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Brassicas

Re: Brassicas -March

This time of year the brassica plots are long ago dead but there are still two kinds of situations that can present different problems.

The worst is an uneaten brassica plot that has heavy leaf cover and rotting turnips left behind.

MarchBrassicaPlot.jpg


You can see the heavy leaf cover left behind here

Matofdeadleaves.jpg


and rotting turnips

DeadTurnips.jpg


I couldn't even scrape the frozen leaves away to expose the soil surface

Frozenmatofleaves.jpg


Normally I encourage frost seeding a plowdown red clover this time of year into dead brassica plots but we need some exposed soil surface to do this.

BrassicaPlotSurface.jpg


Heavily grazed brassicas will have 80% exposed soil surface not unlike soybean stubble

Grazeddeadbrassicas.jpg


and there will be few turnips left behind

Rottedturnips.jpg


Heavily grazed brassicas make a great surface to frost seed an inexpensive red clover into to provide a cover crop and awesome feed all spring and summer.

MammothRedClover.jpg


The ungrazed areas however are better off tilled under and planted to a combo of oats and berseem clover, all of which can then be tilled under for a cereal grain plot this fall.

One can see that disease problems are more likely with ungrazed brassicas then those that have been grazed to the dirt.

Tilling the old brassicas under and planting a cover crop before the next brassicas would be wise if you prefer to re-plant brassicas in the same spot.

Rotation to a new crop is always best and eliminates disease problems..... :)
 
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SEIowaDeerslayer said:
Is there a long season brassica available that WILL create a turnip, similar to a purple top but takes longer to mature?
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Swede (Brassica napus L.) (mentioned above) will do exactly that while kale is the long season version of rape.

Welter Seed carries a Long Season Mix that has several swedes and kale in it.

Adams-Briscoe Seed carries them by the pound ABS seed list

Maxi-Rack carries Swede seed

Here's a pic of the world record swede at 77#'s!

3257198736_31ed462460.jpg
 
I'm going to give that Big Buck Annual Mix a shot this year, looks like it'll do the trick. I'll post pics on how it does. I'm going to put the seeds in the ground this weekend. :)
 
Some plants such as brassicas, buckwheat and rye have allelopathic chemicals that can prevent other plants from germinating and this knowledge can help us naturally control weeds with the right crop rotation combinations. Sometimes it can also prevent the beneficial establishment of a cover crop however and I would like to offer a case in point.

I frost seeded red clover into a brassica plot that was never eaten so the plants eventually froze and the leaves and stems covered the soil and here is the result in mid June.

The clover is barely a few inches high

Frostseededredcloverinbrassicapatch.jpg


It did germinate but it struggles to grow at all and this plot was well fertilized last year

Redcloverindeadbrassicapatch.jpg


A few feet away where there was no brassicas, the very same red clover seed is thriving.

FallseededcloverJune12.jpg


For this reason I would suggest tilling under a spent brassica plot in the spring and either follow it with oats and annual berseem clover or in late spring/early summer tilling and planting buckwheat as an interim cover crop until your next fall plot is ready to be planted.

A brassica plot in which everything has been eaten early in the fall may not be as bad however I noticed a very clear difference in two seperate sugarbeet plots this spring, one planted following brassicas had few weeds or grasses, the other following a clover crop was filled with foxtail and weeds.

Forage radishes also have allelopathic affects and can break up soil hardpan and feed deer at the same time so these things should all be kept in mind to take advantage of certain crops natural benefits... ;)
 
PT Turnips and Canola

What is earliest you guys recommend getting turnips and canola in? (SW Iowa)

Am going into an broken up brome field. Would you recommend fertilizer?

If so what kind and how much?

Thanks Very Much!!!!!!!
 
corygnc said:
What is earliest you guys recommend getting turnips and canola in? (SW Iowa)

Am going into an broken up brome field. Would you recommend fertilizer?

If so what kind and how much?

Thanks Very Much!!!!!!!
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I'm going to plant mine next week Cory but anytime in late July thru early August is fine for our area.

Definitely add urea, up to 100#'s of actual nitrogen will spur lush heavy growth in brassicas. 150-200#'s of 46-0-0 will get you well in the ball park, just make sure you till it in well just before seeding.

If the soils are poor you can add some P&K also by adding 100-200#'s per acre of 6-24-24, 6-28-28 or 8-36-36 or just go with 400#'s of triple 19 and catch the all at the same time.

Fertilizer is pricey now...$30 a bag for 6-28-28 in Keo the other day!:rolleyes:

Cultipack, sow seed at 5# per acre and re-cultipack to cover in most soils.

I'm heading to Welters Saturday morning to pick up enough for nearly 30 acres :eek: :D

I'm going to include some oilseed radishes as well to help breakup hardpan and feed deer at the same time.;)
 
Dbltree, have you ever used the oilseed radishes for a foodplot before?

Is there a reason to till your fertilizer and then seed and cultipack it? Could a person fertilize and seed then just cultipack?
 
bowhuntr311 said:
Dbltree, have you ever used the oilseed radishes for a foodplot before?

Is there a reason to till your fertilizer and then seed and cultipack it? Could a person fertilize and seed then just cultipack?
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Yes...I mixed radishes in last year and they scarfed em up like candy...:D

Cultipacking is usually not enough to get urea covered enough to prevent dentrification losses, so it's better to disc or till it in to the top 1-2" of soil, then cultipack, sow, cultipack.

If you have sandy soils then cultipacking might be enough but that stuff is to darn expensive to risk having "evaporate"...;)
 
Tiller Depth

Dbltree,

When you till how deep do you go?

I bought a Woods tiller and it has:
PTO slip clutch protects drive system from damage if a root or rock is hit

I just cleared some locust trees (smaller) in a brome field and I've disced it with an offset disc (like a plow) and have gotten some good rains.

Will the tiller till thru a few roots or should I just disc it? I've picked most of them up

I've also just picked up a landscape rake off craigslist:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...10551_10001_34484_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1

that I think may provide a good seedbed also and gather roots at same time.

What would you do?

Thanks!

I am going to call my plots this year the DBLTREE plots (LOL)
 
My tiller teeth are getting worn so it doesn't go as deep as yours will and it will tear those roots out, not a big deal except ti will probally wrap and you may need to cut them off at some point.

I've went thru all kinds of roots, stumps and rocks with mine and it does fine, but you can most likely do the job with your disc and get a long just fine.

No need to go deep for brassicas, they will do fine if broadcast on untilled ground providing they get rain to germinate them. Disc it up good, rake the junk off, level it off with the cultipacker, seed and cultipack again. :way:
 
Paul,

Do you think this weekend will be too early to put the brassica seed in the ground? I was wanting to do them next weekend but had something come up, didn't know if the 25th was too early.
 
How long would they have to sit after being fully mature before they actually started to rot?
I would guess they would be just like a carrot, or radish in the garden. They can sit a couple weeks before they get so woody they start to split the outside, and then they would start to rot if the ground had enough mostisture. I would think if you had some pretty sandy soil that they would have alot less like to rot as compared to some real low ground that would hold ground moisture well.
 
SEIowaDeerslayer said:
Paul,

Do you think this weekend will be too early to put the brassica seed in the ground? I was wanting to do them next weekend but had something come up, didn't know if the 25th was too early.
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I'm hoping to plant mine tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Everything I'm planting has a 60-90 season coupled with the fact that I have intensive grazing pressure so no worries about rotting around here.:D

Basically we're looking for that 60-90 day window leading up to the average first frost date, but that can vary widely as well. Up north frost dates may be in September but in late October in MO, so everyone has to plant based on their own areas weather patterns. :)
 
Well best layed plans gone awry by off and on rains all day here today, so maybe tommorrow?:confused:

Just a reminder that it's brassica planting time again and nannyslayer has some great brassica seed if your in his area or have him send you a bag. I tried the Bullseye seed he carries and it did very well last year.

I had several friends that when we pooled our order found we needed nearly 30 acres worth of brassica seed! :eek::D

So I decided to take a drive up north to Welter Seed & Honey to pick up my summer and fall seed

WelterSeed.jpg


I picked up roughly a pound per acre of each

Dwarf Essex Rape Seed
Purple Top Turnips
Appin forage turnip
Barkant Forage Turnip
Barnapoli Rape Seed
Pasja Hybrid Brassica
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It's no better or worse then any other seeds I have tried but in bulk it's the most reasonable at $2-3 a pound so worth the trip up there. For those planting a 1/2 acre or so cost isn't a huge factor and really almost any will work fine for you.

I posted this pic last year of a plot that contains strips of Biologic, WI Wintergreens, Tecomate, Bullseye ad the hybrid brassicas from Welters and so far no one can tell one from the other. ;)

Brassicas9-15.jpg


The only thing different is the price and on my other farm deer ate them all equally to the ground! :eek: :way:

Shop for your seed wherever you feel comfortable doing so with no worries about one being better or worse then the other. Some mixes do not contain turnips so check back in the previous posts for details in that regard.
Of all the ones I tested Puple Tops and Barkant Turnips seem to produce the largest roots while many of the forage turnips produce none at all. I always have a tough time choosing so I end up getting them all! :eek::grin:

Remember to till in 100-200#'s of urea at planting, use caution not to over seed the tiny seeds (5#'s per acre), pack, spread seeds and re-pack.... ;)
 
I usually plant 5 pounds of brassica seed per acre, mixing both rape and turnips in a blend of seeds which includes the following this year from Welter Seed at a per acre cost of $13.85

1#’s Barnapoli Rape @ $2.90 per #
1#’s Pasja Hybrid FT @ $3.10 per #
1#’s Purple Top Turnip @ $2.85 per #
1#’s Dwarf Essex Rape @ $2.00 per #
1/2#’s Appin Forage Turnip@ $3.10 per #
1/2#’s Barkant Forage Turnip@ $2.90 per #
Click to expand...

I also mixed in Oilseed Radish at 5#'s per acre
 
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