Brassicas

[norbecker]

I planted Bonar Rape last year and it did not come thru real well, I think i will plant a mix also. anyone have advice on 3 or 4 diffrent things to plan off the list above?

Has anyone tryed planting sugar beats?

 

[DOR]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I used six of them and I can't remember which one was omited. Most of them where gone early and only turnips remained for the late season attraction. </div></div>

How much per acre did you shell out for the seed??

 

[ironwood]

I planted 3.5 lbs of seed per acre. The was less than recommended by the seed company but others steered me that way for better turnip production. If I remember correctly the seed cost was around $8 an acre.

Purple top turnips would be my first choice from the above list.

 

[DOR]

How soon were they on the purple tops?

 

[ironwood]

As soon as there was a hard freeze they hit them hard. Just like other crops they cleaned out the inside corners and egdes near the woods first.

 

[risto2351]

Well after thousands of questions and PM's my fall plot of Brassicas and other varieties are in.

I was planning on planting them tomorrow 8-5-07 but my wife has been pretty insistent on me staying home and grilling out and swimming with friends.

Man I was thinking I really need to get these in and can not wait another week.
The ground was already tilled so I opted to do it today instead. I awoke at 6 and checked out the weather.
Looked like rain was coming and I definitely would get rained out.

I saw a very I mean very small window of hope and went for it. After the two hour trek raining all the way I was thinking I will never get these in.

Well as luck finally would have it it was not raining at my final destination point. I was able to cultipack, plant, spread fertilizer and recultipack rather quickly.
It was just starting to rain when I was finishing up. I even tried Ironwood's advise and planted some Purple Top Turnips and Dwarf Essex in the corn.
(The deer sure have the endrows of the corn already torn up.)

Saw two bucks, one doe, five toms and two broads of poults with ma.

What a perfect day.

I purchased a camera from QT on the way up because I forgot my digital at home.
After I take another 13 pictures hopefully I can post my plot from beginning to end.

"My clover is even starting to perk up. I was going to reseed but will take Daver's advice and frost seed this spring to help the existing clover."

All in all it was a perfect rainy day and it is still drizzling up there.

My end goal is to have a clover plot like Ghost and a Brassicas plot like OneCam and Dbltree. I am gunning for you guys. You have told me too many of your secrets.

Good luck guys with getting your plots in.

I hope it works out for all you like it has so far for me.

 

[risto2351]

Finally got the cd back. Luckily none of you hit me with the man law I keep hearing about.

Here is one of the two main food plots next to a clover plot. Did not get pictures of the other one yet. I am fertilizing with an ATV. Buddies broke down which you can see on the side.

8-4-07

Next one is one of my hunting plots behind my barn.

Last two are of one of my hunting plots on the edge of the field and in the woods.
All of these had buckwheat in them which I tilled under and then replanted with the mix Paul mentioned at the beginning of the thread.

Along with the rain last week it has rained at least once in the last couple of days. I hope the brassicas beat the turnips with all this heat and humidity.
I will post more as time goes on.

 

[risto2351]

Finally made it up to mow and check the plots. They look great so far. Now we need some sun. Brassicas planted on August 4,2007. They have had a lot of rain. Clover on the right of the top two pictures is kinda grassy but I think by looking at it I can mow it and frost seed it.

Food plot - Left of the picture is Brassicas, turnips and rape. Right side is white clovers and chicory.

Brassicas and Turnips

Hunting plots - Brassicas, turnips and rape

The turnips and rape in the corn is very small but it has been so wet and the corn is tall and not drooping yet.
Might make it but am not expecting anything right now.

Looks like the deer have plenty to eat this year.

 

[petherss]

My little brassica plot planted on 8/4. Even with all the rain everything is doing great!

 

[petherss]

The first pic is where I split the field down the middle- to the left is my rye mix and to the right are the brassicas.

 

[dbltree]

Had a couple of light frosts up here in N Ia hows that going to effect the growing of my brassica. Will they continue to grow is that it?

They should be fine and continue to grow...at least that was the case for me last year.

They will even stay green into winter although growth will cease once we get sustained cold weather.

Those of you that had hard frosts...let us know how yours do over the next few weeks..hopefully you won't make a liar out of me..

 

[risto2351]

Well I finally had a chance to get up and check out the plots. I think the deer have plenty to eat.
One of my food plot my brassicas is about 14-16" high in this plot. Brassicas on the left. Clover and chicory on the right.

Brassicas

Clover and chicory on the right is starting to look good also. Will frost seed some more next year. I was pleasantly surprised to see it this good.

JJ, Here are some of the white flowers we talked about. Most of mine have wilted and not as many this time.

Some of my turnips.

One of my hunting plots.

One of my other hunting plots

Turnips are not as big in the above hunting plot. It is on a hillside so they may not be getting as much sunlight?
Here are the size of the turnips.

Some brassicas and dwarf essex rape on the outside of the corn

Some of my turnips and rape in the corn

Saw a few scrapes like this

I planted some more winter rye in a few areas where the corn has already been harvested. Hope it gets 2-3" high. At $10.00 a bag I thought I would try it even though it is late in the year.

Good luck to everyone hope everyone has a safe and great season.

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - long season swedes and kales

Seems like it's time to try something new (imagine that from the ole dbltree

We've had great success with the short season brassica types, rape and turnips which are best planted 60-90 days before frost.

Late July to mid August works well and Turnips in Corn even works well.

There are long season brassicas (swedes and kale) that require 150 to 180 days growing period, which means planting in spring rather then summer. They have potential to provide more DM/TDN per acre but could require more inputs in the way of nitrogen.

I'm going to try some and compare to the short season varieties planted in mid-summer.

Growing Forage Brassicas

These are some common types of brassicas both long and short season.

Ampac Seed Forage Brassicas

The long season brassicas are a little more difficult to find by the pound but here are a few sources:

ADAMS-BRISCOE SEED COMPANY

Cooper Seeds

Albert Lea Seed House page down to brassicas

Welter Seed has a mix of long season brassicas that includes Austrian Winter Peas and Tyfon Forage Brassicas: Long Season Mix that I think I will try.

This mix really contains everything I want in a long season brassica plot.

Remember that swedes will be more like turnips producing a large root that will be eaten in late winter and kale will produce a larger leaf that will be the "forage" component like rape in the short season mix.

I'm always searching for something they will leave alone early and forage on it in late fall/early winter so I'm going to do some "testing".

Bonker posted pics of some of his being hit last winter and I suspect most will not notice heavy feeding until later in the season, although the AWP will draw them early.

Stay tuned and if any of you have tried long season swedes and kale please give us some input

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - long season swedes and kales

Dbl.

Read thru some of the types you have on there. Not much info. on the Welter mix.

When are you going to plant them? Also do you think they will grow quick enough that you will not have to mow them for the weeds?

I know it is something different for you but just wondering what your thoughts are.

Thanks

Good questions...

No mowing this mix so I'm hoping it will grow thick enough like the short season brassicas to hold back weeds.

It's possible it will turn into a giant "mess a foxtail" by fall but time will tell.

The Welter mix contains:
Winton Swede
Major Plus Swede
Kestrel Kale
Tyfon Forage Brassica
Rutmaster(tm) Brand Hybrid Brassica
and
Austrian Winter Peas

Maris Kestrel is a full maturity leafy kale variety with short stems (150-220 days to grazing). Kestrel was bred to have a low-fiber stem with high digestibility.

Major Plus is a full maturity swede variety (from 160 days), and is characterized by its yellow-fleshed broad elliptical shaped bulb with red skin color. Major Plus is a new generation swede with high yield potential. 84% of its yield is in the bulb, providing very high energy.

Winton is a new generation late maturing swede noted for high yield potential and excellent disease resistance. Winton reaches full maturity from 180 days. With high leaf yield and excellent animal preference, Winton offers extended grazing for all livestock including dairy, beef, sheep and deer. Winton is characterized by its white-fleshed bulb, bronze skin color, and high leaf yield.

TYFON is intended for use as a high quality feed source for mid-summer or late autumn use when other cool season forages are slowing down. Tyfon should be planted at least 60 days before the grazing season to allow for adequate growth and re-growth. Plant in the spring or the fall (or in some cases farmers have planted in in the spring and then re-planted in the fall to keep a constant supply of lush nutritious forage all through the growing season).

I'm sure herbicide could be used but I'm going to just give it a try and see what happens...what works or doesn't or if there is any advantage to these.

I'm going to plant them just as soon as it quits raining (and the ground quits shaking...

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - long season swedes and kales

How big of an area are you going to plant? That field where they nailed your corn?? Sounds like an interesting plot.

I bought a 25# bag and yes...in the "food plot from he$$" area /forum

I will have a number of other crops that can stand the intense grazing right beside it so we'll see...weeds may be the least of my worries...

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - herbicides

do you think they will grow quick enough that you will not have to mow them for the weeds?

risto made a good point about weed concerns in long season brassicas like swedes and kale but I noticed that Select 2 EC herbicide has been labeled for all types of brassicas including rapes, turnips and sugar beets.

Select 2 EC label for leafy brassicas

Select Labeling

That would sure take care of my concerns about foxtail!

Keep in mind that Select is not a broadleaf herbicide but should pretty much take care of most grasses.

Looks like 6-8 ounces per acre mixed with crop oil.

Sounds like nannyslayer just might have some Select EC available at a decent price because apparently they are changing to Select Max (correct me if I'm wrong on this Brian ] )so if you can't find it locally shoot nannyslayer a PM.

His inventory is now down by one however...

If you have other weed concerns such as with tough broadleaves like pigweed, this link has more options: Herbicides for Sugar Beets

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - Swedes and Kale

I planted a mix of long season brassicas and Austrian Winter peas to see how they might compare with the short season rape and turnips most of us are used too.

Swedes and Kale require 120 day growing seasons so need to be spring planted.

Welter Seed carries a mix with everything I wanted to try...

Quote:
a blend of Austrian Winter Peas, Tyfon Forage Brassica, Winton Swede, Major Plus Swede, Kestrel Kale and Rutmaster(tm) Brand Hybrid Brassica.

I used a bag seeder to seed this mix but I was a little unsure about seeding a mix of large and tiny seeds together. Hopefully I didn't get it to thick but time will tell.

We disced it, tilled and cultipacked, seeded then packed the seed to cover it.

I planted this mix in between plots of clover and alfalfa and mixed forage oats and berseem clover just to try to take some of the pressure off the AW peas.

The peas and berseem clover will serve to fix nitrogen for next years crop as part of my commitment to "sustainable agriculture" or in my case sustainable "food plots"

This mix should provide forage until way after the first of the year with the roots from the swedes lasting thru late winter.

My soil fertility is high so I used no additional fertilizer but I may try some foliar applied nitrogen later on.

Weeds I'll have to monitor, Select Max is approved for brassicas but I'm not sure about the peas. Select would kill the oats however.

The next thing will be to see if this mix will survive heavy grazing due to the high deer density I have to deal with. The Tyfon Forage Brassica I used in the short season mix was heavily grazed last time so we'll see how it goes.

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - Swedes and Kale

My long season brassica mix is up and growing!

Kale, swedes, austrian winter peas are the gist of the mix, to which I added forage oats and berseem clover.

The forage oats and berseem clover should keep deer from devouring the AWP's and brassicas before their time.

This combination should provide some type of food source all the way into next winter.

The oats will eventually mature or if foxtail becomes a problem I will spray with Select herbicide and kill the oats and any other grasses.

This fall I would have the option of broadcasting rye into the mix but it remains to be seen how thick this mix will be.

Closeup of the austrian winter pea

 

[dbltree]

Re: Brassicas - Swedes and Kale

Is this the field where they devastated your corn and beans? I am looking forward to your results and may try something similar. Have you planted AWP this early in past? I thought they were often planted Late July or August. Great info,thanks a

gain.



You mean this field?

Yep...that's why I'm trying mixing oats and berseem clover to "blanket" every inch of ground with "food". They will go after the most tender and tasty growth first which in this case seems to be the forage oats.

AWP can be planted spring or fall but normally in a late summer planting. They were in this "mix" or I most likely wouldn't have planted them.

On the other hand, they have the potential to be adding nitrogen (assuming they survive) and just more forage/grazing. We'll see how they do...

 

[northwoods whitetails]

Re: Brassicas - Swedes and Kale

interesting developement up here...
one of my small hunting plots (1/2 acre)has been put in eagle beans this year. last year it was put in biologic full draw. the interesting developement is after i sprayed, tilled and planted the plot this spring, the beans came up as well alot of brassica. so now i am hoping the brassica makes it through the summer. i might have to help it with a little ferterlizer, but they are growing pretty good. so when the frost hits and the beans die, the deer can kep on eating..
also, i planted another hunting plot in biologic maximum and it is really taking off. should be knee high by hunting season. funny thing is that someone forgot to tell the deer that they don't like it until after a frost, already a few nips here and there.