Are Groundhog Radishes Worth the money

[WTNUT]

If you look at the price of six brassica/trunips you will see that GH Radishes are similar priced at $2.95 a pound BUT it takes 12 pounds per acre as opposed to 6 pounds per acre for most others.

Therefore, they are nearly twice as expensive as most others. Are they really worth the money?

 

[wiscwhip]

Remember that all the "deer" radishes are essentially just daikon radishes. Trophy Radish, Tillage Radish, GH Forage Radish, all just trade names for daikon radishes. The other thing to keep in mind is the rates you are looking at are for monoculture planting and are for crop production purposes.

 

[LuckyIL]

My neighbors I landlock have a duck club, they couldn't get a corn crop in so they planted 15 acres of daikon radish, rape, kale, WW. Their plots were well fertilized, they had very little usage compared to my plantings of turnips, clover and groundhog radishes. I like the groundhog radish but they are more expensive but I'm also looking for the other benefit of aerating the soil. You get good growth below ground which may not have much benefit to feed the deer but it really improved my soils in just two short years.

And I didn't use the recommend rates. Mix in some PTT

 

[wiscwhip]

Probably the main reason for the discrepancy in lbs/acre is the seed size itself. Radish seeds are considerably larger than other brassica seeds like purple top turnips. Radish seeds are about the size of alfalfa seed, and ppt seeds are some of the smallest seeds you will ever plant. Radishes average about 34,000 seeds per pound while ppt's are around 167,000 seeds per pound. If you are looking at those 2 plants strictly from a numbers of plants per acre standpoint, obviously you would need almost 5 lbs of radish seed to equal 1 pound of ppt seed, theoretically speaking. Stu also brought up many good points in his post, "worth it" is a relative phrase when it comes to all foodplotting.

 

[WTNUT]

My neighbors I landlock have a duck club, they couldn't get a corn crop in so they planted 15 acres of daikon radish, rape, kale, WW. Their plots were well fertilized, they had very little usage compared to my plantings of turnips, clover and groundhog radishes. I like the groundhog radish but they are more expensive but I'm also looking for the other benefit of aerating the soil. You get good growth below ground which may not have much benefit to feed the deer but it really improved my soils in just two short years.

And I didn't use the recommend rates. Mix in some PTT

What state and what was wrong with your soil such that it needed improved?

 

[LuckyIL]

Southern Illinois
My property drains 160,000 surrounding acres I was told. Were bottom ground that's fertile but was disced when wet trying to mud in row crops over three four decades. The stability of the soil is what I'm looking to improve is all. Tillage radishes fill a niche by getting some holes in the ground and soil settling afterwards when we get our spring and summer rains.
I'm also looking for less trips across the field to save time. It's win win

 

[dipper]

I also think they are worth it by sucking that leached fertilizer lower in the ground. They fill a specific niche for me in my "cocktails". I would never plant them alone. When your not planting a monculture of them, I save a ton of money using free oats and rye seed. The money I save on the free seed is happily spent on something a little more pricey like radish. Save money where I can and spend it wisely, that's my motto.

 

[Brush Creek]

Last year my deer did not eat the turnips but did the ghr. I will be planting a higher ratio of ghr.

 

[WTNUT]

Did the eat the tops and the root? My deer have always eaten all brassicas and turnips. They will eat some of a turnip bulb but do not go crazy about it. But, we always have acres and acres and acres of standing corn and beans all winter long. In fact, they never get all of it eaten before it is time to mow and plant again.

 

[foggy]

My deer love GHR and will eat them prior to going for the turnip bulbs.....usually in October and November.

 

[Brush Creek]

At least one deer ate a lot of the roots. I did not have many radishes and she may have eaten them all over a week in November.

 

[ruskbucks]

I would say they are worth the money. The deer start hitting the tops early, but the are pretty browse tolerant. My field this year was bare dirt this spring. You could not even tell their was radish's planted there. The field with ptt was hit hard too, but their was a lot of rotting bulbs laying around.

 

[Aaron]

I have planted them next to rape, and turnips, two years in a row and the radish's are the first to get hit.

 

[tooln]

I have yet to have many radish or turnips eaten in the 3 years I've been plotting. I'm cutting back on them this year but will still plant to try to get them use to them.

 

[paleopoint]

Even at the price differential one isn't really talkin' 'bout a whole lot of money. Who puts in 10acres of this stuff?

If you do an acre or so, more likely less ........then your wallet ain't gonna be too wounded.

Still, I'd recommend as others above already have--------do a mix; throw a pound or two of GHR into the seed hopper with your PTT's & DER........and your deer will get a variety, a real salad.

Personally, next to winter wheat my plantings of brassicas (ptt, der, ghr) are among the cheapest of my plantings. They don't need a whole lot of ground prep.....and though fertilizing can show dramatic results......one can still get pretty good tonnage off of that mix unfertilized.

 

[buckvelvet]

I agree that GHR is more than PTT, the cheapest in my area is DER. Radishes are certainly trending to be the preferred brassica in my area for planting just because you don't have to do it in mid/late july to get big tubes. You can do it into mid/late August and still have fantastic looking tubes to hunt over.

Oh yeah I should mention not on my land cuz its sandy but it grows some mighty fine LC mix I must say. :)

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

I planted Rack Radish Crush last year in August, it grew great nice and tall big leaves,big white radish roots growing out of the ground. Deer would not eat it they take a bite here and there . But for the most part it just rotted . Plus the stuff Stinks. I won't plant it agian.

My sister in Law who lives 1/2 mile down the road says the deer eat the Kale in her garden. Maybe I should plant kale.

 

[tooln]

My sister in Law who lives 1/2 mile down the road says the deer eat the Kale in her garden. Maybe I should plant kale.

If they are eating it, I'd sure plant it.

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

If your deer won't eat radishes, I'd be pretty surprised to hear they eat kale

I tried radishes, different mixes a couple years they don't touch them here, yet on my Vermont property they get wiped out .

 

[buckvelvet]

Kale is a part of a mix here in MI that is pretty popular, I don't have good enough ground to grow it but other folks sure do.

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