Beets? Other ideas?

[Catscratch]

Got a little section of plot that I'm wanting to try something different in. Thinking about beets. Yae or Nay?


If yae then do you have a seed source? I've kind of looked at some heritage seeds. Supposed to grow 2-5lb tubers.

What about sweet potatoes?

Other ideas? I'm in the mood to brainstorm. Want to plant this spring and preferably have something that would be good late winter.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Beets grow pretty slow, so it might be hard for them to outcompete the weeds without a lot of prep or herbicides.

I'm a fan of pumpkins and random squash since they are good food for both people food and the wildlife can eat the leftovers in winter.

 

[marlin]

I would have to say sugar beets are probably the number one draw on my property for preference and longevity. Merit seed-6lbs for around 30 bucks for non round up ready seeds. I normally can find somebody in my area selling round up ready seeds which I prefer. Seeding rate is around 50,000 seeds per acre.

 

[Catscratch]

I would have to say sugar beets are probably the number one draw on my property for preference and longevity. Merit seed-6lbs for around 30 bucks for non round up ready seeds. I normally can find somebody in my area selling round up ready seeds which I prefer. Seeding rate is around 50,000 seeds per acre.

Absolutely nobody grows them around here. I'd be very happy to pay for a pound or 2. (Hint hint.)

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I would have to say sugar beets are probably the number one draw on my property for preference and longevity. Merit seed-6lbs for around 30 bucks for non round up ready seeds. I normally can find somebody in my area selling round up ready seeds which I prefer. Seeding rate is around 50,000 seeds per acre.

Have you had any luck with non-roundup ready beets or do the weeds take over?

 

[marlin]

Have you had any luck with non-roundup ready beets or do the weeds take over?

I used dual magnum II per label for conventional sugar beets. Clethodim can also be used for grasses. I overseed the plots around labor day with rye to fill in the holes from summer consumption. Beets like nitrogen and potassium. I will only plant beets on a 4 year rotation in a stand alone field-3 yrs legumes followed by beets. Sunflowers/sorghum/beans/sugar beets planted in the spring overseed with rye in the fall is a mix that will keep wildlife busy all year.

 

[ruskbucks]

I tried them one year. They had a long maturity, something around a 100 day. I don't know what happened but had a complete failure. I could not find a single beet plant. The weeds did quite well though. I had some seeds left over and mixed them in with my brassicas the following year. Same results never saw a single plant. The brassicas did well. I was thinking about growing some pumpkin along the edges of my plot this year.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Deer Creek Seeds has sugar beets that are 30-45 day maturity. Corn and sugar beets are what I see for sale at all the gas stations in the fall. The deer around here also like the pumpkins.

 

[bigboreblr]

The longest interest I have seen with deer in low AG aras is oats. April till you get a few good 15 deg F nights, the deer are eating it.

The latest food I have seen is daikon radish. They leave it alone for a good while, then hit it well into january. They seem to be enjoying it atleast a month past they don't mess with the rye much. NY winters have been pretty variable the past decade or so.

Oats are easy to kill with a cutlipacker, although not perfectly. Oats also do not grow very high, so if not planted too densely other things will live. You can use clethodim to kill it and it wont bother clovers or most other perennials.

 

[marlin]

Deer are standing in 1 acre of sugar beets. Grass strip in middle of picture divides sugar beets from 6 acres of soybeans. Deer spend more time in the sugar beets on my property than any other food plot.

 

[Catscratch]

I've decided I'm giving beets a try. Need to figure out plant dates and whatnot, but it's a go.

 

[ruskbucks]

I've decided I'm giving beets a try. Need to figure out plant dates and whatnot, but it's a go.

Are you going to try the.long season or short season.beeta? Anyone have a comparison of the two? I would think the long season would have a.much larger bulb.

 

[Mortenson]

I tried them once. I think they tasted too good to them too early. It was candy they ate in the summer. Purple top turnips are the best brassica here.

 

[Catscratch]

I tried them once. I think they tasted too good to them too early. It was candy they ate in the summer. Purple top turnips are the best brassica here.

I've grown PTT so many times... just to watch them rot! My deer love radish tops, but no tubers have appealed to them yet.

 

[Mortenson]

I've grown PTT so many times... just to watch them rot! My deer love radish tops, but no tubers have appealed to them yet.

Haha that's crazy. I know I hear that a lot. Most years our turnips stay nice and fresh well into the winter. This year they rotted a lot earlier. The deer weren't very interested. But during the cold spells they get into them big time. It's really helping them out right now.

 

[marlin]

I grew up in the thumb of Michigan. Thousands of acres of sugar beets. When they harvest they put them in piles that turned into mountains. Sugar beets can produce between 20 and 30 tons per acre on good ground.

 

[bigboreblr]

I've grown PTT so many times... just to watch them rot! My deer love radish tops, but no tubers have appealed to them yet.

Grow them too early they get pithy, kinda turn sour. I've planted them in april at camp and still growing into october. Almost bowling ball sized.

At home, they do well planted mid august. Also, turnips love boron. I suspect some foods do not have good taste in soil with deficiencies or soils high in antagonistic elements. There's alot more ratios than C-N. I am suspecting something like that with clovers at camp. Almost not worth growing far as deer eating them goes. snowshoe hares love them still. My soil and water in the area are very high in tanins. Water has a reddish tint to it.

 

[farmlegend]

I've grown PTT so many times... just to watch them rot! My deer love radish tops, but no tubers have appealed to them yet.

Same. First grew PTT 20 years ago, and still throw some seed out in mixes most years. Have never verified a deer munching on a bulb. They will nibble on the greens once the weather gets cold, but only nibbles.