Brassica doing well

Here is a pic of some does and fawns enjoying the brassica. This was planted jULY 12TH

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That is an absolutely beautiful plot. Are they actually eating the brassica now or is there another crop like clover or rye in the mix?

I was under the impression that brassica had a lot of starch and was bitter until cool weather and frosts get the plant to convert starch to sugar. I’m still very much learning how all this works.

Grouse

Thank you, this is by far my best brassica plot ever. I think the reason this plot is doing so well is it was a clover plot for 5 year prior, so it has a lot of built up N in the soil. I did broadcast ladino clover in with the brassica so that I have a clover plot again next spring. They seem to be eating both the clover and brassica, both have browse pressure. I have had them eat the brassica leaves before it gets cold, but I know they won’t touch the bulbs until a good hard frost. I have heard the same thing about brassica, but every time I plant it they do eat the leaves in early fall. They don’t hammer it until later, but they do eat some.

sticker wrote:

Thank you, this is by far my best brassica plot ever. I think the reason this plot is doing so well is it was a clover plot for 5 year prior, so it has a lot of built up N in the soil. I did broadcast ladino clover in with the brassica so that I have a clover plot again next spring. They seem to be eating both the clover and brassica, both have browse pressure. I have had them eat the brassica leaves before it gets cold, but I know they won’t touch the bulbs until a good hard frost. I have heard the same thing about brassica, but every time I plant it they do eat the leaves in early fall. They don’t hammer it until later, but they do eat some.

Same as in my plots. They hit the leaves until they sugar out after a freeze. Then game on and they eat the entire thing. After our first freeze, I’ve had my plots look like I hit it with a brush hog in a week.

You planted yours about the same time as mine. It looks great!
These are from a couple weeks ago. Looking good. You’re right, in about 3 weeks they’ll be all over it…
The beer bottle you see in a couple pics is just for reference of course! Wink, wink.

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Your brassica looks excellent!

I just added 50lbs urea per acre to mine last weekend, so it should keep going real strong

I love watching the deer mow down a big ol’ head of brassica lettuce.

sticker wrote:

I just added 50lbs urea per acre to mine last weekend, so it should keep going real strong

Sticker – I have some “spots” that don’t grow much. The plants get about 3″ high and die off. Do I need to add urea to those spots or do you think fertilizer is the problem? Actually I don’t know what urea is…fertilizer??

I wish I would have planted the PTT separate from the rape/kale mix…the bulbs don’t seem to be bulbing!

Urea is 46-0-0 fertilizer, all nitrogen which brassica loves just like corn. I doubt you have too much fertilizer, maybe the wrong kind. How big are the spots? Are they low spots that get a lot of water, maybe standing water? If you are not getting bulbs you may have planted the mix too thick or you are hurting for nitrogen. Give them time though, they may start to put on bulbs. Your plot is pretty thick from the pics so it just might be a crowding issue.

I plant a 15 foot wide strip along side my alfalfa field(corn some years). It’s right along side the woods, high ground. In that “strip’ there are like dead spots probably every 50 feet, maybe 100 feet and are 50 to 100 feet long where nothing seems to grow…it’s a little rocky in spots too. The plants turn purpleish and then do nothing after about 2-3 inches high. Even the hay along side it doesn’t grow real well. The dirt gets very dry there without rain but even with the rains this year, the soil just looks like it’s shitty dirt. Maybe should PH test it too?

These pics were taken on 2 – 1 acre plots I have down inside the woods.
You’re right, it’s thick. I’ll give it some time as I’ve just recently seen some small bulbs starting to show up. I should back off on the lbs/acre next year. I think I got carried away this year! More is not always better…

Would the local elevator carry 50 or 100 lb bags of urea?
What do you spread it with?

Thanks Sticker for all the info !

Yeah, I would do a soil test just to see what’s going on.

Yep they should carry it, but I am not sure if all of them bag it. You can bring a 30 gallon garbage can and have them fill it with however many pounds you want if they don’t bag. I buy mine this time of year at a feed store in 50lb bags. In the spring I go to the elevator with a bunch of plastic garbage cans, cheaper to buy in bulk.

In the past I have used a hand carried bag spreader. This year I used a pull behind atv spreader and I WON’T do that again. Cause way too much damage to crops this far along.