Radishes: Poor man's subsoiler

[SD51555]

I was rooting around on youtube looking at cover crop videos, and stumbled upon this one that showcases how radishes can help break up your hard pan if you have one. It's a quick video and illustrates well what radishes do.

I put radishes into my plot this year to hopefully punch some holes into my solid clay subsoil.

 

[sandbur]

Hey, Mo. I bought some radishes from you last spring.

could you make another delivery by airplane??? Joking..

Seriously, what would be the time to broadcast some in failed corn foodpltos in central Minnesota?

I just finished scattering the purple tops that you sold me. We finally got the fields sprayed last week. Thank you for the reasonable prices.

Some of the purple tops went to northern Mn.-zone 1.

 

[j-bird]

I have had pitiful results with my deer eating appin and purple top turnips. I have read that in some cases deer will hit radishes before turnips - have you guys seen this? I like adding a brassica as insurance for my deer - they are fairly cheap and easy to plant, but Iwant to plant something they will eat. I typically have other groceries available and that may influence the deer usage as well. I amgoing tocnduct a trialwith Appin, Purple top and a radish this year tosee if the deer will eat any of them - this year I didn't get my corn and beans in so the groceries will be a little less selective this year.

 

[wiscwhip]

j-bird, if you haven't tried the radishes, I would suggest them for sure. Most guys(including myself) report more early use of radish than other types of brassicas. Also try some DER if you haven't before, our deer took a liking to that early on as well. We found that Appin, Barkant, and PPT got about the same usage and in the same timeframe, which was after it started to cool down for the fall.

 

[j-bird]

My deer simply won't eat them at all thus far!

Not the leaves, not the tubers, nothing, not in October, not in November, not in December or January. Not in a box not with a fox - they do not like them Sam I am - they do not like turnips man oh man!

 

[West Branch]

Our Customers fly Tillage Radishes on with Airplanes into standing corn and we do it every other year in food plotting. Had root depths as far as 58" last year in Missouri. When it works, it works good!

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I remember last year on the other site you had mentioned that you would be testing the different daikon varieties/brands. Did the Tillage get deeper than the others any other observations?

 

[THunter]

Radishes are EXCELLENT food plot crops and nutrient scavengers but they don't really do a lot for real hardpan.

 

[kskid]

My deer simply won't eat them at all thus far!
Not the leaves, not the tubers, nothing, not in October, not in November, not in December or January. Not in a box not with a fox - they do not like them Sam I am - they do not like turnips man oh man!

Same on my place. Also going to try radishes this year.

 

[SD51555]

We dug roots and the CCS Tillage Radish brand was the deepest at aprox 58" everything else was back from there with some at about 25 inches. We sell them all and the Cover Crop Solutions Brand is the most Expensive at $3.40/lb and was the deepest, with the cheapest at just over $2 a pound, and the one that was at just over 2' in depth. But this was a one time experiment, don't know if anything over 18" is a benefit yet. But I say that loosely because I like the Idea that roots at 58" MAY scavenge more nutrients.

If they open up channels into my clay even a few inches per year I'll take it. As long as the next root can keep going down that trail into the subsoil, I'll be a happy plotter. I need the filtration. When it's wet, it's just spongy on the surface cause the water sits there.

 

[foggy]

Our deer go for the radishes before they turn onto the turnips.....which usually starts with a hard freeze or two. Both are dug up all winter until they are gone March or so.

 

[browndog]

If they open up channels into my clay even a few inches per year I'll take it. As long as the next root can keep going down that trail into the subsoil, I'll be a happy plotter. I need the filtration. When it's wet, it's just spongy on the surface cause the water sits there.

Here is radish that opened up a nice channel in my heavy soil. I broke off about 2-3 inches when I dug it up. The part I dug up was 24" long and 14" in diameter. I had many that were close to this size but this looked like the biggest one so I dug it up to see how big it was. Sure makes for some good tilling the following spring...especially in heavy soil.

 

[j-bird]

For those of you tha have success with deer eating radishes or turnips what other foods are typically available? The reason I ask is that I am thinking my issue is simply a matter of choice on the deers part. I typically have either standing beans or corn in the fall and winter months and I am wondering if the deer simply prefer those plantings vs the brassica. I know the deer are more used to corn and beans in my area than brassica type crops. This year will be an interesting one as I was not able to get my spring planted corn and bean plots in - so this year those will not be available. I am taking my largest plot and row planting AWP and soybeans (which I know the deer love) and then will break the plot up into 3 sections - they will all be broadcast over the row planting. I will have 3 seperate cereal grains (rye, oats and wheat) and 3 different brassica (radish, appin turnip and purple top turnip) in an effort to see what of these the deer prefer and when. Hopefully I will learn something.

 

[bueller]

My deer hammer all types of brassicas. Corn and beans are commonly grown in the area but the nearest farm field is about a mile away.

 

[j-bird]

I typically have spring planted corn and beans (left to stand all winter), along with fall planted cereal grains and turnips - the deer just see to ignore the turnips. Iam trying radishes and taking a little more detailed plan into this fall and Iwill see what the deer tell me.

 

[sandbur]

The brassica are pretty much ignored on the placed where I live. I usually have standing corn and beans last last thru the winter. I still have standing corn from spring 2014 plantings.

This winter may have been an exception as deer used a bit of the brassica mix.

I am going to scatter some radish seed in a wet area this afternoon. This is a flooded out area in a corn foodplot. Deer did use the radishes and not brassica a few years back.

My dpsm was counted at 7.2, I am probably less and in a very good ag area.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

For those of you tha have success with deer eating radishes or turnips what other foods are typically available? The reason I ask is that I am thinking my issue is simply a matter of choice on the deers part. I typically have either standing beans or corn in the fall and winter months and I am wondering if the deer simply prefer those plantings vs the brassica. I know the deer are more used to corn and beans in my area than brassica type crops. This year will be an interesting one as I was not able to get my spring planted corn and bean plots in - so this year those will not be available. I am taking my largest plot and row planting AWP and soybeans (which I know the deer love) and then will break the plot up into 3 sections - they will all be broadcast over the row planting. I will have 3 seperate cereal grains (rye, oats and wheat) and 3 different brassica (radish, appin turnip and purple top turnip) in an effort to see what of these the deer prefer and when. Hopefully I will learn something.

I planted Groundhog radishes, dwarf Essex rape and purple top turnips from Welter's last year in SE MN. I also planted some commercial blends from Whitetail Institute and Biologic. I also planted oats, soybeans, buckwheat, corn, milo, sorgum and winter rye. There are standard corn, bean and alfalfa ag fields within 1/2 mile of my land. The deer would browse lightly on the groundhog radishes early and they even started to take bites out of the roots in mid to late fall. They just seemed to slowly browse on everything that was between their bedding area and the soybeans that were the preferred food source. Once the soybeans were wiped out in December, they started to hit the brassicas a little harder and continued to do so until they were wiped out in early winter.

If you have standing soybeans that you'll leave for the deer, I would recommend overseeding some brassica blends in late summer. You might get a few more pounds of production out of your plots after the beans die and you may also expose the deer to brassicas. Based on my experience, the tillage radishes will likely be used first so that might be a good place to start. It wouldn't hurt to throw in some purple top turnips and rape seed as well just for a little variety.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I tried Ptt last yr for the first time. My deer ate them but did not hammer them near as hard as the grain/clover plots throughout the fall. We had a hard winter as far as mo goes an when the snows came the deer pawed through the snow to get to them. It may have been other critters too such as coons but either way I did not have 1 turnip left by late winter. That alone tells me they are worth adding to the mix. This yr I'm adding radishes and I'm excited to see what happens!

 

[kskid]

I figured offering some diversity would draw deer (I'm in a corn/soybean ag area). I kept a time lapse camera on my PTT all year. The deer never touched them - early, late, snow covered, never. They did browse the WW I had planted next to the PTT, but not what I would call heavy browsing. I'm willing to keep trying diversity, but I don't have the patience to replant 3 or 4 years hoping they'll figure it out. :D