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    Radishes for food plot

    I'm looking to try something new this year for my plots. I just order 20 lbs of Groundhog Radishes to try. They have been getting rave reviews recently about how the deer absolutely love 'em. I'm sure its different for every place but it seems worth a try.
    I got them here if anyone is interested: http://www.welterseed.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=418

    Anyone tried them on the green screen? Here is one of several articles I've come across about them:

    By Kent Kammermeyer & Tommy Hunter
    Originally published in the August 2009 issue of GON

    Forage radish does not look like a radish at all, more like a huge, long, green-and-white carrot, which can reach lengths of 18 to 24 inches. These long radishes add organic matter and aerate and loosen the soil, even in heavy clay.
    View All Images (2)
    Deer were hungry. On a very cold day last winter, 96 deer were observed digging through a foot of snow trying to fill their bellies.

    Digging for the last remaining acorns? Clover? Rye? You probably could not guess what these 96 deer were digging for, so we’ll tell you: radishes.

    The above scenario occurred in New York last February, but we’re quickly learning that deer all over are attracted to this new food-plot crop. If you’re a hunter or food-plot planter, we believe you’ll find these early experiments on planting radishes for deer very interesting. It could have you convinced that planting radishes this September could be something new to try on your hunting property.

    Daikon radish (Raphanus sativus), also known as Japanese, oriental, Asian, winter radish and many other names, is used as a vegetable in many types of Asian cuisine. For this purpose, it is mostly grown on the West Coast where there is a large Asian market for them. Some varieties are also called forage or tillage radishes and are highly recommended as a cover crop and soil conditioner for the Mid-Atlantic States by the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. They are backed by eight years of research at Cedar Meadow Farm in conjunction with the University of Maryland.

    Preliminary testing in fall food plots for deer in the Northeast and Southeast last year yielded surprising and promising results with forage radishes grown specifically for deer forage.

    “Radishes for deer?” you ask.

    Read on. They are a little known member of the Brassica family, which also includes rape, kale, turnips, mustard, canola and cabbage. It may be a little early to tell, but forage radishes may be the best overall Brassica option for a deer planting. It supplies the combination of high nutrition in the top and root, attraction, huge production, fast germination and growth and a large deeply penetrating taproot that breaks soil compaction in heavy soils.

    Research data from Dr. Ray Weil at the University of Maryland shows dry-matter production of 5,000 lbs./acre for top growth (shoots and leaves) plus 2,000 lbs./acre of root dry matter.

    According to Dr. Weil, “A good forage-radish cover crop adds significant quantities of easily decomposed organic matter to the soil.”

    Radishes grow so fast they can be used to smother and suppress weeds while enhancing the seedbed. They die-off in winter, resulting in rapidly decomposing residues that enrich the soil. They add organic matter high in nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, boron) to the soil for a companion or follow-up crop to utilize. They are much easier to grow than finicky sugar beets and are well adapted throughout the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest.

    Forage radish does not look like a radish at all, but more like a huge, long, green-and-white carrot, which can reach lengths of 18 to 24 inches. These long radishes add organic matter and aerate and loosen the soil, even in heavy clay. Better yet, unlike other Brassicas, which are often ignored by deer in the first year, deer seem to learn quickly to eat the green top growth as well as the radish itself.

    Indications are, from actual visual observations of feeding deer, that unlike many Brassicas where a freeze makes the greens sweeter and provides better palatability, deer eat radishes before the first freeze ever takes place. In test plots in the Southeast, deer began feeding actively on the greens shortly after emergence in September, even in a very good acorn year. Unlike other Brassicas, they are resilient after grazing pressure, quickly sprouting more new leafy growth. In the mature plant, a December sample and lab test from radishes in New York revealed protein levels higher than 20 percent for both the top and root, even after the forage quality had begun to decline from cold weather. This was equal to or greater than a highly marketed, well-known commercial Brassica blend.

    #2
    Don t know about radishes but sugar beets are awesome

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      #3
      Might work, radishes only take about 25 days to mature.

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        #4
        on our old lease we planted turnips and those worked out great

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          #5
          Im sugar beets winter peas mixter plus wheat and winter rie

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            #6
            I planted an acre of the groundhog forage radish and cereal rye last year in Grayson County. The crop came up great but my deer never touched the radish. I kept hoping that they would start hitting the radish after the first freeze but January, February and March arrived and the deer never touched them. I then read that it takes some deer several years before the "learn" to like it. Personally I am not going to wait 3-5 years until they learn to like it so I wont be planting radish again. If you have a really high deer population it may work great for you? Good luck.

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              #7
              It might depend on why you are planting them...for nutrition or for hunting. If they need a good freeze to become really pallatable, then they may not be of much value for deer season. This is what I found when planting turnips in central texas. It seemed like by the time the deer really started hitting them, season was pretty much over. I bet they will grow great though. Let us know how they work out and how quickly the deer get on them.

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                #8
                Yep supposedly the deer will eat them all year long.....we will see. Another reason I'm going to plant them is they are great for building the soil. Their root systems are extensive and when they decompose it put all sorts of organic matter and minerals back into the soil. I have very sandy soils so organic matter would be very helpful.

                I'll follow up and post them after I plant and the results from this season.

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                  #9
                  I just realized you are also on QDMA. I didn't add anything you didn't already know!

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Roscoe View Post
                    I just realized you are also on QDMA. I didn't add anything you didn't already know!


                    Love me some QDMA.

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                      #11
                      Some of this may be redundant from my other food plot thread but I wanted update on the radishes. The deer love them at my place. It took about a month before they started nibbling them. Now its an all out feast. So far they only eat the tops of them (although I did see one radish bulb eaten last week).

                      Some of the bulbs got huge!


                      Here is what most all of the tops look like.


                      Deer eating radishes...


                      Last edited by unclefish; 01-25-2013, 08:21 AM.

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                        #12
                        i bet in the next few days those deer start eating those bulbs,, if it would ever get cold

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                          #13
                          Just ordered some and will add these as a test plot on the lower food plot. Probally about to frost seed some clovers and will add these as well.

                          Thanks for all the wonderful food plot information you add to this web site.

                          Rwc

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                            #14
                            Following

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                              #15
                              Yet another great thread

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