PURPLE TOP TURNIP'S

[msbadger]

Ya they really took all I planted down to dirt this year....but I've got a lot of branches down for them and will have whole tree tops soon....then there are all the buds on various bushes...If this works here is what those plots looked like this fall.....

Well that didn't work...hhhmm

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn20 ... G_0663.jpg

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn20 ... G_0668.jpg

[GTOHunter]

Hookset....I think your turnips are pretty high priced,I believe ours usually run around $2.00-$3.00 a pound max?I'll check the prices out at our local Feed Store to make sure?If You ever need a certain type of seed and I can get it cheaper and mail it to You just shoot me a Private Message and I'll try to save you some money!The Deer around our food plots work the turnips over pretty good and they even eat up the turnip bulbs in the Winter,we also planted clover,sugarbeets and wheat in our food plots.Now You talk about some expensive seed just price some Sugar Beets!I've planted the Foraging Oats at our Farm and had a few Deer in them,it seems the Turkeys like the foraging oats a lot more then the Deer.....I even had a few Turkey's lay down in the middle of the Oats to feed and use for cover!


Some turnips will re-grow if they are left to go to seed,or plowed under and split up but it won't be very many that will come back.Another seed crop that does really good around here is the chicory and alfalfa fields that really draw the Deer in pretty good and the alfalfa will continue to come back after it has been cut.

[msbadger]

For sugar beets I go to Shumway...they are expensive and doubly so if RR but in a well used plot...... I personally think RR isn't needed...well used meaning weed controlled in the last few years....I like the Lutz green leaf...80day growth ..not a sugar beat and was less expensive ...but about same price now...but...they have a new product...called Bucklunch....a blend of sugar beets that is only 21.95 per pound verses 30-46 dollars a pound...I've noticed Lutz green leaf beets have now started popping up in commercial plot blends.....I've had luck with those for years

[hookset6969]

Thanks to all for the info, I just spent the last week at my property and driving around to local co-ops to find some seed and hit the jackpot. The small town of BLAIR which is about 3 miles from me has a little co-op and can get about anything a guy or gal could want [:)] The price list the guy gave me was for 09 but he said the prices would be close to the same this year. I can get sugar beets for 5.10 a pound, I was thinking of trying a little mixture of sugar beets with some purple top turnips and some rutabagas, I am like a little kid in a candy store with this sheet of seeds that I can purchase. For a 100 bucks a guy can get all the seed he needs for a couple of years if your only looking a doing an acre or two. I plan on doing about an acre and a half total this may consist of 4-5 smaller plots. I'm also looking at getting some trail mix seed to plant all of the atv trails with. I would like to just use clover which I might try but these trails don't recieve much sun light so I don't want to just waste a bunch of seed. At my dads farm I all ready have one 6 acre sucluded alfalfa field that we rent out to a farmer and another 4-5 acre corn field and another field that he switches things around in. There is about 24 tillable acres on this farm and I need to get together with the farmer that is renting the land from us to see what his plans are for this up coming year. My dad just purchased this 60 acre farm at the end of this last NOV so I have not had much time to really check things out. Just down the road about 3 miles I have a 40 that is all timber so I plan on doing a little clearing and putting in some small plots there as well. I can't wait to start the work, this week looks like it could be in the mid 30s so I might go back up and clear a few trees at my place. I hope to be going back to work here soon to help support my deer habit [:D]

[SHKYBoonie]

hookset, sounds like you got the idea now! We plant most of our wooded roads in winter wheat and rye. We plant the roads that get good sun light in ladino clovers. It seems to work out good. The deer and turkeys use it more than you would think. I can't tell you how many times I've come around a corner and walked up on a feeding deer or flock of turkeys. I'm going to try and do turnips and rape again this year. The deer didn't seem to eat the turnips much, but not many of them matured before it got cold. I think I planted them a little too late. I'm going to plant them in July this year and see what happens. The deer are absolutely killing my clover plots right now though. I have about 3 acres in 4 fields and all of them are just laden with deer sign. They have pretty much eaten everything out of the beans and corn but I had wheat planted in strips through it. The wheat is still doing good and the deer are using it right now too.
 
These are pics of the same field. The first is before the season started. The second was after we tilled strips and planted the wheat. The field had soy beans, corn, milo and sunflowers. It did well and the deer seemed to use it for bedding cover as well.

[hookset6969]

Very nice, I will try to plant my trails in the winter wheat and rye like you have mentioned [:D] They are both cheap and if they work well that will be perfect, Thanks for the tip's