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Brassicas not touched

jkratz5

jkratz5

Well-Known Member
Well, I am on about my 4th year of running brassicas on one of my farms. This farm has 2 small plots, 1 is about 3/4 of an acre and the other about 1/4.

The 3/4 acre plot I have about half in clover mixed and half in brassicas, turnips, radishes. The clover does tremendous and the deer love it early. However, the brassicas/turnips/radishes go about 100% untouched.

I am to the point where I am going to abandon the brassicas and switch to something else. Anyone else experience this and what have you turned to for a later season Source?

Any input would be greatly appreciated?
 
Brassicas have never been a late season draw for me. I always hear about deer hammering the bulbs in cold weather but I've not experienced it. They love the tops in early season though.
The bulbs always seem too rotten to be palatable by the time late season rolls around. .
 
I've been growing turnips/ radishes for bout 15 years.

Hit/ miss whether they eat the bulbs. More often then not they leave them alone.
One thing I (think) I've noticed is, if we have a hard freeze and it stays real cold, they will eat the bulbs better.
If we get a hard freeze and then a long warm spell, They don't get eaten much.

Target date up here is July 25th to get planted. Gonna start bumping up the date to August 5th of so.
Much rather have good leaf growth and smaller bulbs then woodier leaves/ stems and big bulbs.
 
What is your approximate planting date?

All my radish and turnips are in a mix with cereal grain, they eat them pretty well. All of mine were planted around Labor Day.
 
I had the same experience this year. 3 years ago in mid October I watched and heard deer eating the turnips and radishes. It literally sounded like a person biting into an apple. Time late season rolled around about everything was gone. This year they didn’t touch them til late season. They didn’t even much eat the greens til mid November or so. Right now I still have loads of em that aren’t gonna be eaten cuz they’re spongy and rotted. I think next year I’m gonna back off the brassicas a dab and go a touch heavier on ww/rye. I’m also considering dedicating a portion to getting some clover established for year round use.
 
westwind said:
What is your approximate planting date?

All my radish and turnips are in a mix with cereal grain, they eat them pretty well. All of mine were planted around Labor Day.
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Westwind. I've always tried for July 25th but here on out, for turnips, I'm gonna start about Aug 5th, radishes maybe August 15th. Granted, I'll be watching the forecast for good rains. That's SO key with brassicas.

Our ph here runs about 7.5. 100 miles south from Canada and right on the Mn/ ND border. Some of the best soils in the World.
 
Our PH is around 7.4 - when I say untouched they don’t even eat the leaves after the hard frosts. I had heard it sometimes takes a year or two for them to start hitting them but I think I am done trying
 
That's weird jk5.
Can't think I've ever seen where the deer have not hammered the leaves.

Well, yeah I have. First year I delved in to brassicas, I tried a grassy area that I burned with gly, burned with fire once it dried down, spread the seed by broadcasting it but added no fertilizer.
Got a good Germ but the leaves were short,purple/ yellow and went untouched.
Now I add a 5 gallon pail of triple 19 per 1/4 acre and as long as we get good moisture, they turn out great and the deer hammer them.
 
I think I have read on another forum that planting too early and fertility affect palatability.

There are a few posters that add boron (Borax detergent) by spraying and it supposedly affect palatability too.

Brassaca seed is so cheap and so easy to add to other plantings it would suck to not be able to use it.
 
I've been planting brassicas for about ten years now. Here's what I found. I started out planting them way too early (mid July). I got giant bulbs but they didn't get eaten. If I plant them in late August or early September, they get hit much harder. You want neutral pH and proper soil amendment. The deer on my farm just aren't wild about rape, so I minimize rape and focus on other brassicas.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 
I’ve planted brassicas for 15+ years. Totally agree the usage can be hit and miss and sometimes it seems completely random!! That’s probably the most frustrating part. They have hit them throughout the whole season most years but definitely several periods of no use. This year they hammered my brassica plots every night during late season…. Between the hours of 11pm and 4 am. Were in my neighbors corn plot 1/2 mile to the north in daylight tho. Last year was the complete opposite. Our brassicas were hit during shooting hours and his corn at night. We had a good laugh about that.
 
Did u ever do a soil sample? I see u know ur PH so thinking u did. Curious what ur p&k looks like + zinc, calcium, sulfur, boron, etc etc. Purple tops with radish done right by 4th to 5th year shoulda been hit. Pounded in reality.
& how much nitrogen u apply? They can get funky taste if go overboard with N.
 
Was just in one of my brassica plots today, and their completely gone. Demolished. And I don't do anything special. This is the second year, and they didn't leave a thing. I didn't put N on them, and they were pretty good size. Soybean plot got demolished as well. Not many beans left. With no snow cover lately the deer have scattered back out, and are not as concentrated.
 
Sligh1 said:
Did u ever do a soil sample? I see u know ur PH so thinking u did. Curious what ur p&k looks like + zinc, calcium, sulfur, boron, etc etc. Purple tops with radish done right by 4th to 5th year shoulda been hit. Pounded in reality.
& how much nitrogen u apply? They can get funky taste if go overboard with N.
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Been many years since we did a soil test, I cannot recall the specifics.

I generally try to get mine in by first week of august, maybe I need to push that back to mid august. Do put Nitrogen down but not overboard, maybe we will lay off that.

Can’t decide if we give it another try or switch it up next year. Lot of time invested and little payoff in this plots once they slow down on the clover. Drives a guy bonkers
 
Id replace the brassicas with Rye...it probably needs a break from the brassicas anyway. You won't be sorry and you can come back to brassicas another time. You could even run a small brassica test plot if you really wanted.
 
I would do a soil test no more than it cost and know right where your at with everything. cheap to do and will help eliminate the guesswork. My guess is something is missing or not right giving the brassicas a bad taste. If the deer aren't eating any part of them leaves or bulbs there is a reason, not just picky deer.

jkratz5 said:
Been many years since we did a soil test, I cannot recall the specifics.

I generally try to get mine in by first week of august, maybe I need to push that back to mid august. Do put Nitrogen down but not overboard, maybe we will lay off that.

Can’t decide if we give it another try or switch it up next year. Lot of time invested and little payoff in this plots once they slow down on the clover. Drives a guy bon
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