Encyclopedia
Definitive guides for crops, pests, and agricultural diseases.
Beet
Beet is a cool-season root crop prized for its swollen taproot, nutritious greens, reliable productivity, and excellent storage potential. With proper soil preparation, steady moisture, and timely thinning, beets can produce tender roots with rich color, balanced sweetness, and strong market or kitchen value across a long growing window.
View Guide
Beet (Bull’s Blood)
Bull’s Blood is an heirloom beet cultivar prized for its deep burgundy foliage and sweet, tender roots. This dual-purpose variety excels in both ornamental edible gardens and commercial root production.
View Guide
Beet (Chioggia - Candy Stripe)
Chioggia beets, also known as candy stripe beets, are an Italian heirloom variety prized for their striking concentric rings of pink and white. This cool-season root crop offers both sweet, tender roots and nutritious greens, making it a favorite for home gardeners and market growers alike.
View Guide
Beet (Crosby Egyptian)
Crosby Egyptian is a classic early-season beet variety prized for its deep red, flattened roots and tender greens. This heirloom produces uniform, sweet beets in as little as 55–60 days and performs reliably in both spring and fall plantings. Its compact habit and bolt resistance make it ideal for home gardens and small-scale market production.
View Guide
Beet (Cylindra - Formanova)
Cylindra (also known as Formanova) is a cylindrical beet cultivar prized for its long, uniform roots that deliver exceptional slicing yields and sweet flavor. This cool-season root crop matures in 55-65 days, resists bolting better than globe types, and produces tender greens alongside the roots. Ideal for both home gardens and commercial growers seeking consistent, easy-to-process beets.
View Guide
Beet (Early Wonder)
Early Wonder is a fast-maturing, cold-tolerant beet variety prized for its smooth, deep-red roots and tender greens. This guide delivers professional-grade, research-backed advice on soil, planting, care, pest management, and harvest to help growers achieve consistent, high-quality yields.
View Guide
Beet (Golden Detroit)
Golden Detroit is a golden-fleshed beet variety prized for its sweet flavor, vibrant color, and versatility in both culinary and ornamental gardens. This heirloom-type beet produces smooth, orange-yellow roots with tender greens that remain mild even when mature.
View Guide
Beet (Lutz Green Leaf)
Lutz Green Leaf is a dual-purpose beet variety prized for its large, smooth roots and abundant, tender greens. This guide covers complete organic growing practices for reliable home and market production.
View Guide
Beet (White Albino)
White Albino beet is a rare heirloom root vegetable prized for its snow-white, sweet flesh and mild flavor. This guide covers soil preparation, planting, care, pest management, harvesting, and companion planting for optimal yields.
View Guide
Beet armyworms
Beet armyworms (Spodoptera exigua) are highly destructive caterpillar pests that ravage leafy vegetables and field crops across warm climates. Known for their rapid reproduction and migratory swarms, they can defoliate plants overnight, leading to significant yield losses. This guide provides expert diagnostics, organic management strategies, and prevention tactics for farmers battling these voracious invaders.
View Profile
beet cyst nematode
The beet cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii) is a microscopic soil-dwelling pest that forms persistent cysts on beet roots, severely reducing yields in sugar beet and vegetable crops. This guide provides comprehensive diagnostics, lifecycle insights, organic management strategies, and prevention tactics for farmers facing this challenging pathogen. Effective control hinges on early detection, resistant varieties, and long-term crop rotation.
View Profile
Beet leafhopper
The beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus) is a small, highly mobile insect pest notorious for direct feeding damage and transmitting the deadly curly top virus to beets, spinach, and other crops. Effective management requires integrated strategies focusing on monitoring, cultural controls, and organic treatments to minimize outbreaks. This guide provides diagnostic symptoms, lifecycle details, and proven prevention tactics for farmers.
View Profile
beet leafminers
Beet leafminers are small flies whose larvae tunnel through leaves of beets and related crops, causing serpentine mines that reduce photosynthesis and yield. Effective management combines cultural practices, biological controls, and timely monitoring for organic growers. This guide provides diagnostic symptoms, lifecycle details, and proven organic strategies to protect your [Beet](/wiki/beet) harvest.
View Profile
Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV)
Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) is a soil-borne pathogen causing rhizomania in sugar beets, leading to severe root stunting, yield losses up to 80%, and distinctive yellow veining on leaves. Transmitted primarily by the obligate root parasite Polymyxa betae, it persists in soil for decades, making management challenging. This guide provides diagnostic, organic control, and prevention strategies for affected crops like sugar beets and table beets.
View Profile
beet webworms
Beet webworms are destructive caterpillars that feed on beets, spinach, and other leafy crops, creating webs and skeletonizing leaves. Effective management combines cultural practices, biological controls, and timely interventions to minimize crop losses. This guide provides comprehensive diagnostics, lifecycle insights, and organic strategies for prevention and control.
View Profile
Beetles
Beetles, belonging to the order Coleoptera, represent one of the most diverse and destructive groups of agricultural pests, encompassing over 400,000 species that damage crops through feeding, boring, and vectoring diseases. Common culprits like Japanese beetles, Colorado potato beetles, and cucumber beetles cause significant defoliation, root damage, and transmission of pathogens across vegetables, fruits, and field crops. Effective management combines precise identification, cultural practices, organic treatments, and prevention to minimize losses while preserving beneficial insects.
View Profile
Belgian Endive (Witloof)
Belgian Endive, known as Witloof, is a leaf vegetable known for its distinctively bitter taste and uniquely smooth, white cylindrical leaves. This crop is primarily grown in two stages: roots cultivation in the field, followed by forcing in darkness to produce the blanched heads.
View Guide
Bell Pepper
Bell pepper is a warm-season, non-pungent fruiting vegetable grown for its thick-walled, blocky fruits that mature from green to red, yellow, orange, purple, or chocolate depending on cultivar. High yields depend on steady warmth, even soil moisture, balanced fertility, and careful management of blossom drop, sunscald, and common solanaceous pests and diseases.
View Guide
Bell Pepper (Chocolate)
Bell Pepper (Chocolate) is a sweet, non-pungent bell pepper cultivar prized for its unusual deep mahogany-brown mature color, crisp walls, and rich, slightly earthy flavor. It grows much like other sweet peppers, but to achieve full chocolate coloration and premium eating quality, plants need steady warmth, even soil moisture, balanced fertility, and careful harvest timing.
View Guide
Bell Pepper (Orange Sun)
Bell Pepper (Orange Sun) is a sweet, blocky orange bell pepper cultivar prized for its bright color, thick walls, crisp texture, and reliable garden performance. It is a warm-season crop that rewards careful moisture management, fertile well-drained soil, and steady heat with high-quality fruit suitable for fresh eating, stuffing, roasting, and market sales.
View Guide
Bell Pepper (Purple Beauty)
Bell Pepper (Purple Beauty) is a striking open-pollinated sweet pepper prized for its glossy deep-purple fruits, compact habit, and reliable garden performance in warm seasons. Though grown much like other bell peppers, this cultivar has distinct coloration, harvest timing, and quality considerations that matter for yield, flavor, and market appeal.
View Guide
Benzoin Resin
Benzoin resin is a fragrant balsamic exudate harvested from the bark of Styrax benzoin trees, prized for its use in incense, perfumery, and traditional medicine. This tropical crop thrives in Southeast Asian climates and requires careful management to produce high-quality resin sustainably.
View Guide
Bergamot Orange
Bergamot orange is a fragrant citrus grown primarily for its intensely aromatic peel oil rather than for fresh eating. Best known as the flavoring in Earl Grey tea and for use in perfumery, it demands warm, frost-free conditions, excellent drainage, and careful nutrient and water management to produce high-quality fruit and essential oil-rich rinds.
View Guide
Berkeley Tie-Dye Tomato
Berkeley Tie-Dye Tomato is a striking, open-pollinated beefsteak-type heirloom known for its vibrant purple, green, and orange striped fruit with exceptional flavor. It offers moderate yields and strong resistance to many common tomato diseases while thriving in organic systems. This guide delivers comprehensive, professional-grade growing instructions for home gardeners and small-scale producers.
View Guide