When to plant chicory?

[4wanderingeyes]

I missed my window to plant radish and turnips, and it has been very dry. A couple of my plots are good with clover, but I have 2 that is mostly weeds. Should I plant chicory now, or wait until September? I am in zone 3b.

 

[SD51555]

That's pretty much where I'm located, and I've planted anywhere from mid july to mid august. never had a failure. This year I'm waiting until later, or until we see some rain. I don't see any sense in letting it lay in the dust and bake.

 

[yoderjac]

I just came back from South Dakota. I was in the eastern part about 2 hours south of Fargo. The drought was pretty evident. The water level of the lake had dropped so much that we had to move my brother-in-law's dock about 8' further out into the lake. It poured while I was there. The rain gages showed about 3" from one storm, but the ground was so dry that there was little runoff into the lake. I pretty much just got what fell into it. It is clear that parts of the country are really suffering.

On the subject of chicory, it is a perennial. Rather than planting it as a monoculture, I would plant it with perennial clover and a cereal grain nurse crop. You can plant it when you would normally plant clover. The cereal grain will be your primary fall attractant and the clover and chicory will establish next spring.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[4wanderingeyes]

That was what I was wondering, do I plant it in the fall for next spring? Or if I plant it earlier will I get anything in the form of food this fall? I was going to add it to a sparse clover plot to fill in spots.

 

[Native Hunter]

That was what I was wondering, do I plant it in the fall for next spring? Or if I plant it earlier will I get anything in the form of food this fall? I was going to add it to a sparse clover plot to fill in spots.

Where I live you can plant on September 1 and if rains are good you will get chicory 8 inches tall before frost. The deer hit it hard. But the next year is when it shines the most. They eat the basal leaves hard in the spring. Then it will bolt if you don’t mow it and they eat all up and down the tall stems. Ive seen deer take 18 inches out of the top of a plant in one bite.

 

[Mozark]

Where I live you can plant on September 1 and if rains are good you will get chicory 8 inches tall before frost. The deer hit it hard. But the next year is when it shines the most. They eat the basal leaves hard in the spring. Then it will bolt if you don’t mow it and they eat all up and down the tall stems. Ive seen deer take 18 inches out of the top of a plant in one bite.

Native, do you notice any honey bees working the flowers?

 

[Native Hunter]

Native, do you notice any honey bees working the flowers?

Yes, and it is a plant which has flowers that last a really long time.

 

[Mozark]

Thank you native, looking for plants that will serve dual purpose, deer and bees.

 

[g squared 23]

You could still plant brassicas now if you wanted

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[Bassattackr]

I’d plant in fall with a perennial clover and a cereal grain as a nurse crop. Same as jack suggests.

I’m doing exactly this in about another month and a half, around Sept 1 (I’m in MO). Using wheat to help establish.

 

[yoderjac]

You could still plant brassicas now if you wanted

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Keep in mind, those are general dates and it really depends on your objective. For example, I'm in the Aug 6-15 band. I never plant brassica until the last half of August. In some cases I don't plant until Sept. If I plant in the first half of august, we can get fairly long periods without rain. By the last half of Aug, our rain becomes more regular. I get good size bulbs with turnips and radish planting then. Sometimes, I'll drill radish into suppressed clover, and I won't do that until September. If I suppress clover in Aug, I risk overstressing it. Also, deer don't touch turnip tops until after a good frost, so I can plant PTT early. Deer will hit my radish tops as soon as they start growing. So, Planting them closer to our archery season is better.

In general, I think those bands are aimed at maximizing bulb production rather than meeting deer management objectives.

 

[TreeDaddy]

You could still plant brassicas now if you wanted

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Those dates are ~ 6 weeks early for east texas due to heat and no rain

Worse than Kuwait here in August!!

bill

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have planted radish, and turnips in early August before, with bulb sizes only getting to about 1”. But it has been extremely dry here, every rain event has split and went just a few miles around me. I have had 1.2” of rain since May 1st, and the 10 day doesn’t look good, with upper 80’s-mid 90’s and small rain chances. My clover is crispy, I can grab a stem and snap it in half.

I would mow my food plots, but the only thing in them now that is green are weeds, and if I kill them off it would turn to dried Barron silt.

 

[Nightvision]

Really sorry for you guys that are experiencing a drought. I’m in middle Georgia and that’s usually us from June through September. This year however, we have been getting lots of rain. Very unusual for us in the summer.