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Radishes In Zone 3

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Kooch

5 year old buck +
I've only planted one plot in my life, last year's skinny WR plot. Next year I'm planning to go with a standard LC cereal grain mix, Oats/Rye/Peas/Radish/Red Clover. I've read that radishes are normally browsed pretty well. But, I also read that they are just a stinky rotten mess shortly after the first frost. It's darn cold during gun season in the far North of MN. I want to spend another year or two working on my soil before implementing the brassica half of the rotation. Should I consider skipping the radish and maybe adding something like PTT or rutabaga instead?

Kooch
 
I wouldn't skip them. Unlike other brassicas the deer will hit the radish before the first frost. Although they get browsed, they seem to be very vigorous with there regrowth. They do get a little stinky, I could smell my field about 75 yards away this November. Another plus for radish is they are great for your soil. The farmers around me are really starting to plant a lot of them for green manure and their ability to scavenge nitrogen.
 
Thanks ruskbuks. I think I have a year or two before I'll plant the full brassica rotation portion I think. I'll cross my fingers for a mild Fall next year. This year with just the WR was dismal. Heavy use before the snow. Light use after.
 
My experience is that I cannot plant enough radishes. The deer in my area wipe them out first and very quickly, they are a great draw while they last.
 
Plus they really help to break up that soil if its hardpan. The deer here in in my area love the radishes too.

Chuck
 
Thanks. Radishes have officially made the cut then. I appreciate the input. My soil holds a lot of moisture. We'll see how they go. But if I can get them to grow well, maybe they will help with water infiltration in the future. I'll definitely lime and fertilizer per the soil test I got this year.
 
You didn't say when you plan to plant the LC mix Kooch, but if you are planning this for a fall mix which I think you are, you can forget about the radish at that time IMO. I am in the U.P of Michigan in Zone 4b and radishes never amounted to anything when I used to plant that mix around Labor Day here. Your growing season is going to be even shorter than mine.

If you plant that mix in the fall your radishes will never see much of a root bulb so you can forget about them growing deep enough to break up any hard pan in your soil or ever turning into a stinking rotten mess - it just isn't going to happen. FYI - PTT and Rutabagas are brassicas too (just like the radish) so they won't do any better. Around here brassicas need a good 60+ days to ever amount to anything as our average first frost date is around September 9th.

If you want to devote another year or two to building up your soil as you mentioned, you might consider a summer buckwheat crop followed by a fall cereal grain crop (and you could add in some red clover too at this time - but peas won't amount to anything either). A couple years of that with the proper amount of nutrients and you should be able to grow anything.

If you want to grow the brassicas you need to be planting them by the 4th of July at the latest (and, of course, you wouldn't want to plant the cereal grains at that time). Northern Minnesota ain't like SE Iowa where Lick Creek (Dbltree) worked his plots.

Best of luck in your new plot.
 
The brassica portion of the LC mix should be planted before the grain portion. The radish in the grain portion are more for attraction than tubers. Radish in general is more for the tops than the tubers, I'm not sure why people get so hung up with that. The usual progression in my brassica plantings is eating radish tops, and some rape early. By around Thanksgiving, depending on weather, the tops may freeze and rot. My deer act like the rotting tops are like candy, and suck up every last one. Then late season deer clean up everything that's left, usually starting with the turnip bulbs. Come spring it looks like someone run a tiller through the plot from all of the digging. Your results may vary, the deer didn't take a liking to brassica on my place the first year either.
 
Thanks guys.
 
I'll second the radishes not doing much planted around labor day. Huge difference between Northern Minnesota and even The South East portion of the state where I hale from. My radishes grew about 3" leaves and the deer didnt seem to target them. My sunflowers on the other hand were planted the same day. They grew about 6" tall and were the first thing to be eaten.
 
Kooch. For the heck of it , plant some python in June. Just a small plot for a trial.

I suspect you are on heavy soil, but I had luck planting put in May in Cass County and also on July 4. This was on light soil. I would scatter a few radishes, also.

I have to second that planting times for lick creek do not fit the northland. Things are different over 80 miles from central to northern Minnesota.


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I planted WR August 1st last year, then added more two times, at two week intervals. By the end of October, it was about 6-8", maybe a foot, where it wasn't grazed. That was without lime, and just 300LBS/acre 19-19-19. This year I'm going to start the lime and fertilize to soil test recommendations. Starting with lime first thing in the Spring before the full thaw. I am very deficient in phosphorus for one. I was happy with the growth of the rye. The Internet tells me my average first frost is around Sept 5-10th. So, I suspect any brassica planting would have to happen at the beginning of July, maybe earlier.

I'm on heavy clay, and the soil test says I have OM of 5.4

What's python?
 
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Kooch said:
I planted WR August 1st last year, then added more two times, at two week intervals. By the end of October, it was about 6-8", maybe a foot, where it wasn't grazed. That was without lime, and just 300LBS/acre 19-19-19. This year I'm going to start the lime and fertilize to soil test recommendations. Starting with lime first thing in the Spring before the full thaw. I am very deficient in phosphorus for one. I was happy with the growth of the rye. The Internet tells me my average first frost is around Sept 5-10th. So, I suspect any brassica planting would have to happen at the beginning of July, maybe earlier.

I'm on heavy clay, and the soil test says I have OM of 5.4

What's python?
Click to expand...

Python was the result of spell check on this phone. It should have said ptt.


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Kooch said:
I planted WR August 1st last year, then added more two times, at two week intervals. By the end of October, it was about 6-8", maybe a foot, where it wasn't grazed. That was without lime, and just 300LBS/acre 19-19-19. This year I'm going to start the lime and fertilize to soil test recommendations. Starting with lime first thing in the Spring before the full thaw. I am very deficient in phosphorus for one. I was happy with the growth of the rye. The Internet tells me my average first frost is around Sept 5-10th. So, I suspect any brassica planting would have to happen at the beginning of July, maybe earlier.

I'm on heavy clay, and the soil test says I have OM of 5.4

What's python?
Click to expand...
My land is in Northern WI. I have been planting all my brassicas around the forth of July. I haven't had any problem with them maturing too early. I used to plant around the 20th, the plants get a lot bigger with the extra two weeks.
 
That'll do. Independence day planting it is! (or thereabouts) Thanks ruskbucks
 
ruskbucks said:
View attachment 16616
Click to expand...

From my garden.
b2e66d4b7206b34392973c5f72eabfde.jpg


Zone 3-4 border. Zone 3 this winter!


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When did you plant that?

Edit - Never mind. I see earlier in the thread either May or early July.
 
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I planted my Brassicas July 25th last year. I went think and got a lot of bulbs but they were small. I will plant about 2 weeks earlier this year but even with the small bulbs, they are still digging through the snow for the bulbs. Someone else on here ( I can't remember the name) also planted theirs late with the idea of smaller bulbs but more of them.

Chuck
 
I havent had much success with brassica. The one year that they actually pounded them was when they were small. Think golf ball or slightly larger. My bulbs arent all that big this year either but if they do hit them it isnt usually until Feb. so time will tell.
 
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