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Radishes and turnips

I hunt Pierce County and have had great looking radish/turnips/sugerbulbs plots for 3 years. The deer dont touch them. Beans, clover, corn get pounded right beside them. (Actually walk through the bulbs to get to other plots. They dig the snow to get to the clover. I wont be planting bulbs anymore. Anyone else have this happen?

It does happen to a lot of people. Myself on the other hand, I have to put scare crows up in August to keep them out of them. If I were you , I would continue to plant on a small scale 200- 300 square feet until they acquire a taste for them.

I have never had an that problem. Most years the green tops are gone by rifle season (2+ acres) and the bulbs are gone by Feb.

Was gong to add do you add lime?

I'm guessing you are planting too early. Could be a soil issue also.

I don't think it's an issue of planting too early. I have planted them in May for many years, after the deer have become accustomed to eating them. It is more likely an issue with the soil. Such as high sulfur. Remember that you should also be planting them in a mix for better results. Ed Spinnozola has a lot of good information on it in his books.

Get a good soil sample done and make the necessary soil amendments and see what happens next year.

And don't fall for the "Brassica Toxicity Scare either!

They snarf ours come winter. 1 month after planting we put 46/0/0 on them for a nice kickstart. We do rotate the strips for toxcicity.

We plant in good farm land with black soil. PH is 6.5 if i remember right. We have used lime and fertilizer. We do rotate the crops as well.

Ranger rick, had the same thing happen in Waukesha county. They loved the sugarbeets, but would not touch turnips or radishes. Pounded the corn and soybeans a few feet away. The fact that they hit the sugarbeets the first planting, but not the turnips, told me the deer did not have to learn anything. It is all about the taste, what is available, and how bad they need it. Decreasing habitat quality, and/or over population force deer to eat lower and lower on the preference scale.

I had the same issue years ago. The deer are so accustomed to beans, corn, alfalfa that they prefer those over new green foods. I know it took a couple years for the deer to turn onto the turnips on a new farm on hunt too. I don't believe it has anything to do with lime or fertilizer but it has everything to do with what is planted around them.

I now plant beans with small areas of turnips around them. The deer prefer the beans but turn to the turnips as the supply of beans is depleted. Before last year all I planted was turnips for the last 12 years on 2 aces on my own land. I have not had any problems with yield or disease in the plants either.

Ranger rick, I hunt Pierce also. We don't do plots on our land anymore because the deer just prefered the surrounding ag. For those that will say it, yes we did them right. I have friends and relatives in the same area that are hardcore plotters. They have the same luck with turnips, Radishes, etc. They have went to pretty much just standing beans for a late season plot.

I have planted Purple Top Turnips for 4 yrs. Last yr was the 1st yr they chewed on the bulbs but never completely ate them. I have an acre this yr of turnips that have not been touched. If I see no use by spring turnips will not be planted again. I plant brassicas 1st week of August. Radishes are getting hammered right now.

Anyone try rape or pumpkins for those picky eater areas?

If you are wanting the deer to eat the bulbs you should plant much later. Like after Aug 15.

If you do pumpkins do you have to smash them open for the deer?

No, i do about 2,000 pumpkins. They walk up kick a hole in it the munch starting about 10/15. All gone in 30 days.

Like most are saying the radish and turnip are either hit or miss. And never draw much if the deer haven't learned about them yet. Deer don't watch the outdoor channel so they don't always know what's good for them :) I've learned to wait until September to plant (Manitowoc county) This year I had a acre worth of hybrid (90 ish day) pumpkins, picked second week of September, broadcasted turnips and radish with some oats after picking pumpkins. Mowed the vines, hit with triple 19 and have the most impressive stand of turnips I've ever had. No baiting here so I couldn't return the pumpkins after Halloween. Took them to my place in the u.p. the deer eat the entire pumpkin the same day besides the stem, 45 miles north east at another property they will only eat the guts if you smash them. Keep in mind, if you smash them your likely guilty of baiting even if grown there. One last point, even if I knew deer would never eat a radish I'd still include them in some of my plots purely for soil improvement. And tillage effect on ground I can't work (wet or to rocky). -Very intrigued by sugar beets mentioned earlier. Never tried to grow them, may need to look into that as option.

The deer do hit the Rape seed heavily. I plant it in the Spring and replant in the beginning of August.

November- Don't you mean you rotate your brassica's to avoid clubroot, not toxicity??

Sorry, yes clubroot. We never did rotate for decades and never had it tho.

I never have had it in food plots, but in the cabbage fields over by Bear Creek it can be a real pain to deal with.

By planting pumpkins do you get residual plants from the leftover seeds?

I never have had any residual plants from the ones that I plant for food plots. I am going to throw some seeds along the edges of all the food plots this spring and see what happens. I keep some seeds from the pumpkins and squash every year at home and thought that I would use those and see what happens.

No residual ever, the deer snarf the plant unless you spray them weekly with cayanne pepper until they flower.

Never had an issue with them hitting the rape,turnips or radishes and I am in the middle of ag fields. The farmer has an older combine and it is not very efficient IE a lot of kernels on the ground.

I have always been told that PH is the key to sweet tasting plants or bitter.

I also plant late July to mid August.

I think it all depends on how much acreage you have to plant plots. We have 4 acres so I want to not waste any space planting something the deer don't touch. I like soybeans because when the leaves turn Yello you can broadcast those tiny seeds (brassicas ) typically in mid to late Aug. You now have a double crop in one field. The deer in our area like Ground Hog radishes so I will be doing that next yr.

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