Purple top turnip and radish growth
- Thread starter alldaysit
- Start date
Peplin Creek
5 year old buck +
Thanks, I am ocd when it comes to plots and if they aren't perfect, I am not happy. The plot is probably about 1/3 to 1/2 acre and I put down 150lbs of 17-17-17 at planting. Then when I start to notice any signs of stress, leafs turning purple, I hit with a 50lb bag of urea. Brings them right back. I share this all with you because this is all stuff I have learned on my own reading forums just like this. So any info I can give any new or old food plotter to help hit their goals then it's time well spent. A side from the fertilizer, I can stress enough about not overseeding the plot. That's 2lbs radish, 1.5 lbs purple tops. 1lb Winfred.
bueller
Moderator
I've been putting down way under the necessary amounts of fertilizer on my brassicas plots and it shows.
alldaysit
5 year old buck +
Peplin Creek
5 year old buck +
South Central Marathon County, WI
alldaysit
5 year old buck +
Well, bulbs have started developing the past few weeks. Some are larger than a golf ball. Radish growth is minimal but some are carrot size.
The deer are hammering the leaves right now. They ate an acre of soybeans and now are hammering the brassicas. I have a 3/4 acre plot of clover they are eating also but that is holding up well. I replanted the beans into clover/rye/oats/radishes on Aug. 31 and its growing rapidly already.
If you look at the furthest away back doe, you can see my exclusion cage and fence post and how the brassica growth in the cage is about 3" taller than the rest of the field.
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The deer are hammering the leaves right now. They ate an acre of soybeans and now are hammering the brassicas. I have a 3/4 acre plot of clover they are eating also but that is holding up well. I replanted the beans into clover/rye/oats/radishes on Aug. 31 and its growing rapidly already.
If you look at the furthest away back doe, you can see my exclusion cage and fence post and how the brassica growth in the cage is about 3" taller than the rest of the field.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Booger Bottoms
Buck Fawn
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
I'm in NE PA and I usually try to get my brassicas planted in the July 12th to 20th range every year. That seems to be the date range that gives me maximum green forage and tuber production. I basically plant the LC brassica mix of PTT, GHFR, and DER. I mix up the ratios of those 3 varieties in the mix just to see what happens. We can get our first frost in the last week to ten days of September, but it is usually just a light frost and not a killing frost. Our first hard frost is usually in the first 2 weeks of October.
Some years when i plant on the earlier side of that range my radish will start to bolt before the frost and they become much less palatable to the deer. So in years when it looks like i am going to get planted on the earlier side, i knock back the percentage of radish and go heavier on the turnips which seem to take longer to maximize tuber production (baseball to grapefruit size) In years when i am going to be planting on the later side (or even outside) of that range i knock back the percentage of PTT and go heavier on the radish. I basically try to find the balance of potential tuber production and green forage production, because my deer eat both parts of those plants readily.
This year July was extremely dry for us, and I had to wait on the rain. I didnt get planted until July 28th. So i was about 2 weeks outside the middle of my sweet spot. I reduced the PTT and went heavier on the GHFR. I'm pretty much completely a mow and throw operation on 1/3 acre plot. I strip plot and rotate the strips between the brassica mix and a cereal grain/legume mix (rye/oats/medium red clover/crimson clover). i broadcast my brassicas into last year's cereal/legume mix. I didnt get to mow and spray those cereal/legume strips until after the rye had matured and set hard seed so i knew i was going to have some volunteer rye in there as well. I top dressed about 30lbs Urea about August 14th and only received about 1/4' of rain that evening. I broadcast an additional 50lbs of Urea about 2 weeks later and ahead of a solid 6/10" of rain.
so here is what we look like as of this AM. The green forage is looking outstanding with some spots in the strips being thigh high on me. Lots of the stalks are twice the circumference of my thumb and i could where the leaves as a hat! the tubers havent really started to fill out yet on the radish or turnips. we just got about 2.3" rain on from Saturday night through Monday AM. In my experience September rain (or lack thereof) makes the big difference in tuber growth in my brassica plantings. Looks like a lot of the radish tubers are about the size of hot dogs. the turnips still havent plumped out yet and alot of them are still elongated. I expect them to plump out in the next 5-7 days.
Some years when i plant on the earlier side of that range my radish will start to bolt before the frost and they become much less palatable to the deer. So in years when it looks like i am going to get planted on the earlier side, i knock back the percentage of radish and go heavier on the turnips which seem to take longer to maximize tuber production (baseball to grapefruit size) In years when i am going to be planting on the later side (or even outside) of that range i knock back the percentage of PTT and go heavier on the radish. I basically try to find the balance of potential tuber production and green forage production, because my deer eat both parts of those plants readily.
This year July was extremely dry for us, and I had to wait on the rain. I didnt get planted until July 28th. So i was about 2 weeks outside the middle of my sweet spot. I reduced the PTT and went heavier on the GHFR. I'm pretty much completely a mow and throw operation on 1/3 acre plot. I strip plot and rotate the strips between the brassica mix and a cereal grain/legume mix (rye/oats/medium red clover/crimson clover). i broadcast my brassicas into last year's cereal/legume mix. I didnt get to mow and spray those cereal/legume strips until after the rye had matured and set hard seed so i knew i was going to have some volunteer rye in there as well. I top dressed about 30lbs Urea about August 14th and only received about 1/4' of rain that evening. I broadcast an additional 50lbs of Urea about 2 weeks later and ahead of a solid 6/10" of rain.
so here is what we look like as of this AM. The green forage is looking outstanding with some spots in the strips being thigh high on me. Lots of the stalks are twice the circumference of my thumb and i could where the leaves as a hat! the tubers havent really started to fill out yet on the radish or turnips. we just got about 2.3" rain on from Saturday night through Monday AM. In my experience September rain (or lack thereof) makes the big difference in tuber growth in my brassica plantings. Looks like a lot of the radish tubers are about the size of hot dogs. the turnips still havent plumped out yet and alot of them are still elongated. I expect them to plump out in the next 5-7 days.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
thanks Bueller!
This year is the first year in 2 years that i added additional N.....and its very apparent that it has helped...especially given the overall dry conditions. I did mess up and only applied about half the rate of N that my soil test had called for....I had a brain fart and equated a 50lb bag of Urea as 50lbs of N/acre. But the soil test did not take into account the previous planting of clover and rye in those strips. Over all i am very happy with the outcome...especially since i was mentally prepared for a much lesser volume of food on the table this year.
alldaysit
5 year old buck +
Well, I must say that the brassica plot of radishes, turnips and clover has been somewhat of a success. I planted an acre of beans that the resident does didn't even let grow. I replanted that into the lc mix.
This 3/4 acre plot of radish/turnip/clover I planted has been a learning curve. They have eaten a significant amount of the radishes and turnips. So much so, it's hard to find some now. If I wouldn't have planted clover with it, it would look nearly barren. I found several nearly baseball size turnips pulled from the ground and half eaten. Mind you, we haven't even had a frost yet!!!
I was aiming to have a late season food source for attraction, but I don't think any will be left. My exclusion cage on my clover plot shows they have eaten at least the top 3 inches of that clove plot also.
I also hinge cut around 1000-1500 trees this spring. A significant amount of the trees lived. I think I spent 5 solid days with a chainsaw and a homemade habitat hook my brother was using with me. That will apparently be the late season draw??!?!?!?
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This 3/4 acre plot of radish/turnip/clover I planted has been a learning curve. They have eaten a significant amount of the radishes and turnips. So much so, it's hard to find some now. If I wouldn't have planted clover with it, it would look nearly barren. I found several nearly baseball size turnips pulled from the ground and half eaten. Mind you, we haven't even had a frost yet!!!
I was aiming to have a late season food source for attraction, but I don't think any will be left. My exclusion cage on my clover plot shows they have eaten at least the top 3 inches of that clove plot also.
I also hinge cut around 1000-1500 trees this spring. A significant amount of the trees lived. I think I spent 5 solid days with a chainsaw and a homemade habitat hook my brother was using with me. That will apparently be the late season draw??!?!?!?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Well, I must say that the brassica plot of radishes, turnips and clover has been somewhat of a success. I planted an acre of beans that the resident does didn't even let grow. I replanted that into the lc mix.
This 3/4 acre plot of radish/turnip/clover I planted has been a learning curve. They have eaten a significant amount of the radishes and turnips. So much so, it's hard to find some now. If I wouldn't have planted clover with it, it would look nearly barren. I found several nearly baseball size turnips pulled from the ground and half eaten. Mind you, we haven't even had a frost yet!!!
I was aiming to have a late season food source for attraction, but I don't think any will be left. My exclusion cage on my clover plot shows they have eaten at least the top 3 inches of that clove plot also.
I also hinge cut around 1000-1500 trees this spring. A significant amount of the trees lived. I think I spent 5 solid days with a chainsaw and a homemade habitat hook my brother was using with me. That will apparently be the late season draw??!?!?!?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The deer hammered my turnips and radishes since August. I went in and tossed winter rye in it to fill in the bare spots. Next year I need to open the canopy a bit. My plot has good sun, until September, then the trees on the south side of the plot block half the plot, and the plants don't keep up.
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M
MoBuckChaser
Guest
Yep, that's a turnip......
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