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Broadcasting brassicas

T

TimberPig

Active Member
How well does broadcasting brassicas work?
I planted 1.8 ac of beans this spring and between some poor germination and the deer absolutely pounding the beans I'm left with mostly bare dirt. There are a lot of bean plants but they are all about 5"-6" tall and heavily browsed. Despite the pressure, whats left of them are flowering and a few are putting on pods and even some new leaves now that the deer have turned their attention to the corn. So I had planned to rototill the beans under and put an acre of them into Welters big buck brassica mix which contains Purple Top Turnips, Pasja Hybrid Brassica, GroundHog Radish and Dwarf Essex Rape, I have 8lbs on hand. If I do that I will lose what little beans and soil moisture that I have.
Will broadcasting that mix into the beans work? There is no canopy in the beans and no residual herbicides. I won't be able to till in any urea so the only N they will get is whats leftover from the MAP I applied this spring, maybe 16-20lbs of N.
The remaining .8ac was going to be converted to rye, oats, and radishes in another month or so as that area of the plot is even worse. I suppose I could till that up for the brassicas and overseed the 1ac of stubby beans with rye and radish in Sept.
I'm not sure what to do here so I'd appreciate any wisdom here.
 
I have a similar situation. Went ahead and just broadcast brassicas right into the standing beans. Didn't work it up at all although it's had been worked previously. I'll fertilize when it's 4-6" tall before a "rain" if that's a thing or do a liquid fert app here in a few days


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Agree on above!! Get it some treated Urea or do urea before rain if possible. Broadcast away. Check germination later & bring a bag seeder with to fill in bare spots if there is any. Good chance u get a good stand.
I’d do half brassicas and then drill in the rye mix in a month in other half.
 
I have broadcast brassicas many times and usually with good to excellent results. Where I have had problems is where there was too much "duff" on the ground and the seed didn't get down to the soil well. Also, and this applies to whatever planting method you do...a tickle of rain post planting to get them germinated and then hot, dry weather to bake them silly and wreck them. If the latter happens...plant the rye mix around Sept. 1.

But if you have bare soil, which it sounds like you do, I would absolutely broadcast them into that and do so right before a rain. Brassicas love N...so either apply urea before a rain OR spread treated N.

FWIW, I finally planted beans (drilled) on July 4th...yeah...that's be a replant for me dawg. :) I looked at them this weekend and my experiment did not work. So I will just drill over them with brassicas in about 10 days or so...or right before I see rain coming.
 
Ok, I might be kidding myself that my beans are even worth saving but you guys are giving me hope that the broadcasting might work out ok. I still may just till up the smaller part of the plot that's wiped out and put the brassica mix in there instead. If I do that I it would give me another 5 weeks or so to see if the "better" beans are worth saving. I have about 10 pounds of straight radish I could broadcast in with rye but radish are quite a bit bigger seed than turnips.
Somehow I'm not surprised that 4th of July beans didn't make it, especially this year lol. Looks like a 50% chance of rain Friday night but I keep thinking I should wait another 10 days or so like you said.
 
If you till up beans now you have more weed competition when brassicas are growing. IF you have bare soil now then I would broadcast seed and it will grow if we get rain. Broadcasting brassicas work great. Just need rain to push the seed down. Just watch the forecast and when we have a good rain coming get out and broadcast them!

If you till up your current plot wait a week then spray weeds then broadcast brassicas.
 
In terms of the best seed to broadcast, the smaller the better. Brassicas and clover are about the most "broadcast friendly" seed on the planet!

If the bean stand is that poor (like no pods at all), personally I would till, broadcast seed, and pack all at once. That would give you the chance to spread urea ahead of tilling.

If you prefer not to till, just broadcast away.. let fly!

Btw - Check around you, you may be able to find someone that carries Ammonium Sulfate (AMS) Fertilizer (21-0-0-24S). A much more stable nitrogen source that won't be lost to the atmosphere like Urea will (treated or not, you'll still lose most of it unless it's before a good rain).
 
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Stirring up weed seeds is a good point, currently the only weeds are the occasional water hemp that survived 2 sprayings but even those have been browsed down to 3-4". I have easy access to the plot so I think I'll just try some of both methods to experiment. Broadcast over some of the "better" beans and till in some poorer areas and see what works. If one or both fail then I can always just try again in Sept with the rye, oats, radish, I'll be planting some of that then anyway. Pretty sure my local Farm Service doesn't carry AMS but I'll ask around, good tip.
Thanks for the advice fellas, if we could just get normal rains this wouldn't be much of an issue!
 
TimberPig said:
Stirring up weed seeds is a good point, currently the only weeds are the occasional water hemp that survived 2 sprayings but even those have been browsed down to 3-4". I have easy access to the plot so I think I'll just try some of both methods to experiment. Broadcast over some of the "better" beans and till in some poorer areas and see what works. If one or both fail then I can always just try again in Sept with the rye, oats, radish, I'll be planting some of that then anyway. Pretty sure my local Farm Service doesn't carry AMS but I'll ask around, good tip.
Thanks for the advice fellas, if we could just get normal rains this wouldn't be much of an issue!
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If the coop custom sprays - which most do- they will have ams. It’s a very standard item. Might just need to dig a bit with them to get in contact with guy there that involved in spraying. They have it.
Other options: get some treated urea from them. Or regular urea right before rain. Or buy regular urea and spray it with agrotain (can buy jug online or from coop. One jug would last YEARS).
Agree- u probably have THREE shots at this…. 1) now, broadcast. 2) After good rain- fill in more with bag seeder if needed 3) if 2 previous don’t fly…. Bingo, just like u said…. Rye, oats, peas, radish, etc.
 
This is what I'm dealing with. If I get rain and the flowers develop into pods I'll get a few beans. Fertilizer issues aside, would you bother trying to save this with broadcasting or just start over?
No deer around here has eaten a brassica in its lifetime so the skimpy beans might help with the "learning curve"? Or is this a complete loss? The other half of the plot, closer to timber, is even worse so it probably needs a replant.
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TimberPig said:
This is what I'm dealing with. If I get rain and the flowers develop into pods I'll get a few beans. Fertilizer issues aside, would you bother trying to save this with broadcasting or just start over?
No deer around here has eaten a brassica in its lifetime so the skimpy beans might help with the "learning curve"? Or is this a complete loss? The other half of the plot, closer to timber, is even worse so it probably needs a replant.
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I’d broadcast or drill right into it.
Here’s what I’d do … & there’s many ways to skin this cat…. I’d broadcast most of it. Or maybe all of it. Then I’d drill in the rye mix in to half of it later. Or the portion of brassicas struggling.
Leaving the beans as they are- really doesn’t hurt much IMO.
 
Sligh1 said:
I’d broadcast or drill right into it.
Here’s what I’d do … & there’s many ways to skin this cat…. I’d broadcast most of it. Or maybe all of it. Then I’d drill in the rye mix in to half of it later. Or the portion of brassicas struggling.
Leaving the beans as they are- really doesn’t hurt much IMO.
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This is what I did. Put each end into brassicas and left the center for a rye oat mix. I think just leave the beans for forage as the root system is established and who knows what you will get. It's already there why terminate? Fertilizer is easy enough, liquids can be good as well. I use a 4-12-12 liquid on beans and an 11-4-9 on greens with solid results.

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Ok you have talked me into the broadcasting. I certainly wasn't looking forward to rototilling that dust bowl on an open station tractor in this heat anyway. I'll figure out something for fertilizer if it germinates. I've been in my local FS fertilizer barn many times and never seen AMS but they gotta have it somewhere and they aren't the only coop in town. Found some more turnip and radish seed in my basement from my last attempt at this in 2011 so I might as well throw that out there too lol. I have a bare spot in a corner to test, curious if they will still grow. They barely touched the bulbs back then but they hit the tops pretty good.
Thanks again
 
With the forecast in Southern Iowa, we may not even be able to plant brassica this year. The ground is already like concrete and not much chance of rain in the 10-day forecast. Not to mention 100-degree temps.:mad:
 
After seeing the pics, I'm in agreement with the others. I'd just broadcast. Your field is pretty clean.

Broadcast before a rain and try and track down some granular AMS fertilizer. You can certainly try liquid AMS but it's a different product than fertilizer grade (granular) AMS. I believe the liquid rating is just more diluted - closer to 8-0-0 if I remember correctly (?). Due to antifoaming agents for use to mix with herbicides.

Ammonium form of Nitrogen is VERY stable. Can sit on top the soil for a month or more without rain, no losses. Common as a top dress for cereal grains in spring, many spread in March close to greenup. Even with coatings, I don't trust Urea in the hot, humid months. Just my $.02.

Old article but still very valid..

Urea vs AMS.jpg


Product I'm referring to, more common than you think. Even Home Depot has it :)

www.homedepot.com

20 lb. Ammonium Sulfate 21-0-0 LG 40006-50 - The Home Depot

Lawn and Garden Ammonium Sulfate has an NPK of 21-0-0. An economical source of quick greening nitrogen, with high sulfur. Use for rapid growth and to increase plant greening.
www.homedepot.com
 
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We have a chance of rain for tonight, but then the forecast looks dry and hot again for the next week. How late is too late to plant brassicas?
 
tall@wide said:
With the forecast in Southern Iowa, we may not even be able to plant brassica this year. The ground is already like concrete and not much chance of rain in the 10-day forecast. Not to mention 100-degree temps.:mad:
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Hmmm...we are by no means "wet" in my area of SE Iowa...but we are better off on soil moisture at this point of the summer than we have been for what seems like 5 years. I am very familiar with the southern Iowa baked clay, believe me...but this year things seem halfway decent. I am optimistic about planting brassicas in the next 10'ish days...ideally right before a rain or two. :)

FWIW, my corn, that which the deer have not murdered that is, looks fantastic. I now have two acres behind an electric fence...so hopefully those acres will produce. The unfenced acres are/will be knee high stubble...again. Harrumph. I am not seeing nearly as much coon damage this year...which I believe is related to a "neighborhood" level committment to controlling their numbers...yay!
 
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