Daver
PMA Member
here in this post. Well, maybe not. 
But we will try!
Every year there many questions asked here about planting brassicas. Although I do not consider myself an expert, I am an experienced novice and if there is a food plotting mistake...I have probably made it!.
Nevertheless, I took some pictures at my farm this past weekend and each of the three fields that I will show you are in good to excellent shape right now...and NONE of them were planted under ideal conditions and/or timing.
I mainly want to convey that if you miss the ideal planting window or can't plant them "just right", etc, that you can still make it work out.
Field #1.
I had the timing right on this field...the planting date was 7/25. BUT, it was very wet, too wet really to be out on the field with my tractor...but, ya gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.
I would rate this field as good to very good at this point, which I will take given the planting circumstances. I had planted buckwheat in this field in the spring and wet fields prevented me from prepping the field the way I wanted to. So on planting day I broadcast the brassica seed into a sea of spent buckwheat, somewhat still standing, and weeds/grass that were coming on strong as the buckwheat waned.
I then, on the same day, mowed the leftover buckwheat and weeds down and then my son sprayed the mess with roundup. We sprayed it one more time with clethodim only on 8/15, after the brassica had germinated and there were still some grasses fighting for their lives out there. The field cleaned up pretty well after that...except for the buckwheat that "volunteered". So the pic shows a pretty good field of brassicas mixed with a weak stand of buckwheat that doesn't appear to be outcompeting the brassica too much.
The moral of this story...even when it is too wet to work the ground, if you can get that tiny seed on the bare soil somehow and then by whatever means necessary, kill off the weed/grass competition, you can still overcome brother! Also, we broadcast urea and P&K on this field and let the next rain take the fertilizer into the soil.
Field #2.
I had mowed and sprayed this field ahead of time and it was looking good on that angle, but I had a tractor problem suddenly and could not shift into reverse. I had my box scraper on at the time...so I worked this ground with the box scraper. I dropped the scarifiers down to break the soil and made it work.
I ended up with very bare soil, but not really worked up like I had hoped, and then broadcast my seed and fertilizer and let the next rain, which came soon thereafter, take it in. This field looks just about perfect at this time, I would rate this as excellent. All of the field work took place on 8/8, or a little after the ideal late July timeframe and I didn't have time to cultipack it.
The moral here...plant in front of a nice rain! It covers all.
Field #3.
This field is good to very good and was planted on 8/15. The thin spot in the foreground is under a big oak tree, so that is to be expected there. This planting was kind of an afterthought. I had a little seed to burn and I disked that ground up that day. (It had been sprayed with Roundup a week or two before, so it was nice and dead at the time.)
We spread the seed, fertilized and cultipacked all in the same day and finished up in the dark. A subsequent rain made it all good. This field is a little behind the others of course, but it is going to be a nice planting.
The moral here is that you can get them in a little late and still be good...but you are more dependent on getting some timely rain...which we did.
But we will try!Every year there many questions asked here about planting brassicas. Although I do not consider myself an expert, I am an experienced novice and if there is a food plotting mistake...I have probably made it!
. Nevertheless, I took some pictures at my farm this past weekend and each of the three fields that I will show you are in good to excellent shape right now...and NONE of them were planted under ideal conditions and/or timing.
I mainly want to convey that if you miss the ideal planting window or can't plant them "just right", etc, that you can still make it work out.
Field #1.
I had the timing right on this field...the planting date was 7/25. BUT, it was very wet, too wet really to be out on the field with my tractor...but, ya gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.
I would rate this field as good to very good at this point, which I will take given the planting circumstances. I had planted buckwheat in this field in the spring and wet fields prevented me from prepping the field the way I wanted to. So on planting day I broadcast the brassica seed into a sea of spent buckwheat, somewhat still standing, and weeds/grass that were coming on strong as the buckwheat waned.
I then, on the same day, mowed the leftover buckwheat and weeds down and then my son sprayed the mess with roundup. We sprayed it one more time with clethodim only on 8/15, after the brassica had germinated and there were still some grasses fighting for their lives out there. The field cleaned up pretty well after that...except for the buckwheat that "volunteered". So the pic shows a pretty good field of brassicas mixed with a weak stand of buckwheat that doesn't appear to be outcompeting the brassica too much.
The moral of this story...even when it is too wet to work the ground, if you can get that tiny seed on the bare soil somehow and then by whatever means necessary, kill off the weed/grass competition, you can still overcome brother!
Also, we broadcast urea and P&K on this field and let the next rain take the fertilizer into the soil.
Field #2.
I had mowed and sprayed this field ahead of time and it was looking good on that angle, but I had a tractor problem suddenly and could not shift into reverse. I had my box scraper on at the time...so I worked this ground with the box scraper. I dropped the scarifiers down to break the soil and made it work.
I ended up with very bare soil, but not really worked up like I had hoped, and then broadcast my seed and fertilizer and let the next rain, which came soon thereafter, take it in. This field looks just about perfect at this time, I would rate this as excellent. All of the field work took place on 8/8, or a little after the ideal late July timeframe and I didn't have time to cultipack it.
The moral here...plant in front of a nice rain! It covers all.
Field #3.
This field is good to very good and was planted on 8/15. The thin spot in the foreground is under a big oak tree, so that is to be expected there. This planting was kind of an afterthought. I had a little seed to burn and I disked that ground up that day. (It had been sprayed with Roundup a week or two before, so it was nice and dead at the time.)
We spread the seed, fertilized and cultipacked all in the same day and finished up in the dark. A subsequent rain made it all good. This field is a little behind the others of course, but it is going to be a nice planting.
The moral here is that you can get them in a little late and still be good...but you are more dependent on getting some timely rain...which we did.
