Radish Planting - Late

[landtracdeerhunter]

Just dry enough to plow yesterday. Plowed up a ground nest of yellow jackets, they were pissed.  Seven inches of rain in late July set us way back for planting. Hope to disc and plant today before the next round of wet weather.  Never planted radish this late before, but figured might as well use the seed. Better late then never, I guess.

Pictures to come.

[LET EM GROW]

I think its perfect time for radish planting.. they grow fast. 

As for the late rains setting you back for your plowing methods, If you try the no till (poor mans methods) you can still get your seeds in and germinated with these rains and while there is adequate ground moisture and not have to wait.. simple process with still having high germination % if done properly 

[phade]

I don't think it is late at all for radish. I actually think it is the sweet spot over the next 2 weeks IMO.

[UpStateRedNeck]

26 minutes ago, phade said:

I don't think it is late at all for radish. I actually think it is the sweet spot over the next 2 weeks IMO.

Yeah the timeframe for our area on the bag of Ravish Radishes I planted was August 1st to 22nd I think.  I rushed to get mine in because of all that sweet, sweet rain that was coming, and you never know how the rest of August is going to be.

[land 1]

i planted a lil early this yr the 3rd last years always on the 8th, so not to late you should be fine radish/brassicas only need about 45days of frost free temps to hit there max growth

[landtracdeerhunter]

1 hour ago, LET EM GROW said:

I think its perfect time for radish planting.. they grow fast. 

As for the late rains setting you back for your plowing methods, If you try the no till (poor mans methods) you can still get your seeds in and germinated with these rains and while there is adequate ground moisture and not have to wait.. simple process with still having high germination % if done properly 

As always, thanks for the reply.

I had 1st cutting hay that I removed and sold for $4/ bale, which in turned payed for the radish seed and urea. I toyed with the idea of no till but the ground was sod and needed to be turned under, in my opinion. If I still owned my no till drill, they would of went in by that method. I could kick myself right in the dupa for selling it.  I also thought about using my tine sub tiller, but didn't want the top growth to hinder.

How are your plantings doing?

[landtracdeerhunter]

1 hour ago, phade said:

I don't think it is late at all for radish. I actually think it is the sweet spot over the next 2 weeks IMO.

Thanks for the reply'

I like to get radish in here right about the first of August. Little earlier under dry conditions, as the deer tend to prefer them  in the late season. I like to get that tuber little bigger diameter than my thumb.   I'm the only one in quite a few mile radius with a radish planting, ( that I know of )  It shows with the amout of deer I draw here every year right in Muzzle Season. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

50 minutes ago, UpStateRedNeck said:

Yeah the timeframe for our area on the bag of Ravish Radishes I planted was August 1st to 22nd I think.  I rushed to get mine in because of all that sweet, sweet rain that was coming, and you never know how the rest of August is going to be.

Thanks for the reply.    It surprises me how New York state planting times vary greatly.

[stubborn1VT]

I used to plant August 1st, but now prefer to plant later.  I have been waiting for rain and parts to get mine in.  If everything goes right I will plant turnips/radish in the next day or so.  Will wait a little longer to plant my winter peas, as they hate dry, hot conditions.  

I would also wager that our first frost date will be on the late side, so there is plenty of time for growth.  As for growing bulbs, apply something besides N (urea).  The nitrogen sure helps with leaves and tonnage, but really hurts the growth of the turnip itself.  Adding some triple 15 or 19 would help your bulbs.  

Hope the plot turns out good for you.

[landtracdeerhunter]

24 minutes ago, land 1 said:

i planted a lil early this yr the 3rd last years always on the 8th, so not to late you should be fine radish/brassicas only need about 45days of frost free temps to hit there max growth

 Thanks for the reply.  I don't really shoot for maxium growth. I like to get them diameter of my thumb or so. The deer don't tend to the mature tuber as good.  I like to plant an oat- radish mixture, but the last couple years, the oats come up eight inches or so and turn brown. Like a blight hits them.

My wheat will be going in first week of September, all goes right. Then it will be frost seeded to Red Clover grass mixture. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

3 minutes ago, stubborn1VT said:

I used to plant August 1st, but now prefer to plant later.  I have been waiting for rain and parts to get mine in.  If everything goes right I will plant turnips/radish in the next day or so.  Will wait a little longer to plant my winter peas, as they hate dry, hot conditions.  

I would also wager that our first frost date will be on the late side, so there is plenty of time for growth.  As for growing bulbs, apply something besides N (urea).  The nitrogen sure helps with leaves and tonnage, but really hurts the growth of the turnip itself.  Adding some triple 15 or 19 would help your bulbs.  

Hope the plot turns out good for you.

Thanks for the reply and good luck to your plantings.   I agree with the tripple 15. I should of stated that the hay seeding was top dressed early in May with  liquid 10-20-20  in this spot as I planned on a radish seeding later on after the hay removal. I shoot on 46 % urea dry on wheat in the Spring, and had left overs from last.  The second cut hay around this field shows that nothing else was needed.

[Team Hoyt]

I planted last week because we were supposed to get rain. Well I'm still waiting for it. Hopefully they'll still germinate 

[landtracdeerhunter]

1 minute ago, Team Hoyt said:

I planted last week because we were supposed to get rain. Well I'm still waiting for it. Hopefully they'll still germinate 

In the last 3 weeks, we've had 7 1/2 ". Your welcome to some.

[LET EM GROW]

48 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

As always, thanks for the reply.

I had 1st cutting hay that I removed and sold for $4/ bale, which in turned payed for the radish seed and urea. I toyed with the idea of no till but the ground was sod and needed to be turned under, in my opinion. If I still owned my no till drill, they would of went in by that method. I could kick myself right in the dupa for selling it.  I also thought about using my tine sub tiller, but didn't want the top growth to hinder.

How are your plantings doing?

Good to hear that sir. I like your style. If i got rid of a no till drill, id be kicking myself too lol. In the future i wouldn't let that sod get in the way of trying no till methods, as long as it gets terminated and or good rains are in the forecast. I've planted backyards that were grass and mowed for many years doing this no till (seed, roll and spray method). Small bulb seeds and even soybean seeds, the roller pushes the seed into the sod/dirt and rain does it magic, I have the pics to prove as well. Ive also broadcast beans into 3ft tall growing natives, rolled them a couple times and left without spraying.. return weeks later to a beautiful native/ soybean plot. This was probably one of my favorite plots ever. Im always up to try new things as long as time and funds are on my side. 

As far as my recent plantings go, they aren't really happening lately. Life, a sick wife and 3 kids get in the way, so i turned it over to my brother for now. Trying to teach him how simple it is to grow food plots, as he is a rookie.. This is his first year and so far hes done great with it.. He plants our properties in 8P and in 8F. I really  miss food plotting and hope to get back into it asap.. but for now, I direct my brother on what to do via phone, and pictures and he does the work.. lol.  

I should add, good seed blends with the following planting in mind help no till methods work flawlessly.. 

Edited August 12, 2020 by LET EM GROW

[landtracdeerhunter]

19 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

Good to hear that sir. I like your style. If i got rid of a no till drill, id be kicking myself too lol. In the future i wouldn't let that sod get in the way of trying no till methods, as long as it gets terminated and or good rains are in the forecast. I've planted backyards that were grass and mowed for many years doing this no till (seed, roll and spray method). Small bulb seeds and even soybean seeds, the roller pushes the seed into the sod/dirt and rain does it magic, I have the pics to prove as well. Ive also broadcast beans into 3ft tall growing natives, rolled them a couple times and left without spraying.. return weeks later to a beautiful native/ soybean plot. This was probably one of my favorite plots ever. Im always up to try new things as long as time and funds are on my side. 

As far as my recent plantings go, they aren't really happening lately. Life, a sick wife and 3 kids get in the way, so i turned it over to my brother for now. Trying to teach him how simple it is to grow food plots, as he is a rookie.. This is his first year and so far hes done great with it.. He plants our properties in 8P and in 8F. I really  miss food plotting and hope to get back into it asap.. but for now, I direct my brother on what to do via phone, and pictures and he does the work.. lol.  

I should add, good seed blends with the following planting in mind help no till methods work flawlessly.. 

Sorry to hear that. Hope all works out , gets back to near normal. 

I used your method few years ago on some first cutting that got seedy on me. Rolled it down flat and planted radish on it. Radish did well.  Works out well with future rains. Liked the idea of little to no fuel invested, quick to plant. 

[stubborn1VT]

Got some of my tilling done.  We got enough rain so it isn't dusty, but the 30 year old sod could use some time to rot down before I till again.  I will plant turnips and radish next time there is rain in the forecast. 

Pretty excited that I will be doubling my plots from half to nearly a full acre. It is all planted in strips.  Two strips of clover, a strip of field corn, a strip of turnips and two strips of oats/winter peas.  Oh, and a strip of goldenrod and green ash saplings left for cover, as well as 8 small apple trees that I planted. 

I don't hunt here much at all, but I'm hoping it will give me a place to watch deer before work.  Also, it would give my father-in-law a place to go when his other spots get over-run with people.  He's a good guy and if he gets a deer he gives us 90% of the venison.  

I checked a couple cameras in the woods.  Just a couple does, fawns, a spike horn and a half-rack with just a fork on one side.  Looking forward to that first week in November when the bucks start cruising here.  

[phade]

I have a few minutes now so I will post up a good story relevant to radish planting.

Last season, one of our farms that we hunt on, had a pretty poor crop year and scooped up what beans they had during the usual timeframe in late Sept/early Oct.

They cover cropped those fields a week later with an interesting mix of some clover, some triticale, and daikon/tillage radish. It was really present to me how late it was for the radish to make any useful gains (soild aeration, decompacting, etc.). 

To my surprise come late season, they were not huge mountains that we like to see in our food plots, but they had small 6" leafy greens and small needle-like radish. They competed directly with our food plots of August planted Radish that were magazine worthy. In some cases the deer spent much more time on these later planted radish with thick snowcover in specific areas because they felt more protected. The clover and triticale helped, but it was clear the deer were eating radish first based on physical observations in stand and glassing.

We were able to commit many common sins of hunting pressure on a field edge late in the year because that draw was so powerful. We got away with alot and eventually it resulted in a great buck going down.

All that with a cover crop planted somewhere between 10/1 and 10/7. The tonnage might not have been comprable, but the draw was at or greater.

[knehrke]

I saw the opposite at work, though not in the same context. I'd traded a 15 acre field for a farmer to plant hay in return for his plowing a couple of food plots (kill plots really). Unfortunately, his bailer broke while harvesting the existing weeds (for bedding), and he ended up planting the field around Sept 30th. He got very little germination and needed to drill some alfalfa in this year to cover the gap. And we had what was in essence a bare field that actually repelled deer all season. Now, this wasn't radishes, it was hay...but I won't take a chance on a late planting in that big field again. I've never seen deer avoid a field like they did this one. Too much work too close to season, I guess, and no food for the effort.

[stubborn1VT]

23 minutes ago, knehrke said:

I saw the opposite at work, though not in the same context. I'd traded a 15 acre field for a farmer to plant hay in return for his plowing a couple of food plots (kill plots really). Unfortunately, his bailer broke while harvesting the existing weeds (for bedding), and he ended up planting the field around Sept 30th. He got very little germination and needed to drill some alfalfa in this year to cover the gap. And we had what was in essence a bare field that actually repelled deer all season. Now, this wasn't radishes, it was hay...but I won't take a chance on a late planting in that big field again. I've never seen deer avoid a field like they did this one. Too much work too close to season, I guess, and no food for the effort.

Interesting, but hard to compare.  Annuals like radish are very good at growing in a hurry.  What Phade saw was probably a case of smaller plants being more pallatable.  What you saw was perennials that are slow to establish.  I agree that September 30th is pretty late.  It really does depend on what you plant though.  Lots of farms plant cover crops after harvesting beans and corn.  The potato farmer across from my mother's planted winter wheat or rye in October.  It had a bunch of deer on it until the snow got deep and then again when it greened up in the spring.  

[land 1]

just checked my planting from aug 3 great germination everything looks good

[LET EM GROW]

14 hours ago, phade said:

I have a few minutes now so I will post up a good story relevant to radish planting.

Last season, one of our farms that we hunt on, had a pretty poor crop year and scooped up what beans they had during the usual timeframe in late Sept/early Oct.

They cover cropped those fields a week later with an interesting mix of some clover, some triticale, and daikon/tillage radish. It was really present to me how late it was for the radish to make any useful gains (soild aeration, decompacting, etc.). 

To my surprise come late season, they were not huge mountains that we like to see in our food plots, but they had small 6" leafy greens and small needle-like radish. They competed directly with our food plots of August planted Radish that were magazine worthy. In some cases the deer spent much more time on these later planted radish with thick snowcover in specific areas because they felt more protected. The clover and triticale helped, but it was clear the deer were eating radish first based on physical observations in stand and glassing.

We were able to commit many common sins of hunting pressure on a field edge late in the year because that draw was so powerful. We got away with alot and eventually it resulted in a great buck going down.

All that with a cover crop planted somewhere between 10/1 and 10/7. The tonnage might not have been comprable, but the draw was at or greater.

Thats a wild observation, Radish leafs typically dont hold up well to cold weather, but protection by the snow cover will keep them preferred longer than exposed plants would.. Thats another reason why plants shouldnt be seeded too early.. palatability is by far better than a big plant size, and many dont understand.. Deer are browsers and pick and choose the best plant before consuming, so they must have been more preferred at those small sizes vs big huge plant slike people want to see.. I think your snow cover must have helped big time in their decision to eat those small plants vs your matured tubers..? 

Wish I had more time and more available space to experiment with plantings. 

[LET EM GROW]

20 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

Sorry to hear that. Hope all works out , gets back to near normal. 

I used your method few years ago on some first cutting that got seedy on me. Rolled it down flat and planted radish on it. Radish did well.  Works out well with future rains. Liked the idea of little to no fuel invested, quick to plant. 

Exactly, thats the reason i use the method, as free time lately  isnt on my side lol.  but good rains are crucial. Where as conventional disking then packing can reserve just enough soil moisture if not too dry, to allow seeds to germinate..

Thank you for your thoughts and kind words. Much appreciated 

[landtracdeerhunter]

I have a fair amount of hay acreage that will start shutting down after the first killing frost. Deer will  eat the legumes off, some grasses and weeds,  then seek other sources for protien and carbs. Sittting on several hundred acres of corn and beans,   I needed to find a formula thats simple to implement and works with other crops established in the area.

My radish plantings along with an occasional oat planting, and wheat in the Fall do this. This combination works .It's simple to establish, cost effective, and rewarding.  It covers early bow right into firearm season for big game. The wheat along with a fresh frost seeding of Red Clover supplies wildlife right into the following Spring - Summer.  

[phade]

19 hours ago, stubborn1VT said:

Interesting, but hard to compare.  Annuals like radish are very good at growing in a hurry.  What Phade saw was probably a case of smaller plants being more pallatable.  What you saw was perennials that are slow to establish.  I agree that September 30th is pretty late.  It really does depend on what you plant though.  Lots of farms plant cover crops after harvesting beans and corn.  The potato farmer across from my mother's planted winter wheat or rye in October.  It had a bunch of deer on it until the snow got deep and then again when it greened up in the spring.  

With the brassica, starches converting to sugar being the trigger for the increased draw, I actually think the location of the food source has as much to do with it, too. Snowpack too as LEG noted.

I guess what I learned is that even a late planted plot can really be effective, beyond most of what we commonly believe. It is really challenging us this year to not do everything as early as we have.

[phade]

5 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

Thats a wild observation, Radish leafs typically dont hold up well to cold weather, but protection by the snow cover will keep them preferred longer than exposed plants would.. Thats another reason why plants shouldnt be seeded too early.. palatability is by far better than a big plant size, and many dont understand.. Deer are browsers and pick and choose the best plant before consuming, so they must have been more preferred at those small sizes vs big huge plant slike people want to see.. I think your snow cover must have helped big time in their decision to eat those small plants vs your matured tubers..? 

Wish I had more time and more available space to experiment with plantings. 

They seemed to hit our actual food plots early in season and almost entirely post season. Not alot of hunting pressure on those plots in November's bow season, either. Such a weird set of observations.

Sitting in a stand where I could see two food plots - one one acre, and the other almost 2...I watched during multiple regular season evening hunts deer come out of the bedding, walk through the plots, and hit the destination food source (this late planted cover crop). Midday, deer would come out and nibble on the plot and back to bed. We ended up hunting the field edges and encounter rates went up dramatically. Broke almost every cardinal rule to pressure...

Get to January time, and they hammered the plots - still plenty of food in the cover crop fields though.