Food plot with mostly brassicas?

Anyone ever go really heavy on brassicas in food plots? I feel like these do better when it's warmer. I've always planted late Sept/early Oct. Anyone had success with planting earlier to give them more time to get bigger leaves?

Actually, yes I have. Up north they plant brassica's in late July and are recommended to be planted here in late August-first of September. People are going to tell you not to because of army worms, and if you've had that problem, you shouldn't. I've been planting food plots since the early 90's and have always planted the first to the middle of September, with no problems. I like to plant them on one half of the plot and plant my grains and clovers on the other half. The next year swap ends. You don't want to plant brassica's for more than a couple years on the same dirt due to disease issues that can arise, that's why I swap them. Hit them with nitrogen and always throw in some turnips for late season. Nothing more beautiful than a 2 ft tall field full of brassica's with bulbs under them. After the tops are eaten they will eat the bulbs late winter.

My whole farm is radishes. Deer hammering them

is it helping with biomass? I've heard different cover crops for winter and radishes seem to be the more prevalent crop, lately.

Hell yes. I'll get some pics. Radishes knee high. It's been a blessing with all this rain holding the ground from washing

Those daikons are great for busting up hardpan and introduce a ton of biomass when they rot. We held off this year but we have planted them the past 4 years with fantastic results. This is from 2017. My buddy is about 5’11” for reference. Daikon, pasja turnip and forage rape.

What’s good to plant in the summer in an area where there are hogs??

Josh, when do y'all plant?

I've been waiting until the bow opener, or later, to make sure I have moisture. However, this year we had a cold snap right after I planted and it really affected the growth of my radishes and turnips

Sept 15 is prime

you plant grains then, too, or just brassicas?

I had to go back and look. That picture was taken on October 22nd. The field was planted on September 16th. We typically plant when there is rain in the forecast but no earlier than the middle of September. If we are not planting brassicas we will wait till the first weekend in October. The brassicas needs a couple extra weeks of growing season vs grains.

Date is subject to moisture. I planted 10# radish 5# crimson and 55# triticale in my mix. Will not plant triticale again. Will be oats or wheat next time. It can't handle the early jump the radish put on it. But where we plant cover crop wheat/rye/oats did fine. Radishes really need to go in in sept N of bham

Sept works for me. Bow season opens Oct 1 here. T-shirt hunting...

I am sure they look pretty growing (brassicas), but will a deer eat them much before a hard freeze makes them turn to sugar? maybe I am confusing them with something else.

I planted some diakon radish mixed with wheat oats and rye this year at my house they got 18" tall and the deer wore then out they are ate down to the root right now on 2 1/2 acre fields about 40 yards apart. Planted some where I hunt several 1 acre and 1/2 acre fields. Was a waste the deer ate them off as soon as they came up and they never amounted to anything couldn't hardly find one in a field by the time gun season opened. If you have very many deer you better have big fields or you will have to mix some grain with them if you want to have something to hunt over.

Hell yes they will.

I planted 1ac diakon last yr way earlier than I felt comfortable planting, 1-1.5 weeks into sept. I never had much luck with any brassica but decided to plant them earlier and by themselves just to see. If they weren’t eaten I would be thrilled with good OM on this rough plot. They ate them down and dug them up before new year, big mud hole.

Diakon is ok but I'm seeing 2x the growth with sodbuster radishes plus more winter hardiness in the past

Sounds like I need to dedicate a couple of fields a plant them no later than mid-sep

I’m not big on throwing one type of seed. I would still mix something with them.

I like a mix of brassica's. I like rape, radish, sugar beets and purple top turnips. They will readily eat the radish, rape and sugar beets, but will wait until later after frost to sweeten up the turnips. I like that about the turnips because it gives them something to eat late season.

Here's an example of my fields on Nov 2 this fall. I planted them sept 25 for reference

Show Off !!!

No they asked. So here's an example.

Looks awesome 257

Wish mine looked like that.

It feeds a lot of mouths. But it's held up fairly well. Half of it will get sun hemp plus buckwheat and ICP this spring. Other half gets prison millett

What's the size of that field?

20 acres

I’ll see your radish and raise you a turnip 😁

Guys, those are some fine looking brassica's. I wish I had larger plots. I'm hoping to make them bigger next year. They have eaten mine down to the dirt.

Did they start hitting it after the first freeze.

They started hitting mine after it came up and haven't stopped freeze or not

The same for me on the radishes I planted this year they started eating them soon as they came up. However when the weather turned cooler and they quit growing they were wiped out pretty quick. If you have a good many deer and plots an acre or smaller I don't think you will ever be able to plant them and gun hunt over them. Now if you have some 5+ acre plots of very few deer. I think they would be awesome to hunt over. The deer love them.

If you have small plots and lots of deer you're wasting time on about anything getting growth. Just a fact

Ive had problems with deer turning their noses up a different things the first year I plant. They didnt even eat all their corn the first year I planted it, I guess 4yrs ago. But I planted a small spot of daikon radishes this year just to test the water, they tore em up. I will be planting more of them next year, or might try the sodbuster. Call me stupid, but I didnt realize they would eat radish leaves, I assumed they just ate the radishes like me.

I wish I had videos from this season. I've watched deer gorge themselves on leaves and on the root too.

Here's my 1/4 acre plot right now.