Brassica & Turnip Food Plot with Mustard Weed

[hunt4ever]

I live in Upstate NY with two food plots with a mixture of
Wildlife Brassica Mixture by Wildlife Perfect and the other is Great Lakes Wild Life Mixture by Harvest.  The brassica and turnips have come in very well with some spots being 2 feet or so in height.  After the brassica and turnips got established Mustard weed shot up by the leaves in a big way, ref. photo.  Also, for your viewing pleasure, I am attaching a photo of 2 Gold Finches peaching on one of the Mustard weed plants. Any suggestions on how I can get red of this weed other than pulling it up, which would be very time consuming?  IMO - Since the turnips and brassica are well established, I don't think they will be drastically effected, but I don't want the weed to go to seed.  I believe the whitetails will find the leaves after a couple of frosts.  FYI - I ate a 2" turnip the other day and would you believe I thought I was eating a hot radish.  The taste was great, if you like radishes.  I wonder how the turnips would be as a green?  One more thing: Has anyone out there used these mixture brands and how was the results?  All inputs would be greatly appreciated!!! 
Thanks,
[size="4"]Tom Mac[/size]
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[shaman]

I had thought about mustard in one of my plots.  I mentioned this to the guy who does my hay.  He gave me an emphatic "NO!"   He hays for a guy over on the neighboring ridge and the guy put out a small plot of mustard  few years ago.  The next thing he knew, it had taken over all of his pasture.  

[Goose]

Boy thats a tough one.....Is mowing an option to keep it from going to seed head?
There is also a difficult option where you use something like a wick to kill all the weeds above your plot.
Just picture a bar above your brassicas with a wick or rope on it that is soaked in glyphosate, everything that wick touches dies.
Hopefully some of the others have better ideas.
 

[shaman]

Better the lousy sheep than me, friend. 

There's all kinds of gotchas in this food plot thing.  I've been trying for 8 years to get a plot going with milo and sunflower with the idea I'd get some dove out of it.  This year was my first.  I've just gotten germination when I read in a website that sunflowers and sorghum (milo)  have toxins in them that inhibit other plants from growing in the same soil for several years afterward.

Gotcha!

[hunt4ever]

Shaman, I have not been getting an EM notice that someone responded to my posts and just saw this now.  I have the "Notify me via e-mail when someone replies" box and I always have gotten the notices before, so need to look into why I am not now.  However, I think you misunderstood me, I want to eliminate the mustard weed without hurting the brassica & turnips which are growing fine, but the mustard weed is beginning to take over.  Goose made a suggestion (reply Post #2) of a wick or rope on it that is soaked in glyphosate which I am going to try.  Thanks, [size="4"]Tom Mac[/size]

[hunt4ever]

Goose, I have not been getting an EM notice that someone responded to my posts and just saw this now.  I have the "Notify me via e-mail when someone replies" box and I always have gotten the notices before, so need to look into why I am not now.   I will try your suggestion of a wick or rope soaked in glyphosate and will let all know what happens.    I will probably use an old sheet and cut it in half soaked with glyphosate.  I think this is a good idea and I am excited about trying it. I just don't want this dam- stuff to go to seed where it will be worse next year.  I disked this old pasture for the 1st time in probably 20 years, so I am not surprised I have a weed problem.  However, I planted the seed real thick and fortunately the brassica and turnip came in 1st.  I think the brassica & turnips will be OK and the deer will find it after a frost or two.  What are your thoughts   For your viewing pleasure, I am embedding a photo of an Indigo Bunting bird that one of my trail cameras snaped 3xphotos in the plot where the mustard seed problem.  You can see the weed in the back ground.  I read in a bird book that the Indigo is a great bird to have around, it eats a lot of bugs and weed seeds.  How do I get more in there, right  I never heard or seen this bird and when I saw the photo I thought it was a blue bird.  IMO he is much prettier than a blue bird.  I really lucked out getting these photos, the post to which my camera was attahed had follen over and he just came hopping by.  I also got photos of a furry creature that I think is a ground hog and lives in a hole near by.  Again thanks for your help, [size="4"]Tom Mac [/size]

[Goose]

Google wick for applying gly and you should be able to find some ideas or plans.
It should work good, its more popular down south for cotton.

If your brassicas are growing good and thick you may not even have to worry about the weeds until next year when you can kill them all with a good application of gly.

The deer probably won't hit them until after a hard frost.

That's a cool pic of that indigo, I have never seen one in person.

The alerts are not working for some reason, so it is not something you did.The techies are working on it.
Good luck with whatever you do!

[shaman]

The Goose method sounds good to me.  If it didn't work, I'd be all for eradicating everything and starting over.  From the sound of it, that mustard sounds like evil stuff. Mind you, that's a completely uninformed opinion.

[hunt4ever]

Today, I soaked an old bed sheet in Roundup and attached it to a 8' 3/4" PVC pipe and my brother and I dragged it over the top of the mustard weed.  It should work, but we I will have to see.  As they say, "stay tuned".  I was glad to hear that the notices were not something I was doing.  Thanks,  [size="4"]Tom Mac[/size]

[Goose]

If that is a pic of your problem weeds,yeah I would call it a problem!!!