My main concern when planting turnips, radishes,beets are for the leaves. Some plant em for the bulbs. What is it you all plant them for?
Leaves. Many years I've seen so many bulbs not touched even in the coldest months of Jan and Feb. Thought it was ph, but I've finally got that within range and still same results with them. Still will continue to use as part of my mix, they love the leaves.
Both. The deer usually eat the leaves first then the bulbs. If they don't eat all of the bulbs it's OK because the organic matter is good for the soil.
Deep snows here and they dig all wither to get those bulbs. Kales andrape mixed in is always a great thing.
Both. I have seen them eat all of the leaves off by the end of October and come back for the bulbs in December
How heavy and what blend of fertilizer you all use on brassicas? I tend to go heavy on triple 19. With good rains, they do fantastic.
Without a soil test you would have no idea what kind and amount of fert to use. Bring the test to a real AG store or a little research will give you the exact bag to buy. If you over throw you might as well just throw money on the ground
I would address this question based on your goals. Is this foodplot meant to be an october kill plot? Then I would fertilize with heavy Nitrogen and plant a little later to get top growth. If you want a winter food supply for the deer, then I would plant a little earlier and use more P&K Fertilizer (with some N) and get big bulbs that will last longer into the winter.
To muddy to get to my plots but could get to this one. That's a 6 gallon bucket. Radishes are up to 10" long and turnips are upto grapefruit size. Lots of tonnage. And this is probably the worst out of the 5 I have planted.
I may have mentioned elsewhere that when planting turnips I do it at different times early, mid to late July and then late August early Sept. I do this for small turnips in late winter early spring. They hammer all the big leafy ones .but the second plant g doesn't put on much top. The bulbs grow but stay small and firm all winter. Good eats at a critical time. I walked through one of the plots just now. They have lots to eat and have been hitting them regularly. This plot was a late over seed into WW.