largest fastest growing bulb for winter food plots

[bornagain62511]

Is there anything better than purple top turnips for fast growth and large bulbs? I tried rutabagas this year but they are so slow growing they aren't a good option for us. Is there anything that grows a top and bulb about as fast as purple top turmips but produces and ever larger bulb than PTT?

 

[bornagain62511]

PTT work great so if there's nothing larger or better, I will just continue to use them. I'm going to try planting them earlier next year, and fertilizing them better. Got them planted in late July this year, but then it hardly rained for a month and we didn't fertilize them so that really held back their growth, but still some nice bulbs and the deer are feeding on them heavily now. Gonna try planting them in mid June next year, when there is usually more moisture in the ground and less likely to have drought conditions compared to late July/August when the ground is often hard and dry and many years little rain in August. Southern Wisconsin driftless area

 

[bornagain62511]

has anyone planted barkant turnips and how do they compare to PTT?

 

[scott44]

I haven't tried anything that produces a bigger bulb than a PTT so no help there, I usually plant my brassicas around July 4th and this last year we had a very dry summer here too no brassicas but a lot of cereal grains and clover.

 

[swat1018]

Only tuber that gets bigger I can think of is daikon radish. Preference isn't quite the same, but I wouldn't be without either. I plant the LC brassica mix. Radish are great from the time they sprout on my farm. They love radish tops, first. When spring comes, it's all gone and looks like someone tilled the plot they dig at it so much for the bulbs all winter.

 

[Charles Clear]

Radishes. Daikon and groundhog radishes produce big bulbs. Some argue daikon and groundhog are the same, but the groundhog radishes are enormous in my experience compared to the daikon

 

[yoderjac]

I plant both Daikon radish and PTT. I'm not fertilizing at all, but I both rotate and plant mixes and do everything no-till or min-till. The size of my PTT is directly related to how early I plant them. Granted, planting too early without rain can be problematic, but if you have sufficient moisture, you can get quite large turnips. The GHR tops are hit as soon as they begin to grow, but my deer don't touch turnip tops until it gets cold. They then turn to radish tubers and finally the turnips themselves. I'm far enough south in zone 7a that my GHR will rot on warm days in the winter. Turnips don't rot until spring.

But why does bulb size matter? My deer never eat a turnip bulb. They just take a few bites and move one to the next turnip. Higher plant density (especially in a monoculture) means less resources for each plant to grow. So, I always plant my brassica as part of a mix and keep the rates low (2 lbs/ac of PTT because the seed is so small). High seeding rates can stunt turnips, especially in a monoculture.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Good info, Jack. I find the same things at camp with turnips and radishes. The radishes get hit first, then turnips later and only with a few bites out of each one. Radish tops are the first thing to go. We might try our turnips in less dense plantings and in a mix as you suggest. Too many turnips & radishes for a given plot seems to "runt them out." Having a VERY dry August, Sept., and Oct. didn't help anything either.

 

[j-bird]

To my knowledge your either using a turnip or radish. Just know that some deer take a while to figure them out and for some deer they are not the most preferred food source either. I plant them as a insurance food source for my deer. They rarely ever eat them and many simply rot in the ground. But PTT is cheap and easy to grow so I'm not out much and I have some piece of mind that IF I was to get a bad winter the deer have food....if they go hungry it's their own fault!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Plant 2 weeks earlier, fertilize a touch heavier, and reduce your seed rate a pound per acre. Normal rains would have made a big difference.


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[White Birch Farm]

Rutabagas are exactly what you are describing. 1.5x the size of an average PPT. My guess is, if you did not get good results with Rutabaga, it is because you planted them too late. They are longer duration than PPT.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

My spring planted Swedes didn't get any bigger than my late summer planted PTT.

 

[White Birch Farm]

This will save me typing a bunch...the information is consistent with my experience, particularly the fact that Rutabaga produce far more top growth.

Why Rutabaga may be Better than Growing Turnips for Deer

So many people complain about deer not eating their turnips or that they were woody. The reason for this is that turnips reach maturity in 60 days of growing in your food plot. If people plant them in a mix before the beginning of August, this can be the case. A solution to this is the planting...

www.grandparayoutdoors.com

 

[roymunson]

Plant 2 weeks earlier, fertilize a touch heavier, and reduce your seed rate a pound per acre. Normal rains would have made a big difference.


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That's good advice.

My PTT did ok this year, but they'd have done better had I planted thinner.

if you can get sugar beets to grow, go for it. However, they're such a crap shoot that you're probably better off taking something that may be marginally smaller, but far more stable and reliable to grow.

 

[Catscratch]

Anybody want to say more about rutabaga? Obvious preference over PTT? I've grown plenty of awesome looking turnip plots... wasted the space as deer on my place never mess with them. They love radish tops but once those are gone they offer little attraction to deer. I've tried some off the wall brassicas such as kohlrobi but no luck with them either. Guess I "want" to grow a tuber that the deer like because I keep trying.

 

[Mortenson]

Is rutabaga seed similar size to PTT? I like the tiny seed being so easy to throw and grow.

 

[White Birch Farm]

Is rutabaga seed similar size to PTT? I like the tiny seed being so easy to throw and grow.

A little larger. Closer to radish, but still plenty small for what you are discussing.

 

[bornagain62511]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

White Birch Farm, I came across that same article that you posted above, prior to planting this past year and from the sounds of that article I was convinced that rutabagas were exactly what I was looking for too, and this year I planted several plots of rutabagas, some in April and some in May. They are so slow growing and never turned into much for us because the weeds took over. In my experience excellent weed control and a heavy dose of fertilizer are a must for rutabagas. . In late July this year we tilled some 4 year old white clover plots about an inch or 2 deep and broadcast PPT right before a rain and we got some bulbs of PPT as large as softballs (although most were baseball size or smaller). And that was without any fertilizer on the PPT plots. The PPT grow so much faster and are able to out compete weeds much better, Next year I plan to plant PPT in mid to late June, and fertilize heavily, to try and get the largest bulbs possible.

Jack, thanks for all the info you always share. The reason I want (need) large bulbs is that around our farm in Southwest Wisconsin the deer LOVE brassicas and the larger bulbs are better for several reasons. We get cold winters and often get deep snow. Deer seem much more likely to dig through deep snow to get at the largest bulbs as compared to smaller bulbs. Deer need to be wise how they spend and conserve energy during our winters so larger acreage plots with large bulbs are best for attracting and holding deer through the winter. Smaller sized plots and smaller bulbs will be wiped out sooner or not attract deer as much especially in winters with knee deep or deeper snow on the ground which is normal for at least several weeks or more during average winters. Our deer start eating PPT leaves as soon as they reach a few inches tall in August and their usage increases as we go into Oct. Nov. and December. January through March brassica plots are deer magnets. Deer will really group up near good brassica plots during the winter and the largest plots with the largest bulbs are far more attractive and will hold a lot more deer, and will hold them for a much larger portion of the winter. My goal is to provide enough large turnips so the deer still have plenty to find and eat in March. In my experience, the larger bulb size provides what I'm looking for and smaller bulbs and smaller acreages of brassicas end up getting devoured earlier in the winter and then the deer will go elsewhere to look for food. We have excellent winter cover on our farm and plenty of browse, but the deer will really group up around the best food sources during the winter and that's what I want the largest bulbs for so they will last all winter long. Radishes get destroyed. they don't last long unless the plots are really large, and the radishes will rot in mid winter whereas the turnips stay firm and attractive to deer until April if there are any left. Thus the desire for large bulbs.

 

[White Birch Farm]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

White Birch Farm, I came across that same article that you posted above, prior to planting this past year and from the sounds of that article I was convinced that rutabagas were exactly what I was looking for too, and this year I planted several plots of rutabagas, some in April and some in May. They are so slow growing and never turned into much for us because the weeds took over. In my experience excellent weed control and a heavy dose of fertilizer are a must for rutabagas. . In late July this year we tilled some 4 year old white clover plots about an inch or 2 deep and broadcast PPT right before a rain and we got some bulbs of PPT as large as softballs (although most were baseball size or smaller). And that was without any fertilizer on the PPT plots. The PPT grow so much faster and are able to out compete weeds much better, Next year I plan to plant PPT in mid to late June, and fertilize heavily, to try and get the largest bulbs possible.

Grow them side by side, you will see the article is accurate. Beside my own experience to that effect, I know John well enough that I can assure he wouldn't write that article if he didn't have the evidence to support it.

 

[bornagain62511]

Grow them side by side, you will see the article is accurate. Beside my own experience to that effect, I know John well enough that I can assure he wouldn't write that article if he didn't have the evidence to support it.

Oh, I'm not doubting that they get larger, and sweeter and more nutritious and palatable. I've seen plenty of evidence that says that and the photos I've seen the major plus swedes are huge, like the link below from PGG seeds. They just didn't work for us for some reason. Like I said, with great weed control they would be great, but the PPT grew so much faster they jump out of the ground and the leafy tops grow so fast the first few weeks and that is a huge advantage for us because we don't use herbicides on our food plots. I need crops that establish fast to get ahead of the weeds. rye and winter peas in late summer work great. and we can establish clover and/or alfalfa really good by seeding it with rye in early August. But the rutabagas are shown to be 180 to 240 day maturity by Welter's seed (PGG says 150 to 220 days before grazing) and planting them in April and May like we did this year they were being taken over by weeds before the leafy growth of the rutabagas much growth to them. . The PPT planted in late July jump out of the ground and within a few weeks they are practically forming a canopy with their leaves and the weeds don't have much of a chance to get established. The PPT leafy growth was larger at 3 weeks than the rutabags leafy growth was at 6 weeks. Maybe I should do a 50/50 mix of the rutabag/PPT seed and plant them in the same plot to compare?

Major Plus Swede | PGG Wrightson Seeds | PGG Wrightson Seeds

A good yielding, early maturing swede which is also the softest on the market.

www.pggwrightsonseeds.com

» Major Plus Swede

welterseed.com