Turnips ?? When will the deer show interest ?

[Armed in Utah]

Have a good number of resident deer...only more to filter in when they get moved off the mountain because of snow fall....planted an acre of chicory & turnips...seperate patches....along with having alfalfa...apple orchards...sweet corn (which they really ate)....in the same area....
Plowed up 3-4 turnip rows with my middle buster today...maybe if they see & smell them better they will start on them.....they can't miss them for sure...

 

[RandyT]

Around here the deer don't touch them till after it freezes. the frost causes the starch to be converted to sugar then the deer will eat them down to the ground in one night if it is a small patch and you have a few deer

 

[KYDan]

40 years ago you could not find a buck in this area, therefore, our fish and wildlife agency went on a repopulation binge. To say it was a success is the understatement of the century! This year in our county hunters may take unlimited does! They eat everything in sight here and what the don't eat they seem to manage to trample. I used to think they were pretty, however, that has changed since I am no longer able to harvest the fruits of my labors. I consider them vermin along with most of the rodents and other bums that want to live from someone else's labor.

 

[tmajor]

You can't stand out in the turnip patch with a gun and camera! However, a golf club will be OK.
Golf Course Invaded by Hundreds of Elk - YouTube

 

[hrcarver]

Use of brassicas, and especially turnips, varies widely. Use even varies in the same geographic areas.

Use tends to be higher after a hard freeze and in the northern parts of the country.

My deer will barley touch them. Most will rot in late winter. I have planted them for other people less than 10 miles away (same density) and the deer absolutely hammered them. Only thing I can figure is more options at my place.:confused2:

 

[redlevel]

I grew turnips commercially for 45 years. I have never seen where I thought deer ate any of the turnips and/or other greens (collards, mustard, cabbage) I planted. This was in the same fields that deer would keep soybeans clipped to the ground, making it practically not feasible to plant them.

 

[Briar Hill Brittanys]

At my place, they're interested as soon as the plants start putting on tops. One of my plots is bordered by woods. The rye was drilled up to the fence, and then turnips broadcast next to the rye. When the deer jump the fence, they go face down in the rye, grazing into the turnips and never miss a beat. The tops are lush and succulent right now. A little later, after a few hard freezes, they'll paw through the ground to get to the bulbs. I got them planted late this year, waiting on a good rain forecast. The first picture is this year, turnips just germinating. The rest of the pictures are from last year, and that is pretty much how they look. Second picture shows what it looks like when they eat the tops. Third is after a good, hard freeze in late December. The last picture is looking out over the plot. By planting them kind of late the bulbs don't get very big. During the early bow season, the tops are thick. After the tops wither, they still come to the bulbs themselves. I even get to eat a few turnips the deer don't get. :licking:
Mark

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been playing around with different plants in my food plots and so far, the only thing that I ever see them eating is the tops of the turnips. There seems to be a window when they like them, because they will ignore them until the day they start to eat them. Then one day, they lose interest in them again.

What surprised me more then that is the wild hogs have no interest in them. By spring, I will have thousands of turnips popping out of the ground. I don't like them, so they all get disked in when I plant my spring food plot.

Eddie

 

[Redneck in training]

You can't stand out in the turnip patch with a gun and camera! However, a golf club will be OK.
Golf Course Invaded by Hundreds of Elk - YouTube

Saves on mowing expenses and grass fertilizer I suppose.

 

[mender]

I sure wish I had this problem with deer.... my freezer would stay full

 

[ToadHill]

Around here, they murder my pumpkin patch. They chew a hole in the pumpkin and eat out the seeds.

 

[jonyyuma]

No problem here with Whitetail deer leaving turnips? They eat the tops then later the pods. they really like Sorgum stalks after the frost.

 

[schoolsout]

First time I planted turnips on our property was this year, but have a buddy about 45 mins away that has planted them the past few years. This is his third...deer don't mess with his too much, either. He always told me he's heard it takes about 3 years until the deer figure out what it is...I'm not sure I'm sold on that, though.

 

[foggy1111]

I have mostly planted a mix of purple top turnips, dwarf essex rape, and daikon radishes.

Whether the deer go after your turnips may depend on the time of year and what else is available to eat. If you have lots of oats, corn, or beans they may prefer those....especially before a hard freeze.

In our area the deer go after the radishes early on....and browse the DER leaves during the fall. AFTER it freezes the PTT turn to sugar and the deer chomp them very aggressively. At our place they will dig through 2 feet of snow to eat the turnips in Jan / Feb. They are pretty much gone in spring.....but any left will typically get eaten in early spring.

One of the good things about PTT is that the deer will leave them to grow until a freeze....at which time its HUNTING SEASON for us.

In mid winter some of our food plots look like a mine-field...from the deer digging for turnips.

 

[Kubotasan]

Deer never seem to bother my turnips. I have planted then 2 years now.

 

[Don87]

Deer never seem to bother my turnips. I have planted then 2 years now.

The deer may not know what they are. Try digging a few, cut them in half(that will get the smell going), and lay them on the top of the ground on top of some you have partially uncovered.

Proper training will get the deer started in the turnips:thumbsup:

 

[EddieWalker]

You mean they will actually eat the turnip?

I've been planting crimson top turnips for a few years now, and found that they will eat the tops as they walk by them, but they dont' stop to eat them. I've been told that they have to freeze first, then the sugars come out, which makes them appealing to the deer. I assumed it was in the greens.

I have wild hogs on my land and they ignore them completely. I have a wild hog for a pet who eats most anything, but he will not touch a turnip even after I cut it into pieces for him and sprinkle corn on top of it.

Eddie

 

[schoolsout]

I've got a patch with Rape/Turnips in it and it hasn't really been touched...the other plot with chicory/clover and some rape I put out when I ran out of chicory seed has seen some action...the rape has been decimated.

Wondering if rape tastes better than the turnip greens at this point?

 

[Western]

I tried turnips twice without much interest from my deer. May have not been enough time for them to learn a new food source. Oats seem to always work where ever they'll grow though, so that is what I pretty much stick with as the main coarse.

 

[PLUMMER]

Whats in your soil is what your nips & radishes taste like. What we have found was good fertile soil with good mineral content makes a big difference with brassicas. you could have what appears to be a good looking plot and bulb size but the dirt doesn't have the micro nutrients. I found that micro nutrient fetilizers really help in more ways than just growth and good CEC. Delta Ag is a brand name but you can find much cheaper brands at the elevator that break down fertilizers and soil nutrients to forms that plants can more readily uptake the nutrients. I have 1 plot that no matter what grows, weeds included the deer eats it to the dirt. Brassicas are cheap and very easy to grow with big yields.