Four things eat into a Wyoming beet crop, and they arrive in order: thirst in the first six weeks, which sends plants to flower; heat above 85 F with dry roots, which turns them woody; a late frost that catches seedlings; and a cellar colder than you’d think. Insect and animal pests are not covered by the sources behind this page, so it sticks to soil, water, heat and storage. For the full crop calendar, start with Growing Beets in Wyoming.
The short answer
Start with the ground. USDA lists the Forkwood series as Wyoming’s representative soil, an Aridisol, which is a dry-climate soil that usually runs alkaline and often carries salts. The surface layer averages about 7.2 pH (near neutral), with 42 percent sand, 20 percent clay and 38 percent silt, so loam to silt. Organic matter sits around 1.5 percent, and drainage is well drained. Those figures are representative values for the surface horizon across 105 mapped components of the series, queried from USDA NRCS Soil Data Access. They describe the soil that stands for the state, not a worked garden bed.
A state this size spans hundreds of soil series. Your yard may sit on river-bottom silt, hill-country gravel or subsoil a builder scraped and spread around, and none of those behave like Forkwood. Treat the numbers as a starting point, then get a soil test for your own bed.
Set against what a beet wants, the picture is mixed. Utah State University Extension describes the ideal as deep, sandy, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Forkwood clears the drainage bar. At 42 percent sand it is not truly sandy, but 20 percent clay is modest enough that roots shouldn’t meet a brick wall at the first few inches. The weak spot is the 1.5 percent organic matter, which is thin for a crop that likes a rich bed. Utah State suggests no more than 1 inch of composted organic matter per 100 sq ft, so a light, even layer worked in does the job. Piling it on doesn’t. More detail on matching a bed to the root lives in Beet Soil in Wyoming: What the Root Will Meet.
Now the heat question. The count of days a year that the reference station passes 90 F is not published in the figures behind this page, and a guess would be worse than a gap. What the source does give is a lower threshold: heat above 85 F combined with water stress makes the root woody. Woodiness is a mid-to-late season failure, a tough, fibrous root from hot, dry weeks. It has nothing to do with the early-season failure of bolting, where plants flower prematurely. Two different problems, two different windows, and the next section deals with the first one.
The six weeks that decide it here
Beets are sown in place, never transplanted, and the standard advice is to seed them 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost. NOAA NCEI puts the last spring freeze (32 F) in a band from May 7 to May 18, using the 30 to 70 percent probability range at station USW00024018. Count back and the sowing window runs from roughly April 16 to May 4. For the tighter calendar, When to Sow Beets in Wyoming breaks it down.
Utah State is blunt about those first six weeks: water stress during them causes premature flowering. Six weeks from a mid-April seeding ends around May 28. From an early-May seeding it ends around June 15. So the bolting risk sits in a stretch from late April to mid-June, and it is a thirst problem rather than a calendar problem.
What does spring usually do at this elevation? The numbers here don’t include spring rainfall, so there’s no inch count to quote. What they do show is a spring that swings. The frost band alone spans 12 days. The frost-free season is only roughly 130 days at 6,000 feet, and at higher elevations frost is possible in any month. A warm, drying afternoon can sit between two freezing nights, and a wind-dried seedbed can go from damp to dusty in a day. Seedlings in that stretch are the ones that get stressed.
Two things follow. First, a seed row can’t be left to the weather: if it hasn’t rained, irrigate, and keep the top few inches evenly damp until the plants are up and growing. A silt-rich surface can crust as it dries, so a light layer of mulch or a covering over the row helps seedlings emerge. Second, season extension is not optional here. A row cover that goes on for cold nights and comes off for warm days protects against the frost the NOAA band can’t rule out.
The clock keeps running after those six weeks. Beets take 60 to 80 days counted from seeding, never from a transplant, so a mid-April sowing is ready around mid-June and an early-May sowing reaches late July. Roots sizing up through that period are the ones exposed to the later failure, heat above 85 F on dry ground. Keep the bed evenly moist through the whole stretch, not just the first six weeks.
What goes wrong here
- Bolting from early thirst. Water stress in the first six weeks after seeding pushes plants to flower. Remedy: irrigate on a schedule from the day you sow, mulch lightly once plants are up, and check the bed after any windy, dry spell.
- Woody roots from heat. This is a separate failure, later in the season: heat above 85 F with water stress makes the root tough. Remedy: keep the bed evenly moist while roots size up, and pull roots at a modest size instead of leaving them in the ground through a hot dry stretch.
- Frost on young plants. The last freeze falls between May 7 and May 18, and frost can occur in any month at higher elevations. Remedy: plan for row covers or similar protection from the day you sow.
- Thin soil. Organic matter of about 1.5 percent on the representative soil means little reserve. Remedy: work in no more than 1 inch of composted organic matter per 100 sq ft, then run a soil test, since your bed may not resemble Forkwood at all, and salts are something the test can reveal.
- Storing too cold. Every other root crop wants the coldest spot you have, but not beets. USDA Handbook 66 says storage at 32 to 34 F produces more black spot and rot than slightly warmer conditions. Remedy: aim for 33 to 36 F at 98 percent relative humidity for topped roots, and keep pits and cellars between 31 and 41 F.
- Leaving the tops on. Bunched beets with leaves last only 10 to 14 days at 32 F. Remedy: top them first if you want them to keep.
- Shriveled small roots. Large roots keep much better because they lose water more slowly. Remedy: eat the small ones first and save the big ones for storage.
The storage figures come from USDA Agricultural Handbook 66.
Common questions
When should I sow beets in Wyoming?
Seed 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost. With that frost falling between May 7 and May 18 per NOAA NCEI, the window is roughly April 16 to May 4. Sow in place, since beets are not transplanted.
Is Wyoming’s state soil good for beets?
Partly. Forkwood is well drained, which beets want, and it is loam to silt with 42 percent sand, 20 percent clay and 38 percent silt. Its organic matter, about 1.5 percent, is low. It is a representative soil, not yours, so test your own bed.
Why do my beets bolt and why do they turn woody?
They are two different failures. Bolting comes from water stress in the first six weeks. Woodiness comes later, when heat above 85 F meets water stress. Fixing one does not fix the other.
Should I store beets as cold as possible?
No. Topped roots keep best at 33 to 36 F and 98 percent relative humidity. At 32 to 34 F, black spot and rot increase. Top the roots first, since bunched beets with leaves last only 10 to 14 days, and store the large roots, which keep better than small ones.