Turnips are a cool-season annual that are extremely high in protein and highly digestible to deer. Protein content can range from 15 to 20 percent in both the leaves and the roots. A well-managed food plot of turnips can yield more than 8 tons of forage per acre.
What is the best turnip to plant for deer?
Purple Top Turnips in your food plots will not disappoint. They are easy to grow and mange, and provide a great crop for deer to browse throughout the fall hunting season and winter months.
What is the best thing to plant for deer?
Brassicas include many different plant types that whitetails will devour—rape, canola, turnips and radishes are some of my favorites. My favorite blends are Maximum, Winter Bulbs & Sugar Beets and Deer-RADISH.
Where do turnips grow best?
full sun
Turnips grow best in full sun when temperatures range from 40° to 75°F. As soon as the garden can be worked, loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches. Mix in 2 to 4 inches of aged manure and/or compost. Add more to heavy, clay soil to improve drainage.
How long can turnips stay in the ground?
While spring-planted turnips should not stay in the ground until winter, summer-planted crops can usually be made to last until late fall or winter. Turnips withstand frost well and don’t need to be dug until the ground freezes.
Do deer like radishes or turnips better?
The deer will eventually eat the turnip greens but the radishes are preferred. This has been my observation from the years we’ve been doing this. If I had only one to choose, it would be radish.
What time of year do deer eat turnips?
The key factor to remember with turnips — while deer will begin eating them as early as germination, don’t expect peak consumption during the early season. In areas with quality food sources, deer typically don’t hit them very hard until mid-October to early November.
What food is irresistible to deer?
By far the most popular and widely used bait for attracting whitetails is corn. Not only is deer corn highly consumed and well received by whitetails in almost every habitat across the continent, but it’s also one of the cheapest options for hunters.
What is the cheapest thing to feed deer?
An inexpensive way to feed deer is with corn. Deer love corn and many hunters rely on it for supplemental feeding. That being said, corn is not an excellent source of protein, which is essential for antler growth and the nursing of fawns.
What is a whitetail deer’s favorite food?
They love pecans, hickory nuts and beechnuts acorns in addition to acorns. A couple of favorite fruits are apples, blueberries, blackberries and persimmons. Deer occasionally enter yards to get their mouths on flowers, vegetables and ornamental trees — quite often to the surprise of the homeowners.
What month do you plant turnips?
Set out turnip green plants 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost in spring and from late August to October for a fall crop in most areas.
How long do turnips take to grow?
Turnips are quick and easy to grow from seed, ready to harvest in as little as six to ten weeks. They like cool, moisture-retentive soil, in an open, sunny location.
How deep do you plant turnip seed?
Growing turnips should be done with seeds in the soil about 1/2 inch (1 cm.) deep at a rate of 3 to 20 seeds per foot (31 cm.). Water immediately after planting to speed germination. Once you find your turnips growing, thin the plants to about 4 inches (10 cm.)
Does burying turnips stop them from rotting?
Even though the turnips will rot over time, nothing bad will happen to them if you decide to bury them. If you aren’t worried about friends or other players stealing them, you can store the turnips outside. The most effective way to do this and save space is to bury them in the ground.
Will turnips come back every year?
Now Answered. Dill, radishes, arugula, cilantro, broccoli raab, turnips, and any form of mustard will yield mature seeds in time for fall reseeding in most regions if allowed to flower and set seed.
How big should turnips be when you pick them?
about 2 inches
If harvesting for both the root and the leaves, the turnip should be about 2 inches in diameter, but if the leaves have been harvested first, the turnip should be 3 inches in diameter when it is ready to be pulled. Pick turnips when they are smaller for a milder, sweeter flavor.
What crop Do deer like the most?
Deer love soybeans, but no single crop can meet all of a deer’s year-round needs. Diversity is best, both in your food-plot options and in natural forages that occur outside food plots.
What is the easiest food plot to grow?
Red clover is the Easiest Food Plot for Deer. Spread the seed and spray the grasses to act as a mulch for the clover, or spray in the fall and frost seed in late winter right on top of the snow. The freeze thaw patterns of spring creates cracks the seed falls into to germinate.
Can you have too many food plots?
It’s just the nature of whitetails, but if you have multiple food plots scattered across your property it could mean losing track of a buck as it adjusts to the upcoming rut. If that’s not bad enough, your green thumb could make bucks become hard to pattern.
Why won’t deer eat my turnips?
Deer wont eat turnips if you plant too much seed. The plants end up crowding each other out and they stop growing. Deer crave plants that are growing, and stemmy plants go to the bottom of the desired list. Gauge the size of your plots accurately, and err on the low side for seed planted if you are unsure.
What part of turnips do deer eat?
The cool thing about planting turnips in your food plot is the deer love to eat both the leafy tops and the taproots (or the turnip). And if, for some reason, the deer don’t want the underground turnips, you can always harvest them and serve them for dinner yourself.
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