Too Early For Brassicas Zone 3A?
- Thread starter Kooch
- Start date
So this has happened a couple times since we planted. Hoping it's not TOO MUCH rain. I reckon it's better than none. Hopefully, the larger percentage of radish in the mix will do well this year and start to help with water infiltration in subsequent seasons.
Feels like it's going to be hard to get any dirt work in this Summer, just too darn wet.
Edit to add - Maybe all that mulch garbage laying on the top of my dirt will end up helping more than hurting. With all this rain, anything that keeps the seed from washing away can't be bad.
Feels like it's going to be hard to get any dirt work in this Summer, just too darn wet.
Edit to add - Maybe all that mulch garbage laying on the top of my dirt will end up helping more than hurting. With all this rain, anything that keeps the seed from washing away can't be bad.
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bbcoach
5 year old buck +
If your plots are flat and since you have plenty of debris, you should be fine. Rain will help the seed have good seed to soil contact. You should see germination in about a week. Brassicas like about an inch of rain per week, so pray for that and make sure you fertilize regularly with some nitrogen. Good luck and send some PICS as the brassicas develop.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Finished seeding my brassicas (3.5 acres) this mornimg just as it started raining. We have received a little over an inch of rain since. Didnt quite finish spreading my Urea but will get it done before the next rainfall.
Next up - cereal grains next month.
Next up - cereal grains next month.
Yes Sir. I've been hunting up in this general area (mostly Baudette area) for a while and I can't remember a year without puddles. It does make it hard to get dozer work done though. My eventual perennial plots will need to be wet tolerant. But, that's a future problem.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Update: We got a break from the rain yesterday so when it dried up I spread my Urea. We got an additional 1.5" of rain overnight so I'm hoping I don't have too many puddles. I should have some brassicas up out of the ground soon though.
When I decided to plant more than originally planned, I decided to try out the mix from Northwoods Whitetails. John isn't far away from me so I drove down and picked some up and was able to get it down the next morning and beat the rain. There is no "Dwarf" Essex Rape in this mix. Just look at the photos of his Sweet Feast Brassica Blend on his website:
www.northwoodswhitetails.com
When I decided to plant more than originally planned, I decided to try out the mix from Northwoods Whitetails. John isn't far away from me so I drove down and picked some up and was able to get it down the next morning and beat the rain. There is no "Dwarf" Essex Rape in this mix. Just look at the photos of his Sweet Feast Brassica Blend on his website:
www.northwoodswhitetails.com
Well, I found a way to sneak up to my place for a few hours today. I have pictures. For my second year on this plot, I think it's looking OK. Last year I had a nice stand ow WR that inexplicably mostly winter killed. It was a tough winter. This year I put as much lime on as I could manage with my ATV spreader and my old bones and will add more nexf year. I did fertilize to soil test recommendations. But, it's all just surface broadcast. It was July 11th when we put a final dose of lime, 200LBS/acre 9-23-23, 200LBS/ Acre Urea. If I knew then that I'd be able to make the trip today, I'd have applied half the urea then, and the rest today since it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. But, hindsight's 20/20.
I spread a mixture of forage rape, kale, radish and PTT at 5LBS/Acre and a clover mixture consisting of Frosty Berseem, Crimson, and Balansa at 10LB/acre. I THOUGHT I'd done a fairly good job keeping things even. But, there are blank spots. I'm unsure if these are areas that didn't germinate or if I missed them. We had some good rain the day after we planted. My plot is prone to standing water, so maybe some of the seed just drowned. There were some areas with standing water when I planted, and I avoided spreading seed on them. So, that explains some of the bare spots.
I mentioned before that there is a lot of mulch trash on the surface from the mulching machine. I didn't get it off before I planted and hoped the small seed would find the soil with a couple good rains. When I first walked the plot, it looked like the areas with the heaviest mulch didn't get any germination. So, I got the rake and started cleaning up some of the trash. I do a little every time I'm up. Then, I noticed quite a few tiny green sprouts under the mulch. I was ripping them out no matter how careful I was, so I just quit. Maybe, just maybe, they will live and find their way through to sunlight. fingers crossed. There are some plants in the thick mulch areas. It's hard to see in the photographs but those brown barren spots are not completely barren with close inspection, just behind, and thin. In September I'll broadcast WR to whatever is still bald. Some of it may be the shade too I guess.
So, here are pictures of 17 days growth.
I spread a mixture of forage rape, kale, radish and PTT at 5LBS/Acre and a clover mixture consisting of Frosty Berseem, Crimson, and Balansa at 10LB/acre. I THOUGHT I'd done a fairly good job keeping things even. But, there are blank spots. I'm unsure if these are areas that didn't germinate or if I missed them. We had some good rain the day after we planted. My plot is prone to standing water, so maybe some of the seed just drowned. There were some areas with standing water when I planted, and I avoided spreading seed on them. So, that explains some of the bare spots.
I mentioned before that there is a lot of mulch trash on the surface from the mulching machine. I didn't get it off before I planted and hoped the small seed would find the soil with a couple good rains. When I first walked the plot, it looked like the areas with the heaviest mulch didn't get any germination. So, I got the rake and started cleaning up some of the trash. I do a little every time I'm up. Then, I noticed quite a few tiny green sprouts under the mulch. I was ripping them out no matter how careful I was, so I just quit. Maybe, just maybe, they will live and find their way through to sunlight. fingers crossed. There are some plants in the thick mulch areas. It's hard to see in the photographs but those brown barren spots are not completely barren with close inspection, just behind, and thin. In September I'll broadcast WR to whatever is still bald. Some of it may be the shade too I guess.
So, here are pictures of 17 days growth.
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Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Looking good Kooch.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
The residue will break down on its own anyway, however, brassicas use a lot of N so it is good to top-dress them with more after emergence. I usually feed them an additional 100#/acre of Urea (46# actual N) 4 weeks after germination. I wouldn't worry about adding any more to speed up residue decomposition.
