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- - brassicas? (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/wildlife-management-food-plots/173283-brassicas.html)

Brassicas,what are they and do they blend well with alfalfa and chicory?

Its an annual in the Turnip family. Deer love them once its been frozen a couple times. Its an excellent attractant for rut into late season. The deer will feed heavy on it until every bit is gone. I prefer to plant it alone, but you can mix with clover for good results too... in the spring the clover will be ready to take off while the brassica will be gone.

PRO GRAZE and WINTER GREENS are great:)I planted both last year around the end of July and the Deer just hammered them in the fall. The clover that is mixed in the Pro Graze is already starting to turn green with this warm weather.

THANKS GUYS!I'm thinking i might have to try it and see what happens.:)

Forage brassicas are high quality, high yielding, fast growing crops that are particularly suitable for grazing. Both tops (stems plus leaves) and roots (bulbs) can be grazed and are very nutritious. Brassicas can be seeded from mid April through May for summer grazing or in July or August for fall/winter grazing. All members of the brassica family - turnips, rape, kale, and swedes - produce forage of exceptionally high (often 85-95%) digestibility.

Turnips and rutabagas are short-season root brassicas that provide roots, stem and leaf growth for rotational grazing or strip grazing 70 to 90 days after seeding. The leaves can be grazed from mid- September until January depending upon critical low temperatures and snow cover. Top growth generally will survive temperatures between 15-20 degrees F, while bulbs will be about 5 degrees hardier. The common purple top garden type as well as Rondo, Royal Crown and other forage varieties, yield up to 7000 lb/acre of dry matter. The tops have 17-24% crude protein while roots contain 12-15% protein. Some new forage-type turnip varieties such as All Top produce relatively more top dry matter than roots. Turnips are seeded from mid July to mid August at rate of 2-3 lb/acre and produce maximum yields approximately 90 days after seeding.

Rape is a short-season leafy brassica whose stems and leavesmature in 90- 120 days. Rape leaves and stems have lower protein level (14-17%) than turnips. Rapes can attain yields of 8000 lb/acre dry matter if planted during May or June. Rape can be planted as late as August 1, but with lowered potential yield if planted late.

Kale generally has shown highest yields of all brassicas with up to 12,000 lb/acre dry matter production at 150 days. It has the greatest cold tolerance in the Brassica family, surviving temperatures down to 10 degrees F. This allows grazing of the leaves and stems into December and January most years.

I hope this atleast help explain what atleast a Brassica is.

From my own experience I have tried a few different companies seed offering for brassicas and some have done very well. The better brassica blends I have tried have been from Tecomote and Bio-Logic. I plant in late August to early September and this allow the plant to mature nicely by the time it needs to "frost cure". This is when the freezing temps cause a change in the plant and in turn forces the sugars of the bulb into the leaves and this is when the deer will feast on them. In my area this means that brassicas will be a great late season attractor.

Here are a couple of my brassica plantings.

Bio-Logic Green Patch Plus blended with Forage Oats

Here's another brassica plot. This blend is Tecomote Ultra Forage

As you can see, the deer will actually selectively feed on the different brassicas as they mature at different rates.

Here are what the turnip and similar bulbs look like in a decent Brassica plot. These pics were taken Christmas Eve

Those turnips look great!!!!! You must of got alot of rain this year???

Nope, actually this was one of THE driest years on record in IL. In fact, the Gov. even declared many parts of west-central IL a "drought disaster area". I was fortunate that we were able to get a couple decent rains during that crucial first couple weeks in September and the plots were planted Sept. 2

WOW, thats amazing! I really like the looks of the Tecomote and might give it a try. How long from Sept 2nd was the picture of you kneeling in the tall stuff??? My problem is the deer don't let it grow, they hammer it. So I worked up another big area this past fall and have kept working it to kill the quack grass!

I plan on putting in 3 rows of corn mixed with pumpkins on the right, 2 rows of beans and the rest with something along the lines of the Tecomote UF or Winter greens!

You can expect brassica growth like that in about 4 weeks. Once it gets up, the growth is explosive. My deer won't touch the stuff while it's growing so it gets to establish itself without interference from browse pressure. You can even taste the bitterness yourself in the leaves of the plants before they are "frost cured". One a freeze or two hits 'em they will sweeten up to almost a salad-like taste. I don't actually know anyone who has tried the Winter Greens yet but "IF" it's half as good as they are advertising then it would be worth the try?

I used Winter Greens this year and got similar results, although I'm really impressed with the looks of the Ultimate Forage:). BowHunting Fool, I tried Pumpkins along side my corn this year and had terrible results, not sure if it was because I planted them next to the corn.

IL-CORNFED. Do you ever run into problems with a Fungus on plots of Brassicas that have been planted 3 or more years in a row? I was warned of this from someone and wonder if its true.

I will plant more pumpkins this year... the deer tore them up as did the Elk! The corn was beat up by the Elk so I need to plant more of it, they never gave it a chance!

I've tried three different varietys of brassica mixes over the years and haven't had much success till this year. Finally this year, they have seen some use. Nothing drastic, but there are a few deer feeding in the plots. I'm gonna try one more year and see if they really pick up on it. If they don't, I'm gonna try something else.

Shot Plot from Evolved Habitats is good too.

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Turkey Ridge

IL-CORNFED. Do you ever run into problems with a Fungus on plots of Brassicas that have been planted 3 or more years in a row? I was warned of this from someone and wonder if its true.

I have NOT used any brassica planting in the same plot for more than a season or two. This year the plots I have in brassicas will be planted in something else. I may try opening a new brassica planting deeper in the woods as I have one more location I'd like to start a plot. Generally if I have the perfect PH and growing conditions than I'll opt for something else other than brassicas. I have just found that it's an awesome starter plot for many newly planted areas or darker more shaded spots.

Thanks for the pics and info!Now i will be trying brassicas just to see
if i can get anything close to what you show in the pics(fingers
crossed).My main line of thinking was to try anything that i don't have
to re-plant every year--we'll see how it goes.:)

Il-cornfed,
I live here in Central, Illinois(bloomington area). I may have a chance to plant a 1/2 acre to 1 acre food plot. I talked to the land owner and they are getting back to me. It should be in a mostly sunny area. I like the sounds of the brassicas type plot. Will be hunting from mid sept till the end, mid January(bow only). Was looking for something that would do better in late season. Since you have some experience in this area, what product would you start out with and where do you get it. Or should I go with something that may come up by itsself for a couple years. Maybe mix a brassicas with another type?
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
crutch

Quote:

ORIGINAL: IL-Cornfed

My deer won't touch the stuff while it's growing so it gets to establish itself without interference from browse pressure. You can even taste the bitterness yourself in the leaves of the plants before they are "frost cured". One a freeze or two hits 'em they will sweeten up to almost a salad-like taste.

Ya know, that is what everyone always says, but I've had great luck with deer hammering turnip plot in early October. They just chow down on the darn things!

I took that picture on Oct. 5th of 2006. There were over a dozen deer chowing down in a 2 acre plot that afternoon, and it was 70 degrees.

MK M GOBL,

Welcome to the forum bud! I'm looking very forward to your feedback on this forum and I know that MANY herewill benefit from it! It's also always apleasure to see your photos of Illinois plots and lots of big IL bucks! I stillswear I'm going to book ahunt with ya one of these seasons! Nice seeing ya here bud!