I was out checking plots yesterday before the snow storm. We have a 1/2 acre of turnips that has not been touched. We've been planting or at least broadcasting into beans the last 4 yrs. If I see little to no use of the turnips this winter I'm thinking about not planting them again. Maybe just radish/winter rye?
PTT
- Thread starter Boone
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Like you, I've had little use from deer. I took ptt out of my planting's.
Planted a mix of tillage radish, DER, and PTT this year and all were destroyed at my place in central MN. Everything was gone by middle the first week of Dec. Had by far more PTT than anything else in there, and those strips were pounded to dirt.
Plot in early Sept.
Plot in early Dec.
Plot in early Sept.
Plot in early Dec.
Satchmo- do you have corn/beans in your area? I think the deer in our area are fussy because theres lots of ag land around. I would think with 15 inches of snow now the deer would be stressed enough to eat them. I will check the plot in a few weeks. We have about 4 acres to plant plots so I want to maximize the benefit.
Very little ag in my area. Just a couple corn fields that get cut for silage. I have about 4 acres of plots as well, but most are cleaned up already. I'm going to go up and drop some trees for browse that I want gone anyway due to future plot expansion plans. Where are you at Boone?
Lacrosse ,Wi
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
In areas where deer are not used to PTT it can take several years for them to learn it is a good food source. The tops also don't sweeten up until after a hard frost. That cause a sugar transfer. Once they are used to it, they will use it depending on what else is available. Most years, my deer hit radish tops first followed by PTT tops and then radish tubers and finally PTT tubers in Jan or Feb. When we have an acorn failure, I've had deer eating PTT tubers in October.
Thanks,
jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
No doubt. In ag country the key is selecting crops that will peak when commercial farmers clean the table.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Mountains of Pa. - the deer are in our brassicas now and have been for the last 3 to 4 weeks. PTT, DER, GFR, and Pasja hybrid brassica mix. All are getting eaten.
Side note - the WW / WR plot mix is getting lots of attention too. No ag around us - only other camps' plots, which are small acreage.
Side note - the WW / WR plot mix is getting lots of attention too. No ag around us - only other camps' plots, which are small acreage.
Maddog3355
5 year old buck +
Next time your there pull up a dozen and cut them in half and leave them lay on top of the ground. Sometimes you have to get them started on them.
I've thought about doing that. I will have to find them under a foot of snow but I don't want them to go to waste if I can get the deer to eat them.
kabic
5 year old buck +
If I was a hard ass DNR warden I would call that baiting.
Only if you hunt over them.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
If it's any help at all - the first 2 years we planted PTT, DER, and GFR - deer didn't pay much attention to them. I think it took some sampling by the deer to find them tasty. They were new to our area of wooded mountains. We had clover and rye planted several years before the PTT mix - maybe the deer were just used to those ?? Good news is ....... deer are killing them now !!! ( the turnips and radishes ).
M
MoBuckChaser
Guest
I had a customer call a couple years ago, saying the turnips I sold him grew like crazy in Missouri. But he said the deer won't eat them. I said send me a picture. After he did, I told him to try planting them Aug 1st instead of May 1st!.......WTF?
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