Crop before turnips
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
Now that foodplot season is full speed ahead I've been spending some time sitting in the tractor and thinking about my plots. I have several acres that I'm going to be putting into purple-top turnips in late July/early August and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a crop to put in those fields ahead of the turnip planting. It seems like such a waste to have those acres sitting idle for so long. I wasn't sure if there was something that could either offer the deer another feeding option or improve the soil. I was thinking maybe buckwheat but wasn't sure what the residual crop would do when tilled in at the turnip planting time. Anyways, if someone has some suggestions or experience I'd appreciate it.
some clover cheap and easy .
Buckwheat. You can get two crops of buckwheat in before planting the turnips depending on where you are located. The deer love it and it matures in about ten weeks.
JimG
If the deer pressure is heavy you could plant soybeans as the deer will pretty much mow them down and you can broadcast the turnips over the beans. I have done it before and it works great.
If the deer don't eat all the beans wait until the beans brown up and then over seed with the turnips. That is what I am going to do this year but I have to put up an electric fence so the beans can mature. Then I will have the turnips and bean pods for the late season.
Clover like City said. Turn it under for green manure, then plant your turnips. Great source of nitrogen too.
What great timing! My input to TMA is that you want to put something in a ahead of time for soil health, as the turnips are very hard on the soil. I find I can only group them two years in a row.
That being said, I am putting in white clover next week, then Purple Tops aka Brassica in Mid August.
JW, I was going to hit the white clover with Roundup in early July, then turn it once dead, then put in the turnips after fertilizing with 4 24 24.
Are you of a mind that I shouldn't kill the clover first?
Anyone else with thoughts of this as well? I am hoping the my plan above is repeatable each year to allow me to put in turnips every year.
Hope Pat the food plot guru can weigh in on this as well. thanks in advance!!
I would do buckwheat. I've been planting it for years as a summer plot. If you let it go to seed before you cut it and till it in it will come up again while your turnips are coming up and will probably take some browsing pressure off of your turnips so they can get a good start.
Pat, To clarify...are you saying to drill or broadcast turnips into a field of clover as thick as the one (very nice) in your picture?
Mark
I think I'm going to try the buckwheat. Then when I mow it before planting the turnips it will give the doves something to feed on a little before the dove season opens. I'll post some pictures as it progresses so you guys can see the results.
Here is a picture of one of my buckwheat fields in full bloom from a few years ago. It was planted around the first of may and this picture is in June I think. With buckwheat depending on deer population you usually need at least a couple of acres to keep it from being browsed too bad. I usually plant 2 three acre plots.
This is a few weeks later. You can see the deer trails and notice that there are just a lot of stems left with no leaves.
After it blooms and go to seed the seeds that the turkey and doves don't get will fall off and start a new crop.
Gobbler - that looks great, and is exactly the reaction I would want from my deer. Giving them something to browse would be better than me rototilling the weeds 3 times between now and late July!
Clover and alfalfa are a little resistance to roundup. It might turn a little yellow but not kill it completely. Course the % of roundup you put out has to be consider too.
"Canuck, don't kill the clover. It will continue to add N to the soil and then you can simply drill in or broadcast the brassicas. If you have to till, that shouldn't be a problem, alot of the clover will survive. Also, lately I've been doing a light companion planting of durana and ladino clover with my brassicas. The brassicas grow fast and tall and will overshadow your clover. But the clover won't die. It will soon go dormant and then it will pop up in the spring so you will have a nice post winter food source for your deer.
And what Canuck said is correct, best practice is to grow brassicas two years on the same soil then rotate the field."
Pat, the advice I received from the local feed store crop expert was that growing white clover each spring and then fertilizing with 6 24 24 fertilizer before planting the Brassica, would take care of soil health and allow repeated use of Brassica, i.e. every year without worrying about rotation. What are your thoughts on this Pat? AND of course any of you other crop growers! thanks in advance, Harold aka Canuck.
From my experience with brassicas is that nematodes feed on the root and with continued use the nematode population builds up to a point where it causes too much root damage and the plant can't thrive. By rotating it helps keep the nematode numbers down.
Buckwheat is doubling in usage but the price per bag of product also is ramping up.
What i will be setting up my plots plus some of the hard core people i consult with is this mix , i call BUILDER.
It is a blend of buckwheat, berseem clover and crimson clover.
What this does is fixate a lot of nitrogen, build up organic matter. Smother and prevent weed growth. It is a highly palatable blend for deer, that gives deer high amounts of protein and major minerals. The price tag is around $40 per acre. The other advantages is that bees love it and that will help surrounding crops that require some pollination help.
Other alternatives are peas and barley 100 lbs at $30 an acre peas and triticale 100 lbs at $36 an acre peas and barley 100 lbs at $34 an acre
i also have some people using a multigraze radish at 3 lbs per acre along with berseem clover at 6 lbs per acre. You can get that in the gound for $25 an acre.
Instead of using the standard 60 day turnip. People are looking for a more palatable option. Too many people are getting turnips in too early and there is too much refusal out there. The rutabaga, swedes, and 100-110 day turnips are something people might want to consider.
Thanks Pat, I believe that I have found it. I have pasted it in below. Is this the info you referred to?
"Just got this from Kent Kammermeyer. Excellent info.
If you plant brassicas for two years and rotate them out, how long until it’s safe to plant them again in that soil?
There is not a clear or simple answer to this question. First ask did you notice any leaf problems during the 2 year period of growth. These include white spots, black spots, cankers, plants wilting and dieing, stunted wilted plants, leaf yellowing, black, brown or greyish cuts on leaves, rings in leaf cuts, surfaces develop a sooty appearance. If not, you may not need a rotation at all. Some brassica growers disk thoroughly and plant buckwheat in spring after brassica stands die. Disk the buckwheat after it goes to seed and it will come back from seed. Some experts recommend to rotate out of brassicas for a minimum of 3 years. However, if you can destroy all brassica residues by thorough disking as soon as possible after plant death or removal by deer you may be ok. A friend of mine has grown rape in the same field with no problems for 5 years or more.
2. If the deer demolish the plot during the season and nothing is left in the ground, will the soil still be prone to disease and require rotation?
Probably not, disk repeatedly after the crop is consumed. With radishes and turnips, check for knotted swellings on the remaining roots.
3. If you do not rotate them off and grow them year after year, what happens to the soil?
Various viruses, mold spores and bacteria build up in the soil and can exist in high densities for several years. Brassica diseases include Alternaria leaf spot, bacterial leaf blight, soft rot and club rot, Downy mildew, fungal blackleg, turnip mosaic virus and club root. Most can occur during prolonged warm wet weather. "
regards, Harold
Yesterday I got the first two fields of buckwheat planted. I plan on getting a few more done this weekend. My set-up for planting is a small Sukup drill (I think they got out of the drill business since I bought mine), it's not fancy but seems to do a fine job for food plots.
This is a picture of the same plot as the one above with the tractor in it, just from the bottom of the field. I'll post future pictures from this location as I update on the progress, but there will be a trail cam at the area where the tractor picture was taken, so hopefully there will be some good shots from there as well.
This field had corn in it the past 2 years. The first year it was growing good until some of the neighbors cows got into it around mid-July and destroyed it, then last year it didn't grow well at all. No soil tests were done, so it will be interesting to see how the buckwheat does in this little strip. This field also has 1 acre of clover and 1 acre each of corn and soybeans in strips further over in the field. This area draws deer well all year so I expect some heavy browsing pressure.
Annual Crimson clover with oats. Oats shade the clover in July heat. Cut oats with bush hog and cut clover to ground and harrow just prior to planting the brassica mix.
Here is a field we call the white barn field. It's in the center of our farm and this little plot is next to 3 acres of alfalfa. The other side of the field drops off into a bottom and has about 3/4 acre of corn planted this year. Again I expect heavy browsing pressure on this area. When I've planted soybeans here in the past they never get past 6" or so tall from the deer.
I snuck out to the farm and hit two more fields this afternoon. This picture is what we call the Oak Flats. This is an area that is really good in the late season. There is usually around 6 acres of a combination of standing beans, standing corn, and turnips as well an additional 3 acres of alfalfa, so this turns into a really big draw area when the snow starts flying. There is a lot of food for the deer to browse in this area so I don't expect as much browsing pressure on these two spots.
This little strip is also in the Oak Flats. I ran out of seed in the drill at some point when planting this, so after what is there starts coming up I'll replant the missed areas.
Here's an update picture for an area we call the Front Field. This was planted the same time as the rest of the fields and the buckwheat (corn on the left, buckwheat in the middle, and a little clover patch on the right) is just starting to come up. I'll wait a few weeks and post pictures of all of the different fields to show the growth.
Please excuse this foot plot NEWB with his lack of education on the matter. Is buckwheat a spring time planting that gets mowed and tilled in summer with something like brassicas, clover, or grains planted in that spot for fall/winter? I appreciate the edification.
Looks good. I look forward to progress.
Buckwheat is a late spring, summer annual. Good to till under to replant something in fall.
Happy - in the areas that I plan to plant turnips in late July or early August I've always just tried to keep the plots clear of weeds up until planting, which usually meant rototilling them every 4 or 5 weeks. This year I've planted buckwheat in all of the plots that will be turnips with the hope that they will suppress weed growth and help build the soil. It's somewhat expiremtal for me at this point, but so far I like the fact that I consider these plots "done" until some point in July, and I'm hopeful that there will be some browse benefit to the deer between now and then.
I have had great luck with buckwheat. Once in the flower stage it is as prefered by whitetails as soybeans, can be mowed and will re-seed if you leave it for the summer, matures in 60 days (I have had two reseeds per season more than once) grows well in most soilds, and helps build soil. It is a great choice for a 60-90 some day plot. Doves and turkeys also love it.
Memorial Day Plot update - here is a picture from the Oak Flats.
Here is the White Barn Field
Impressive! Looking great.....keep us posted!
Mark
Once they get to the stage when you see white flowers to deer should start to hammer them. At least that is what happens on my plots. Good looking stand BTW
+ 1 Coccon Man, very good results doing this!
Guys - Sorry that I haven't been posting more regularly. I have a bunch of pictures to get this season's buckwheat plantings up to date. I'll start with the Oak Flats. This picture is June 6.
Oak Flats June 26 (some heavy rain knocked down a bunch of the buckwheat)
July 12 - I was going to mow the entire plot but decided after going down and back with the bush-hog that there would probably be an issue with too much mowed vegetation for the rototiller to handle. So I got in touch with the farmer the rents the big tillable areas of our farm and asked if he wanted to bale it - he agreed so that's what I had him do on the rest of this plot and the Front Field plot. Ended up being a good decision because both of those plots turned over really nicely in 1 pass, I'm sure it would have been a pain to deal with all of the mowed buckwheat if I had to do that.
Did the deer in your area browse it much?
Here is field with turnips planted on August 1. You can see the regrowth in the area that I mowed on the right side of the dirt area (where the turnips are).
Front Field planted with turnips July 30. This is the other area that I had my farmer bale the buckwheat. I'm expecting that both this field and the Oak Flats field will have some volunteer buckwheat mixed in with the turnips. The area I mowed had buckwheat coming back up within 6 days.
Gobbler - yes, there was pretty significant browsing in most of the plots. The bigger plots it wasn't as bad since it was spread out, but some of the smaller ones were pretty much completely destroyed. Here is a picture of one of the heavily browsed areas.
I'm anxious to see how the turnips do after the buckwheat planting, I don't expect to see any major difference to what I've seen in the past. As long as the turnips grow okay I plan on using buckwheat in the future as a supplemental foot source for the deer to utilize.
Tma that one plowed field looks like a run way