This is the sugar beet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. It's the August. What are those beets up to, and what is the biggest threat at this point? We are joined by Eric Branch, NDSU and University of Minnesota extension sugar beet specialist. Eric, what's going on with the sugar beets right now?

Yeah. So so, Bruce, right now, we have reached the prepile stage for many of the fields in the American crystal region here, Fargo and northwards. Prepile has already started this week, actually. So some of the beets, maybe up to 15% maybe at the end end of prepile, are being harvested, lifted out of the ground, and those beets go right to the factory. The factories get started up and kind of the warming up phase for the big stockpile harvest in October. And our other co ops in the region, MINDAC and the Southern Men Beet Sugar Cooperative, will follow suit in a few weeks here.

What about the beets still in the ground?

So the other beets still in the ground fortunately or unfortunately do have a long ways to go. You know, extra time between now and harvest, will be in October, the big stockpile harvest early October, means a lot more time to capture that solar radiation and put on the pounds, put on the sucrose. So that's a really great thing and really important too. On the other hand, if moisture doesn't cooperate, if the storms don't cooperate, that's always a risk with these longer fields. So usually the fields that are left longer in the season are the healthiest fields that have the the most potential to continue to produce and and to fare well, by October. I'm a plant pathologist, I think about the cercospora leaf spot that's out there. It's it's a higher pressure year this year in a lot of regions. And again, that follows the rain and the moisture complementing the temperature swings and some of those warmer wouldn't have had the warmer temps as well. So Cercospora leaf spot is active now and will, of course, continue to be active all the way up until temperatures really start to drop. So last year we had a really warm September. If we have anywhere close to a warm September this year, those infected leaves will continue to decay and deteriorate, and that plays a role in reducing recoverable sugar in the field. You know, at this point when I get questions from growers, when I talk to people, I always emphasize don't let up. You know, folks that have done a good job controlling CLS, they have a lot of potential there. And so we want to see that continue with regular fungicide applications. If you think you're on the right track, if you think you're on the right time, you probably are. If you think you're late, oh, you're really late, right? This is a polycyclic pathogen. It produces spores every ten to fourteen days, so it's important to keep that fungicide cycle on track. And of course, as we get closer to harvest, watching the pre harvest intervals and making sure the products can be applied that late in the season, of course, is too. But even those late applications have the potential to make make some big differences in how the field performs overall.

Other than bad weather, are pathogens the biggest threat right now?

You know, if we have good weather, it's good for the beets, and a little bit of moisture, I think, is good up to a point, helps the roots grow and put on the sugar. But too much water, you know, that can get really ugly, lack of a better word, real fast, Bruce, and we wanna see farmers be able to get into their fields and get those beets out of their fields as efficiently as possible.

Eric, tell us about your upcoming plot tour and where we can get more information.

Absolutely. Yeah. So August 28 will be the Fox Home Cercospora leaf spot plot tour. 10AM to noon, we'll have a lunch for everybody. So Fox Home, sort of halfway between Fergus Falls and Wapatin for those out of the area. It's a great spot for disease research. I've had plots there last year and this year. Again, it's got a long history of research down there. We'll have lots to show folks, we expect very high disease pressure, especially by that time, even now those numbers are ticking up. More information, feel free to reach out to me or the sbreb.0rg website, the Research and Education Board.

Thanks, Eric. Our guest has been Eric Branch, NDSU and University of Minnesota sugar beet specialist. This is the sugar beet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.