Finally found a brassica my deer like

[Native Hunter]

Turnips just ignored.
Radishes nibbled at a little but not great.
But planted Rape this year and it's being eaten extra well.

How about a rape and wheat highway

 

[catscratch]

Nice! Rape and wheat go together really well! My deer like radish tops in wheat so that's what I usually go with. Turnips rot...

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[Drycreek]

Mine like Daikon radish tops, but never the tubers. PPT go untouched. I planted a great looking plot of Frigid Forage brassicas once and as far as I could tell the deer never touched them either.

 

[OkieKubota]

The deer here won’t let a brassica get more than 3” tall...

 

[KSQ2]

I don’t even bother investigating the brassica plot anymore until mid November at the earliest, except for picking a few turnips for the Mrs and my mom. We’ve always planted Paul Knox’s mix of purple tops, ground hog radishes, and dwarf Essex rape. In the late season, they absolutely hammer them all.

 

[Native Hunter]

It’s strange how things can be so different - sometimes not even that far away. At my farm I’ve never seen a poke weed touched. However, only 11 miles away where I live, the deer will literally eat every leaf and leave only a tiny amount of stalk.

 

[Drycreek]

It’s strange how things can be so different - sometimes not even that far away. At my farm I’ve never seen a poke weed touched. However, only 11 miles away where I live, the deer will literally eat every leaf and leave only a tiny amount of stalk.

It may have something to do with what and how much is available. My son was on a place where the deer literally devoured PTT, but there wasn’t much on that place except planted pine trees. It was an old gravel pit that had most of the topsoil removed and he couldn’t even grow a decent wheat plot.

 

[dogghr]

Mine used to let brassica get waist high. Now they sit w fork in hand munching on them as they grow.
The real reason for planting brassica mix is the soil work they do mining nutrients and the N they suck up helping prevent weeds and grasses.
Overseed w WW or WR and RC In Oct and you have food thru the next summer and a soil rotation building OM and weed control w minimal expense and efforts.


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[THE LLC]

My deer are offended if ANY brassica gets more than a couple inches tall. They eat tubers and all.

 

[Jeff H]

It’s strange how things can be so different - sometimes not even that far away. At my farm I’ve never seen a poke weed touched. However, only 11 miles away where I live, the deer will literally eat every leaf and leave only a tiny amount of stalk.

I've seen the same here and believe it's what's in the dirt that makes the difference.

 

[j-bird]

My deer are developing a taste for brassica, but it's been a slow going process. I plant tuber type to help the soil and simply as an emergency food for the deer here. They will eat MANY other things before they will eat a turnip or the like. I have started seeing them nibble the tuber portions but most of it still just rots in the spring. I have avoided the "leafy" brassica simply because I felt the tuber types will last longer into the winter here.....but I may have to change that thinking some.

 

[Native Hunter]

 

[Mennoniteman]

You might need to plant a few weeds in there. That plot looks almost too picture perfect nice. Probably any trophy buck will realize at first glance that it's a trap with a direct ticket to the empty spot on your wall.

 

[Native Hunter]

You might need to plant a few weeds in there. That plot looks almost too picture perfect nice. Probably any trophy buck will realize at first glance that it's a trap with a direct ticket to the empty spot on your wall.

I knew there had to be a flaw in my plan.

 

[Jason Broom]

We planted a brassica mix again this year, on our land up in Michigan. We planted a strip of them as far away from cover as possible, because the deer browse the tops so hard we never see any appreciable bulb production. Ahh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

I have been hearing about a hybrid brassica, called T-Raptor. It is a cross between forage turnip and forage rape. It produces only a small bulb, so it is not to be confused with tillage radish. If you aren't concerned with issues of compaction or infiltration, that's not a big deal. The reason I mention this hybrid is that many folks are reporting heavy utilization by deer, in places where brassicas were normally not browsed significantly until after several hard frosts. It's something I definitely plan to experiment with, in the future.

 

[Native Hunter]

We planted a brassica mix again this year, on our land up in Michigan. We planted a strip of them as far away from cover as possible, because the deer browse the tops so hard we never see any appreciable bulb production. Ahh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

I have been hearing about a hybrid brassica, called T-Raptor. It is a cross between forage turnip and forage rape. It produces only a small bulb, so it is not to be confused with tillage radish. If you aren't concerned with issues of compaction or infiltration, that's not a big deal. The reason I mention this hybrid is that many folks are reporting heavy utilization by deer, in places where brassicas were normally not browsed significantly until after several hard frosts. It's something I definitely plan to experiment with, in the future.

I had heard about this recently and would like to try it next year in one plot.

 

[Elkaddict]

Winfred, which is a cross between forage turnip and kale have been a home run for us.

 

[jlane35]

Winfred, which is a cross between forage turnip and kale have been a home run for us.

Are you spring or fall planting Winfred?

 

[Elkaddict]

Neither. I like to plant between late June and early July. With good moisture, it will grow knee to thigh high and produce serious tonnage. Our deer eat it to the ground and chew on the stalks.

 

[Jeff H]

Filing this away for next year. Thanks for the info!!