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Food Plots Amazing plots of turnip greens….

redblood

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Joined
Jan 22, 2006
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Location
Lewisburg
And deer arent touching them. Mixed a cup of 7 top turnips in my rye seed when i sewed it. Glad i did because the turnips thrived and the wheat and rye died out in heat and drought. Our deer density is through the roof, the corn fields 200 yards away have deer crawling through them. But they seen to be avoiding the turnips. Here is a pic before the 1.5" rain we got a few days ago, they sre even taller and thicker now. Will they eventually eat them? They need to frost? Im used to wheat and rye and this yr it was the turnip green show.
 
Trail cam in corner of one of those plots caught a deer but it appears to just be walking through. I dont get it
 

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Deer here didn't seem to like them. They ate the greens for a couple days after the first hard frost, then left them to rot in the ground. Tried planting them a couple times and same results.
 
If they are new to the deer it might take some time for them to eat them. Frost turns the starch to sugar and they will like them more plus their food choices will be less by then. I mixed 15-20 lbs with my rye,wheat , oats and they are coming on well. Can't imagine them not being tore up later in season.
 
Close to you. I have found they ignore brassicas early, which is great so they can get established.

Mid Nov, they destroy the ecotill radishes... like pick every one out of the small plots. In large fields where they can't wipe them out, they feed heavily on the greens, then go to the roots mid Dec.

When it comes to turnips, they ignore them until mid Dec, then start working on the greens, but don't like them nearly as much as the radishes. They eat the bulbs in Jan/Feb.
 
Close to you. I have found they ignore brassicas early, which is great so they can get established.

Mid Nov, they destroy the ecotill radishes... like pick every one out of the small plots. In large fields where they can't wipe them out, they feed heavily on the greens, then go to the roots mid Dec.

When it comes to turnips, they ignore them until mid Dec, then start working on the greens, but don't like them nearly as much as the radishes. They eat the bulbs in Jan/Feb.
I've seen deer actually dig the turnips out of the ground to eat them.
 
We planted turnips and radishes for years. They ate them but nothing like other people's experiences. We have a high deer density to. We took them out of our mixes.
 
I have mixed them in my plots for the last few years. They look real good again this year but I have never seen the deer just absolutely hammer them any of the years . I have seen them eat them but it is usually later on in the season. I don't believe that I will do them anymore, they just happened to be in the mix I have used .
 
You guys are missing the point.

Who cares if they don't eat them. They are the single best plant to improve your no till plots in the winter. Aerating soils after the deep 12 to 18 in tubers rot out in the spring (radishes much more so than turnips), plus pulling nutrients from deep from the subsoil sequestered them in the roots making those nutrients available to next years crops.

The only negative to them is in a very mild winter the turnips could bolt and produce seed that would compete with summer plantings until the heat kills them.
 
You guys are missing the point.

Who cares if they don't eat them. They are the single best plant to improve your no till plots in the winter. Aerating soils after the deep 12 to 18 in tubers rot out in the spring (radishes much more so than turnips), plus pulling nutrients from deep from the subsoil sequestered them in the roots making those nutrients available to next years crops.

The only negative to them is in a very mild winter the turnips could bolt and produce seed that would compete with summer plantings until the heat kills them.
This is the reason we planted them. But if deer don't eat them they are taking up space plus plant date on them sucks. For sure some benefits but we chisel plow every 5ish years for compaction issues and while the nutrients are for benefits but on paper you can't see them in a soil sample, Or we couldn't. While some of that won't show up on paper, they still have a terrible plant date. That's just our thought process around it.
 
This is the reason we planted them. But if deer don't eat them they are taking up space plus plant date on them sucks. For sure some benefits but we chisel plow every 5ish years for compaction issues and while the nutrients are for benefits but on paper you can't see them in a soil sample, Or we couldn't. While some of that won't show up on paper, they still have a terrible plant date. That's just our thought process around it.
If you are mechanically turning the soil, no need for them. I'm 100% no till, and I need something to break up compaction from tractor driving over the ground. I don't worry about a special planting date for them, just throw 5lbs of seed into my mix per acre. I do think they improve organic matter in the soil over time, but probably not to the extent that larger plants do.
 
You guys are missing the point.

Who cares if they don't eat them. They are the single best plant to improve your no till plots in the winter. Aerating soils after the deep 12 to 18 in tubers rot out in the spring (radishes much more so than turnips), plus pulling nutrients from deep from the subsoil sequestered them in the roots making those nutrients available to next years crops.

The only negative to them is in a very mild winter the turnips could bolt and produce seed that would compete with summer plantings until the heat kills them.
Absolutely this ^^^^^^^^!
 
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