Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Planting Brassicas

I have put brassicas in blends before but never really seen much evidence of deer eating them. This year I’m dedicated a few plots just for brassicas any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I've never had much luck either. Things I've heard is they need a lot of N and too much competition around them stunts their growth. Probably better to hear from someone that's had success rather than me.

I’ve seen em pull up the turnips and raddishes in Tennessee. I’ll throw em into my mixes here and suspect they work good late season when they get sweetest

The only issue I’ve had with brassicas(turnips and radishes), is the deer eating them down early and there not being enough left for the bulk of the season. I’ve moved away from them for that reason.

You cannot ever give brassicas too much Nitrogen. Brassicas are nitrogen hogs and nitrogen is the nutrient they seem to need most. Potassium and Phosphorus are right behind it. Fertilize at planting with 17-17-17. Let it germinate, then at 2-3 weeks hit it with 100lbs/Urea per acre. It'll grow and put on some tonnage. Like others have said, deer seem to really prefer them after it gets cold. Supposedly a good freeze brings sugars up into the leaves and the deer tear them up.

They wear them out on my lease. Especially if you get them fertilized right.

Never have had any evidence that the deer eat them. Use to always add them to my plots but don't waste my money on them. Only way to know is to plant them ! Good luck , I hope they wear them out and you kill a big buck in your plot !! 🤠

Thank y’all for the information!

We plant them every year for the most part either in stand alone or in a mix. Deer hit them harder if you keep the nitrogen to them. But as mentioned they can use a lot of fertilizer. We planted some in mixes this year to reduce fert costs.

Plant more. They will outproduce grasses and clovers in the winter as far as tonage/acre. But you have to fertilize it right if you want knee high greens. Not to mention the roots. After a couple hard freezes my daikons pop out of the ground and the deer eat the roots too. The greens will survive and grow here all winter. If it stays below freezing for several days, itll wilt the leaves but they come back when it warms up. The deer here love them and ill spend more to get that plot right just because they love it and it produces the most food

I have found that planting more doesn’t help. I’ve planted all the space I have in them and will have them knee high by bow season. The deer will have them gone before gun season gets going good. This leaves virtually nothing in the plots after that. I can get better, longer lasting plots with grains. If I had the space to do both, I definitely would plant them.

You must have a really high deer density or not much planted is all I can figure. Mine is ok, and while the deer did manage to eat down some of the small plots, the larger ones, say half an acre, they were not able to mow. I did notice they were eating the radish roots too.

What if you planted your initial stand of them, and then came back say 30 days later and broadcast some more?

Daikon Radishes do not have to have a freeze to turn sweet. They will be sweet a few weeks after they come up. Rape and Kale turn sweet on;y after a good freeze

I planted alittle over an acre. It ain’t worth it for me to fool with different planting times.

My current lease the deer hammer em. My old lease which as the crow flies, is only 4 or 5 miles away. Had some of the prettiest turnip and rape plots, and the deer never touched em.

I plant forage rape daikon and purple top all in plots by themselves. Less is always more when it comes to putting down seed. If you leave too much room, which is hard to do, you can top sow oats

Well my early planted brassica plot is toast. This dry spell has taken its toll on it. I’ll drag some clover in before the next rain (probably in November).

When i disked my brassica plot, it came back up from volunteer seeds. It was way too thick though. I disked it again and they came back up but a little thinner. Theyre growing really slow. I bought seeds to plant but i wont plant them until theres certain regular rain in the forcast. If it does stay dry, atleast i have the volunteer patch, i guess.