Brassicas

[Bassattackr]

After brassicas good options are... 1) Frost seed white or red clovers or 2) Spring planting of oats & berseem and/or crimson clovers. From there you can plant brassicas again in the fall, rotate to Dbltree cereal blend in the fall or just periodically mow your new perennial clover stand if you frost seeded white/reds.

After cereal/Dbltree blend, I prefer to let the rye, wheat etc stand into the spring along with the red clover. This provides good late winter / early season food and exceptional fawning habitat as the cereals mature thru spring, early summer. From there you can turn under or spray kill and rotate to brassicas for the fall, just plant a cereal blend again or even go to a shorter season summer crop like buckwheat, millet, sunflowers, etc.. I may end up no tilling soybeans into my standing rye this year..

Many options!

*Edit - See also Post #506

Brassicas

what about kale? good for late winter? and can it be mixed with turnip and other brassics ?

iowawhitetail.com

 

[Sligh1]

Curious what people are doing for spring and summer when rotating a brassica mix and rye/wheat/oat mix? So the spring/ summer following fall planted brassica and rye etc strips (i.e. rotating the doubletree mix strips). Do people let the rye go and deal with its tall growth/residue later, or would you terminate it all the following spring when it starts getting tall and do something like an annual clover or buckwheat from spring until fall planting the brassica and rye rotation? I could see some real benefit from the rye early green up the following spring but feel it would be a jungle mess of plant residue if left until fall. Also, most likely don't have no-till drills so would be more curious on what others are having luck using that rotation

I like the rye to get tall. Good fawn cover & that allows for a massive amount of biomass to be created. Terminate before it goes to seed. Should have clovers in there or could frost seed & another option would be to keep it clipped until rotating to something else.
For ground following brassicas…. Heavy frost seeded clover, soybeans oats/clover or anything else you would like to do…. Buckwheat, corn, cowpeas, whatever.
If u want to follow the Dbltree rotation - seed it down (above) & the summer/fall mix planted in those old brassicas will be the cereal rye mix (rye, oats, peas, clover, etc)

*bassattackr beat me to it!!! Spot on above!! ^^^^

 

[deerhunter93]

I know the saying is rain or shine, July 29 but I can't get myself to broadcast my brassicas with how dry it has been and no real decent chance of rain in sight. What would you guys say is the minimum rainfall amount you'd want to get a brassica plot started? I have a property within 10 minutes of my house that I have prepped but I am just broadcasting so I'm waiting to seed before I know a decent rain is coming.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

I know the saying is rain or shine, July 29 but I can't get myself to broadcast my brassicas with how dry it has been and no real decent chance of rain in sight. What would you guys say is the minimum rainfall amount you'd want to get a brassica plot started? I have a property within 10 minutes of my house that I have prepped but I am just broadcasting so I'm waiting to seed before I know a decent rain is coming.

Given current conditions (at least in my hood) we are going to need something fairly substantial. Temp is a huge deal as well. We have a chance Wednesday, but nothing but hot and dry after that. I currently have 24 brassica plots on hold. As we get later into the planting window this will skew towards a higher percentage of radishes over turnips. Backup plan is always cereal rye. It's really really bad in my area at the moment. 1-2" cracks in the soil. Clover brown. Corn curling. No bueno.

 

[Daver]

I know the saying is rain or shine, July 29 but I can't get myself to broadcast my brassicas with how dry it has been and no real decent chance of rain in sight. What would you guys say is the minimum rainfall amount you'd want to get a brassica plot started? I have a property within 10 minutes of my house that I have prepped but I am just broadcasting so I'm waiting to seed before I know a decent rain is coming.

I am aware of that saying too, but it is not often that I get my brassicas in by that date...as I am often facing dry conditions and I have learned the hard way over the years that it is more important to associate brassica plantings with available moisture v. a day on the calendar. Now then, if you are planting in an area where moisture is not in short supply...then go for it I say, plant them in late July.

I don't feel like I am "late" if I get them in the ground by mid-August FWIW. As the last half of August clicks off and I don't have them in, I do start to consider them "late"...but I have also planted brassicas up until mid-Sept and had fair to good results. You won't get the giant bulbs, but you will still get a lot of tonnage and the new tops, particularly the radishes, will be very popular in Oct and into Nov. With modest sized turnip bulbs still available in Dec/Jan.

If it is "late", I too will favor the blend to be more radishy , as they need need fewer days to grow than the turnips. I did plant a couple of acres of rutabagas this weekend, we'll see if I get enough rain on them to make a good crop. I held off on turnips/radishes/rape for cooler temps and some RAIN. I did go ahead and prep my brassica fields though...I am not sure if that was a good idea or not. I broadcast urea and then tilled it under...so the fields are just needing some seed on them and then cultipacked.

Does anyone know how long my urea will be "active", waiting for some seed?

 

[Sligh1]

I know the saying is rain or shine, July 29 but I can't get myself to broadcast my brassicas with how dry it has been and no real decent chance of rain in sight. What would you guys say is the minimum rainfall amount you'd want to get a brassica plot started? I have a property within 10 minutes of my house that I have prepped but I am just broadcasting so I'm waiting to seed before I know a decent rain is coming.

**post below was in progress & then saw above 2 replies which I agree with!!!^^^

You might check down 6” to see if there’s moisture. Brassicas can tolerate a lot IF the soil isn’t tilled. When it’s tilled- that will take most the moisture out among other issues. “Reduced or light tillage” is also way better than tearing things up…. Examples would be: only tearing .5-1” of soil up. Or a harrow, etc etc

If you seed now… likely be fine & u can always come back with bag seeder to fill it in more.
Getting it established now or in a couple weeks won’t be a big deal. One issue guys might face…. If it’s killed off - when we get rain- your weed seeds are off to the races. So- another spray is needed after its dry again & weeds growing. Tilled soils will have far more weed pressure.

Last 2 cents…. Build soil up. Get the rye rotations down, getting organic matter up. No till …. All this can make a plot almost drought proof. Higher the OM + no tillage = less chance of failure.
Good luck to all!

 

[Sligh1]

Does anyone know how long my urea will be "active", waiting for some seed?

All fall. No issue there!!!!!

 

[deerhunter93]

Thanks guys! I'll be on standby until we get some quality rain chances and I'll take the backpack sprayer with me when the time comes to kill off any emerging weeds.

 

[Daver]

All fall. No issue there!!!!!

Great, that was my sense, but then I started doubting myself. Unless some plant "uses" it, then I thought it should "stay" there. Thank you!

Now all I need is some rain in the forecast and I will be off to the races getting the rest of my brassicas in. Although I broke things up because I was running out of time...looking back I think I will consider doing this again in the future. Prepping the fields, even up to applying the fertilizer, and then waiting for the rain just for the seeding application, and cultipacking, only.

 

[scottonbuck]

Given current conditions (at least in my hood) we are going to need something fairly substantial. Temp is a huge deal as well. We have a chance Wednesday, but nothing but hot and dry after that. I currently have 24 brassica plots on hold. As we get later into the planting window this will skew towards a higher percentage of radishes over turnips. Backup plan is always cereal rye. It's really really bad in my area at the moment. 1-2" cracks in the soil. Clover brown. Corn curling. No bueno.

Same here, have everything ready just waiting for some moisture.

 

[sure shot]

Great, that was my sense, but then I started doubting myself. Unless some plant "uses" it, then I thought it should "stay" there. Thank you!

Now all I need is some rain in the forecast and I will be off to the races getting the rest of my brassicas in. Although I broke things up because I was running out of time...looking back I think I will consider doing this again in the future. Prepping the fields, even up to applying the fertilizer, and then waiting for the rain just for the seeding application, and cultipacking, only.

Not true, you will lose some:

Regenerative Agriculture Archives – Noble Research Institute

www.noble.org

It's best to spread right before a rain or work out into the ground.

Sorry, just reread your post - you did work it into the ground. I'll leave my link for info for others. You can't just spread it on the ground with no rain and not get losses.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Daver]

Not true, you will lose some:

Regenerative Agriculture Archives – Noble Research Institute

www.noble.org

It's best to spread right before a rain or work out into the ground.

Sorry, just reread your post - you did work it into the ground. I'll leave my link for info for others. You can't just spread it on the ground with no rain and not get losses.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

Thank you. I did know that I would lose some if it was just laying "bare" on the soil surface. In this case, I did run the tiller over it and it was pretty well covered. Good info though, thanks.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

Not true, you will lose some:

Regenerative Agriculture Archives – Noble Research Institute

www.noble.org

It's best to spread right before a rain or work out into the ground.

Sorry, just reread your post - you did work it into the ground. I'll leave my link for info for others. You can't just spread it on the ground with no rain and not get losses.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

You can buy yourself several weeks spreading treated urea. (That is all I purchase)

 

[Sligh1]

Not true, you will lose some:

Regenerative Agriculture Archives – Noble Research Institute

www.noble.org

It's best to spread right before a rain or work out into the ground.

Sorry, just reread your post - you did work it into the ground. I'll leave my link for info for others. You can't just spread it on the ground with no rain and not get losses.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

TO CLARIFY….. if Urea is treated or was applied before rain & taken in- your N will go no where. If you applied it without treatment or not before a rain…. Ya- a lot is gone. Typical vaporization & why we treat Urea. What I was referring to was N that’s stabilized in the soil. Much like if you “applied anhydrous 30 days ago” - it’s gonna be there a while. Wanted to clarify between those 2 very different distinctions.

 

[Daver]

TO CLARIFY….. if Urea is treated or was applied before rain & taken in- your N will go no where. If you applied it without treatment or not before a rain…. Ya- a lot is gone. Typical vaporization & why we treat Urea. What I was referring to was N that’s stabilized in the soil. Much like if you “applied anhydrous 30 days ago” - it’s gonna be there a while. Wanted to clarify between those 2 very different distinctions.

And if you apply it, till it in and then plant 1-3 weeks later?? Assume it is untreated.

 

[Sligh1]

And if you apply it, till it in and then plant 1-3 weeks later?? Assume it is untreated.

Bingo. Yep- you TILLED IT IN. You covered it which stops evaporation. You’re JUST FINE!!! Good all fall!!!

 

[jlwdvm]

What seeding rate/acre is suggested? I have a few bare spots in my beans that I'm going to plant this weekend.

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

What seeding rate/acre is suggested? I have a few bare spots in my beans that I'm going to plant this weekend.

5-8 lbs. Adjust based on soil quality.

 

[stickbow]

Question. For those of you that no till turnips, I am assuming you use a drill to plant. If you are truly no tilling them what type of nitrogen are you applying and how are you incorporating it. Are you using treated N and allowing rain to take it in? I have always burned down, fertilized, disked it in and then packed/broadcast. Thanks Bob

 

[Daver]

Question. For those of you that no till turnips, I am assuming you use a drill to plant. If you are truly no tilling them what type of nitrogen are you applying and how are you incorporating it. Are you using treated N and allowing rain to take it in? I have always burned down, fertilized, disked it in and then packed/broadcast. Thanks Bob

To "no till" turnips...you can drill them or broadcast them. Those are your two main routes, AFAIK.

If the urea is untreated, then you really want to apply it just ahead of a rain...or even while it is raining on it.

If the urea is treated, which I am not sure that I have ever used personally, then you do have more "open" time for it to lay on the surface and not evaporate.