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Brassicas

Well it took 2 months of sub-freezing temperatures and 6 - 10" of snow, but it looks like the deer finally figured out that the turnips are worth getting at. Last week this field had very few tracks in it. I guess the snow has been on the ground long enough, and over the past week... all of the sudden they started tearing it up. There's a "highway" leading to the field, and they're digging through the snow to get to the frozen turnips underneath.

Pretty cool. Thanks Paul!

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This was the first year I did the brassica mix and it took them until early January to start hitting them. Now there's around a dozen deer in there every night. And it's only an acre.
 
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May 30, 2014

We try to avoid using herbicides as much as possible for both expense and health reasons and this rotation helps in that regard.

We have very little weed growth following brassicas



Jess has no-till drilled oats and annual clovers into this already



50# oats
10# berseem clover
10# crimson clover
Click to expand...



Very dry here so it hasn't come up yet but when it does it will feed deer and provide enough nitrogen to feed the rye mix to follow



Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year
Click to expand...
 
June 3rd, 2014

We follow the spent brassica strips with 50# oats and 10# of both crimson and berseem clovers, to feed deer and the soil



Both clovers are coming up nicely and should provide all the nitrogen needs for the rye mix this fall as well providing a high protein food source for our whitetails



The oats are a lush tender attraction while the clovers are growing and the rye strips are awesome fawning habitat



The rye will be planted to brassicas in July and the oats/clover will be planted to the rye mix in late August

More information on the annual clovers here

Berseem Clover

Crimson Clover

Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year
Click to expand...
 
Thanks to last year's late wet spring I am now on Paul's rotation and couldn't be more pleased with the results. Deer were on the rye this spring every hour of the day as it was the only fresh food in the area. I planted the oat-clover mix April 15 and as the rye got tall, the deer switched to the oats. Fantastic rotation! Can't wait till fall to hunt the winter rye again!! On my place at least, this beats corn and soybeans hands down. Cheaper and more reliable too.
 
Just wondering what others are doing when you go from winter rye to Brassicas or from spring oats to winter rye.
I have a 72" King cutter tiller (brand new last year) with 45 hp tractor.
My procedure has been to spray the spring oats or winter rye then mow it down then a week or two later start tilling.
It always seems to wrap around the tiller ends causing the bearing to heat up and makes you have to clean or should I say cut the material out several times while tilling.

If you are going this route where you are spreading seed on till ground.
Is there a attachement that would elimate the above problem?
 
iowathumper said:
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My procedure has been to spray the spring oats or winter rye then mow it down then a week or two later start tilling.
It always seems to wrap around the tiller ends causing the bearing to heat up and makes you have to clean or should I say cut the material out several times while tilling...
Click to expand...

I know that rye can be awfully "stringy" right after being killed off and I am sure it would be prone to wrapping around a tiller. From what you described as your process, it sounds like you are already waiting a week from the initial mowing to the start of the tilling process, so I wonder if you would insert one more mow right before you start to till that if that would solve it.

If you kill it and then mow it down and then wait a week, in which it will dry down pretty well, then mow it one more time I would think you would essentially "mulch" enough of it that it would not then want to bind up your tiller.
 
We don't spray oats just mow while green but heading out then till under 4-6 weeks later

We spray rye in late May and mow early July till mid July

No problems with wrapping
 
we have had an acre of clover in the same spot for 12 years or so, we have re done it 3 times, each time we planted clover again, this summer iv finally talked my dad into something else, I know u should break up planting planting the same thing over and over, we are going to plant the brassica mix in mid to late july, with having clover all those years putting nitrogen in the soil, would I have to put any nitrogen down at planting? or after 4-6 weeks would I have to put down nitrogen
 
jerred44 said:
we have had an acre of clover in the same spot for 12 years or so, we have re done it 3 times, each time we planted clover again, this summer iv finally talked my dad into something else, I know u should break up planting planting the same thing over and over, we are going to plant the brassica mix in mid to late july, with having clover all those years putting nitrogen in the soil, would I have to put any nitrogen down at planting? or after 4-6 weeks would I have to put down nitrogen
Click to expand...

White clover can fix as much as 200# of N per acre so in theory you should be good to go, but monitor growth and color and top dress urea if needed Just before a minimum 1/2" rain)

Definitely soil test and add P & K and lime as needed and leave a strip of clover around the perimeter ;)
 
June 27, 2014

Time to order brassica seeds and I have a list of suppliers here

Growing brassicas for whitetails

One of my favorites is Welter Seed but we get all our seeds, fertilizer, lime and herbicides from Iowa-Missouri Hybrid LLC phone (319) 293-3114 Owner Aaron Palm will pre-mix seeds and ship anywhere and locally is a one stop source for virtually all of a plotters needs.

If you have a trusted supplier near you please share so others can take advantage of local sources and avoid shipping costs.

I have tried many varieties but whitetails showed no preference so we stick with the tried and true basics that perform year after year

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#
Click to expand...

Please share pictures and information of your own brassicas so others can learn from more then just me ;)
 
Brassicas in PH 5.6?

My 2 acre plot has PH of 5.6 with a heavy clay soil and is only accessible by 4 wheeler. The soil sample recommends 3 tons of ag lime but is is impossible to get access for a lime truck. I planted the rye clover mix last fall and it did decent. Thinking about putting 1/2 in the brassica mix. Will the brassicas grow decently in this low a PH?
 
Just gearing up to order and plant the brassicas. I have in my notes to put down 10lbs of the mixture/ac. the small box settings on my GP drill(7.5) should be set at about 50. Is that the setting you are using? I am ready to reap the benefits of this drill and this will be the first year for the brassicas and later the rye mix.

Thanks for all the help over the years.
 
Paul,
I want to pick your brain on an idea. Im planting brassica mix on a rye clover plot. My thinking is instead of tilling up the soil and stirring up weed seeds and losing valuable moisture is to mow the rye which has already been done, spray for to kill off any weeds. then Broadcast seed and fertilizer then run over the plot with a cutipacker to insure soil contact. My thoughts are with the dry weather the last two years it will help retain soil moisture as well as take advantage of the mowed rye for moisture holding mulch on the surface. the rye has been mowed for a month now. My question is will this work out or am I wasting my time. I intend to seed a little heavier in case of low germination.
Thanks is advance
 
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