What type Brassicas do you like and what is your process for fertilizing?

[eclipseman]

All,
last year I grew some Big n Beasty...it was a bitter sweet year as far as that plot went. The Big N Beasty grew well but then yellowed right before the season. I fertilized as recommended (maybe even a little extra) and then planted the brassica blend. I did not need lime per my soil test. I planted in my plot in NY around August 8th of last year. Everything appeared to grow fantastic. The turnips were at least baseball size if not softball sized and larger. The Rape grew tall and the radish grew the size of bananas. To my surprise the deer were actually eating the leafy bits well before a first frost in early September. However, that is where the good story ends. Many parts of the plot started yellowing at the end of September. Bow season starts in October 1st. By the middle of October most everything was yellow and heading towards being brown. I have a list of questions I'm hoping you all can address:

1. do you suspect that the plot was simply finished growing and that is why it was dying OR do you think I should have thrown some nitrogen fertilizer in after the first 4 weeks of growth (ive heard this helps)? I heard this blend is a 60 day blend so maybe early august was too early even though middle July was the actual recommended planting date for my area.

2. What is your technique for planting brassicas and how do you apply your fertilizer (example...throw all fertilizer before planting....throw the fertilizer in stages?)

3. What are your favorite brassica blends? I know the bags with the deer on them are over priced but my local coop typically only has PPT and Rape. I like a variety and even may try throwing some kale in the mix this year.

4. any other thoughts?

 

[scott44]

1. It sounds like your brassicas were lacking nutrients probably N.

2. I use the LC rotation and plant the brassicas into the last years rye. I use the throw and roll and spray method to plant my brassicas.

3. My blend is Rape, Purple top turnips, radishes, Kale, this blend seems to work well for us here in MI.

4. As far as fertilizing I usually don't apply any at planting time but I will 3-4 weeks later depending on when a good rain is coming.

 

[Buckly]

I always look forward to the brassica yellowing as that means they are converting to sugars and the deer hammer them at that point. This usually doesn't happen here until mid to late October though, after 2-3 good frosts. I think your planting dates are good as you're getting good production but, yellowing that early unless you've had big frosts seems like a nutrient problem. As mentioned N.

I plant last week of July to first week of August depending on weather.

The mix I use with great success per acre: 5lbs Dwarf Essex rape seed, 5lbs Purple Top Turnips, 5-7 lbs Ground Hog Radish.

Assuming proper PH and other nutrients: 200-300lbs urea tilled in at planting then follow up with 200lbs urea top spread after about 4 weeks.

What are your goals for the plot? I always plant brassica as a winter food source to be used December through March so big bulbs are best. I want the bulbs big and matured by the time they yellow and quit growing in October because the deer will eat the tops down to the ground in October , November. The deer won't usually use the bulbs until late December. My deer will wipe out 2 acres of brassica tops in 3 weeks.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

In the past I put down 4 five gallon buckets on my plots before tilling them under no matter the size of the plot. Ill top dress another 2 buckets about 3 weeks later. My plots have always just been PTT, DER, and Radish.

After the experience I had with TNM last year I will never till again when it comes to small seed plots. This year I will be doing an all radish plot (most years the deer dont touch the other stuff) TNM into a 3 or 4 year old clover chicory plot. I dont plan on putting any urea down at the time of planting. I'm planning on just keeping an eye on the plot and top dressing as needed according to what the plants are telling me and the forecast.

 

[eclipseman]

I always look forward to the brassica yellowing as that means they are converting to sugars and the deer hammer them at that point. This usually doesn't happen here until mid to late October though, after 2-3 good frosts. I think your planting dates are good as you're getting good production but, yellowing that early unless you've had big frosts seems like a nutrient problem. As mentioned N.

I plant last week of July to first week of August depending on weather.

The mix I use with great success per acre: 5lbs Dwarf Essex rape seed, 5lbs Purple Top Turnips, 5-7 lbs Ground Hog Radish.

Assuming proper PH and other nutrients: 200-300lbs urea tilled in at planting then follow up with 200lbs urea top spread after about 4 weeks.

What are your goals for the plot? I always plant brassica as a winter food source to be used December through March so big bulbs are best. I want the bulbs big and matured by the time they yellow and quit growing in October because the deer will eat the tops down to the ground in October , November. The deer won't usually use the bulbs until late December. My deer will wipe out 2 acres of brassica tops in 3 weeks.

My goal is of course to pull in more deer but to give a little winter food as well. I have about 3-4 acres of food plots split into 2 plots. I was going to plant 2 acres worth of brassica mix (1.5 acres in the secluded plot and .5 acres in the plot which is right behind my house) The secluded plot is about 2.5 acres in size and the plot behind my house is 1-2acres in size depending on what I till up. For the non-brassica portion of the plots (the other 1-2 acres worth) I already have some white clover going but there are areas where the clover did not come up well (I tried frost seeding) so I am planning on tilling those spots up and planting rye/clover in September. I think my ultimate goal is to have at least half of each plot be a stand of clover so I do not have to plant so much every year and it is a source of food all through winter (I heard deer will paw through the snow to get to clover) and the other half of the plots I will alternate between cereal grains and brassica.

 

[bbcoach]

For me brassicas are easy to grow if you have 2 things, PLENTY of rain and fertilizer. If your PH is 6 or higher, you can grow GREAT brassicas. Some prefer no till but I prefer spraying glyphosate a month ahead and discing right before planting. This method gets rid of weeds and gives the brassica roots a clean soft layer to grow in. We normally disc well, incorporate triple 19 fertilizer, cultipack, sow a combination of equal parts of PTT, daikon radishes and rape and cultipack again (do not cover more than 1/4 inch). At the 3 to 4 leaf stage (about 1 month), we add another dose of triple 19 or 34-0-0 and hope for about an inch of rain each week. The attachment is from last years plot, about a month after planting. I don't have a pic when mature but the PTT were bigger than softballs and the rape and radishes filled in very nicely and were about knee high. Turnips and radishes take about 90 days to mature, so see what your average first frost date is back up 90 days from that date and plant.

 

[Wild Thing]

Signs of nutrient deficiency:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ficiency.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2_geQAnpsbBIO8edZwrtf2

I always look forward to the brassica yellowing as that means they are converting to sugars and the deer hammer them at that point. This usually doesn't happen here until mid to late October though, after 2-3 good frosts. I think your planting dates are good as you're getting good production but, yellowing that early unless you've had big frosts seems like a nutrient problem. As mentioned N.

I plant last week of July to first week of August depending on weather.

The mix I use with great success per acre: 5lbs Dwarf Essex rape seed, 5lbs Purple Top Turnips, 5-7 lbs Ground Hog Radish.

Assuming proper PH and other nutrients: 200-300lbs urea tilled in at planting then follow up with 200lbs urea top spread after about 4 weeks.

What are your goals for the plot? I always plant brassica as a winter food source to be used December through March so big bulbs are best. I want the bulbs big and matured by the time they yellow and quit growing in October because the deer will eat the tops down to the ground in October , November. The deer won't usually use the bulbs until late December. My deer will wipe out 2 acres of brassica tops in 3 weeks.

Not sure where you are located Buckly? Where I am in Upper Michigan if I planted brassicas that heavy I would have a lot of stunted plants with very little growth in the bulbs. For us, 2#/acre of DER and 3#/acre of PTT is plenty and we get much larger bulbs on the turnips. When I plant GHFRadish, 5#/acre is usually more than enough.

Brassicas like Nitrogen for sure. My soil tests usually recommend 175# actual N per acre. I almost always use a split application by broadcasting the second half about 4 weeks after germination.

 

[ksgobbler]

In the past I put down 4 five gallon buckets on my plots before tilling them under no matter the size of the plot. Ill top dress another 2 buckets about 3 weeks later. My plots have always just been PTT, DER, and Radish.

After the experience I had with TNM last year I will never till again when it comes to small seed plots. This year I will be doing an all radish plot (most years the deer dont touch the other stuff) TNM into a 3 or 4 year old clover chicory plot. I dont plan on putting any urea down at the time of planting. I'm planning on just keeping an eye on the plot and top dressing as needed according to what the plants are telling me and the forecast.

Interesting. I’ve tried turnips, radishes, forage radishes, and forage turnips. Deer will destroy the tops the day after a freeze then they will rot in the ground as the deer won’t touch the root.

 

[Wild Thing]

Interesting. I’ve tried turnips, radishes, forage radishes, and forage turnips. Deer will destroy the tops the day after a freeze then they will rot in the ground as the deer won’t touch the root.

Try planting some sugar beets for them. My deer will dig through the snow for them until they have scarfed up every last morsel. Here they are in late February still looking for more:

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I planted sugar beets last year. They didn't touch them until the second week of Feb. I wasn't able to get my hands on any seed this year.

 

[ksgobbler]

I just am not mad enough at the deer to go crazy planting a bunch of stuff for them now. I plant trees they may like because I really like native vegetation. I also threw in some pears because we will eat them. I am however crazy about waterfowl and bobwhites. I’ll plant milo, millet, etc for them without batting an eye. Deer will still use my place and a doe or two will walk by and I will be happy. I’ve already shot what some folks on here would consider the buck of a lifetime.

 

[Buckly]

Signs of nutrient deficiency:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjN8duttuDbAhXjIjQIHcYRDqMQFggsMAA&url=http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/content/filerepository/CMP/00/001/053/Signs%20of%20nutrient%20deficiency.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2_geQAnpsbBIO8edZwrtf2




Not sure where you are located Buckly? Where I am in Upper Michigan if I planted brassicas that heavy I would have a lot of stunted plants with very little growth in the bulbs. For us, 2#/acre of DER and 3#/acre of PTT is plenty and we get much larger bulbs on the turnips. When I plant GHFRadish, 5#/acre is usually more than enough.

Brassicas like Nitrogen for sure. My soil tests usually recommend 175# actual N per acre. I almost always use a split application by broadcasting the second half about 4 weeks after germination.

Yea, you don't want to plant too thick. The first year I planted brassica too thick and they produced good foliage but small tubers. The second year I planted too thin and they branched out a lot more with good size tubers but, I had a big weed problem because it was too thin for a canopy. Every area is different of course and I'm looking at lots of leaf growth too feed early and decent tubers for later. I think it works out well because my deer are eating the leaves constant and kind of pruning them over the growing season. I get medium size tubers and lots of leaf that peaks right at the early rut. Individual results may vary. The key is putting the nitrogen to them. This is expensive but, hey its still way cheaper than corn and the bears don't seem to come around as much.