"Brassicas" are in the radish family just to bring an example a little closer to home...sugar beats, rape, turnips, etc.

All are high forage producing and because of this high starch content, it has a sour bitter taste through the growing season. Freezing changes the starch to sugar...no different than why sugar beat farmers pile their beats up through the winter to freeze, converting the starch to sugar and then the sugar is processed out.

Due to deer not grazing thebrassicas through the growing season, you can get away with small plot sizes.

Brassicas areeasy to plant and comes up fast. Due to the large leaves, it tends to shade out other weeds (canopy). You can just throw it on the ground and you will get some some plants...however, as always, some site prep and good planting techniques are going to increase your success many fold. There is no such thing as "no till" or "throw and grow" unless you have a "no-till" drill that you are using for planting. The marketing gimmic on those brandsare that they double or triple the seeding rate...if you put enough seed on the ground of course anything will eventually grow.

Issues?

Brassicas areannuals so that means annual site prep, annual planting, etc.

If it doesn't get cold enough where you are at or if it gets cold much later (such as after the hunting season), then you may not see the deer eating it and/or it will not be the "fall attractant" that you are expecting. This year we had a mild winter and the deer didn't start eating my brassica plots until mid January.

Turnips don't work...I think what is going on here is that the deer prefer other brassicas first but will come back to the turnips later. Deer have season preferences and they are no different than you and I on how they select what they eat. Steak and shrimp might get eaten first and then later you come back to the mac and cheese.

If it doesn't get cold enough were you are at, you may want to try late planted soybeans, oats or wheat for your fall attractant. Clover with chicory is also good and is perennial rather than annual. You will need to have larger plot sizes to reduce over grazing but you can determine that need as you go along.

Land Dr