GROWING SUGAR.

[Toper]

I have seeds for both sugar beet and sugar cane which I intend tto sow very soon.

My facilities at this time of year include an indoor gro-light facility and a frost free greenhouse.

If anybody has had any experience in growing either of these, any advice, based on such experience would be appreciated.

I am not asking for comments as to should I, or not, try this, rather pragmatic advice based on experience of growing these plants.

[Pyro]

I don't know about cane, but farmers here grow beet in their fields as a feed for their beasts. Ready at the back end of the year.

[gaza the instructor]

I think you may be needing your greenhouse and heat
for the cane sugar. It normally grows in a hot climate
I think.

[Toper]

My intention is to start the germination, of both plants, indoors under a gro-light.

Once germination is achieved, they will be moved into the frost free greenhouse until all dangers of frosts are gone, I then intend to grow them on outdoors.

Certainly, for the sugar cane, it definitely won't stand a frost period but, by giving an early start I can maximise the length of exposure to the light spectrum of our shorter growing season in our climate.

It's not the heat a plant requires at this time of growth but the correct light.The red shift as we move towards Autumn brings about the ripening process.

At least, that's how I understand it.

[RumJohn]

@ Toper. Beets will produce sugar. Enough about that.

Rum must be made from a sugar cane based product. You can make alcohol from beets but it cannot be classified as a rum.

Sugar cane is a 9 month crop. That is a long growing season. It is a grass, but very tall. You would need some height to the space you are growing it in.

If you germinated and got the cane to grow, you might night be able to get it to ripen outside of a tropical/subtropical climate.

Keep us posted on your progress.

[Toper]

Thanks, RJ.
I wasn't growing sugar with a view to producing any specific product. More an exercise in:

1.Gardening skills
2.Sheer pleasure of achievement
3 To gain knowledge of what can be expected (sugar wise) from a crop.

It did occur to me that, amongst those who regularly make sugar washes, some might have experimented with this.

I will report progress.

[Easydrinker]

I wish you well in what I consider to be bonkers
I expect your beet to fare well, and the cane to fail.
I cannot even grow sweetcorn where I live.
Go for it, prove me wrong!


Robert.

Edit;
I did once experiment with the type of sugarbeet sold as animal fodder for a wash, complete waste of time as most sugar had been extracted, and there were not enough other nutrients?
I would expect whole sugar beet, once scratted to do better.

[Toper]

As a gardener, in my opinion, I see a problem in dealing with two different genre in the same way, at least in the early, initial phase: a root product as against a foliage product.

Added to this are the climatic differences preferred by each genre. Here I anticipate, not a failure, but more a possible stunted development in the case of cane. Our reduced sun radiation, with the limited blue spectrum, could also well inhibit sugar production, but then, such is the nature of experimentation?

'Bonkers' is one of the politest appellations which, over many years, has been levelled at me.

Cheers.

[Mash]

Sugar beet you sow the spring. Winter (Christmas) is harvest time.
If you have grown the beetroot. It is a similar process, but much much slower as the beets tend to grow to the size of a small football.

For processing by far the easiest way is chunk & pressure cooker. Ferment whole pulp.
If you have a wine press, chunk, freeze HARD, fully thaw, then press.

Sugarcane. This will grow nicely as an ornamental, but will not reach its full harvest potential in our climate. Don't know this for sure but I think it is related to the grass family - the massiiive Big Brother.

Good luck, keep us posted

[Toper]

The seeds were sown this morning. Forty of each plan. Now under the grow lamp.

[Mash]

I never had much success with a heat lamp. Propagater and a leccy blanket works for me.

[Toper]

Without diverting too much from the theme of the thread,, it's a 'grow light' rather than a 'heat lamp'.The quality of the light is more important than the heat it gives off. There is even a fan to dissipate the heat.

He temperature indoors is sufficient heating, the lamp provides the vital level of radiation.

I have used it with some marked successes for more than 10 years now.

However, there might be a case for another thread dealing with comparative germination procedures.

[gaza the instructor]

I boubht some condoms that glowed in the dark.
I reenacted some Star Wars scenes I was Darth
Vader. May the force be with you Toper and all
your beets grow big and strong.