May 12th.

Bruce Sundeen: 01:12

How has crop emergence been, and what are the sugar beet populations in the southern part of the valley?

Mark Bloomquist: 01:17

Sugar beet populations from the first planting window are generally really good. Many of these fields have populations of 200 sugar beets per 100 foot a row. The rains fell every few days during the emergence of the sugar beets in these fields, thus reducing any issues with soil crusting. The fields planted during the 2nd planting window are a little more variable. The 2nd planting window had to deal with more soil crusting, and the stands on these fields are generally in the 160 60 to 175 sugarbeets per 100 foot a row. They're not as uniform as the earlier planting. There are fields with 200 stands, but there are also some scattered poor emergence fields. There was some limited replanting of fields from the second planting window.

Bruce Sundeen: 01:56

Now that the crop is in and growing, what can producers do to prepare for next season's planting?

Mark Bloomquist: 02:02

Now is a great time to evaluate your sugar beet stands and look back at the planting season. If your sugar beet stands are less than you planned for, what are some of the potential reasons and what management change can you make as you look forward to planting the 2025 crop? You're following a high residue crop with your sugar beets. How was your residue management? The previous crop residue caused an issue with your seed beds. What management changes can help for future crops. Do you want to consider different tillage under your current crop rotation or make changes to your crop rotation to follow a lower residue crop? We generally recommend a sugar beet seeding depth of 1 and a quarter inches. Did you have lower than average emergence? Do you feel you planted too deep or not deep enough in 2024? If you believe you are too shallow in 2024, record your depth setting from your 2024 planter and your records and use a setting to help make a decision to consider modifying the depth setting of your planter in 2025 based on your seed bed conditions. Residue management and seedbed quality both play an important role in seeding depth. Spend a few minutes to reflect on the 2024 season, any challenges you had with seedbed preparation and planting. This will allow you to make changes to your program for the 2025 crop season.

Bruce Sundeen: 03:16

Mark, you've seen a lot of spring seeded cover crops in your area. What kind of response have you had with sugar beet populations and production?

Mark Bloomquist: 03:24

There were many windy days during the spring of 2024. At SMBSC, we have been supporters of using a spring seeded cover crop for our sugar beets. If you did not use a spring seeded cover crop of wheat, oats, or barley on your sugar beets this season, you should consider this practice for 2025. The cover crop helps prevent soil movement during the strong spring winds and also helps to protect the small sugar beet plants. Cover crop helps to maintain greater sugar beet populations in the fields. Data from the 2020 through 2023 SMBSC agronomic practice database shows that the average sugar beet population on cover crop fields is 10 sugar beets per 100 footer row greater than non cover crop fields. These same cover crop fields also yielded 512 pounds of extractable sugar per acre more than the non cover crop fields.

Bruce Sundeen: 04:12

Mark, any final thoughts?

Mark Bloomquist: 04:14

Looks like we have a great start to the 2024 sugar beet crop. Best wishes to everyone for a successful remainder of the 2024 growing season.

Bruce Sundeen: 04:22

Thanks, Mark. Our guest has been Mark Blomquist, director of research for the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. This has been the Sugar Beet Report bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.