Turnips

[Drycreek3189]

Some folks have told me that deer never eat the turnips they plant. I plant them along with Daikon radish. Deer will eat tops and roots of the radish and eat the turnip bulbs after a freeze. They will pull them out of the ground and take bites out of them.

Daikon radish, yes. Turnips, no. My deer are food snobs. Can't say as I blame them, I don't like turnips either.

[Killer]

if going through the trouble to plant, why not plant peanuts, soy and other protein rich beans, corn,,, etc...?

These turnips are more for northern areas. I mean they will eat them here but a lot of times it is after season is over before it gets cold enough. I would plant oats, wheat, vetch, clover or something like that before turnips in the south.

[SFAbowhunter]

I’v waterfowl hunted up north, Missouri/Iowa in December/January and the fields we hunted in had beans/soy still on plants. Yes the plants were dead, but still there for the animals to eat. I see what you’re saying though...

I think we can get them down here as well, but we would need to fence off the beans for them to make pods. If you don't fence them, you will have deer eating all of the beans before they can make pods.

[R C]

I planted an acre of daikon radish in north Texas several years ago as they were/ are the big thing up north. They came up great, probably one of the best plots that I have ever planted but the deer never touched them. I heard the same thing, wait until a good freeze and the deer will start hitting them. Long story short, it got below freezing many times and the deer never touched them. I ended up discing them up in early spring and never planted them again. I went back to wheat, oats and rye with clover and never looked back.

[Dusty Britches]

I prefer to pull them around tennis ball/baseball size. You want firm ones, they get soft after the ground starts freezing.

Peel and cube them and boil with a little bacon grease, little salt, little sugar. One of my favorite fall treats!

Perfect. I personally don't care for turnips but I think I could cook them like that and be happy. My husband loves turnips.

I have tennis ball sized up to double softball size right now. If the deer don't eat them by the end of December, I'll disc them and let the hogs in. But that's my ulterior motive. Trap the hogs in the food plot.

[sharpstick35]

it usually doesn't get cold enough south of I10 to sweeten turnips up much. you need to get in the mid to low 20's

[parkchief100]

They never ate mine! I had some huge turnips and an abundance at that. I don’t like onions and I guess my deer don’t like turnips.��

[Cajun shooter]

I planted turnips and radishes together two years in a row, last year and the year before. We had temps down to 17 degrees last year. The deer never touched them. The crop looked fantastic. I even took a bunch home and we ate them but the deer wouldn’t even get close.


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[sharpstick35]

also think of it like this, if there is anything they think tastes better they'll go for it. like they quit coming in to feeders when we quit feeding protein and the acorns are falling. they'll eat the turnips when all else is gone.

[KactusKiller]

My deer have really hit the greens pretty good. Don’t think they have eaten the actual turnips yet. I even pulled some up and threw around the feeder, still there a month later.

[Low Fence]

I have 1 of 6 plots that deer actually eat them. My east Texas deer won’t touch them for the most part. They are cheap to plant and offer another option so I add them but very low plant rate. They bust soul up good!

[Radar]

One of turnip/Elbon rye patches.


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[Radar]

Daikon, Turnips and Elbon rye.


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[Radar]

I have one 1/2 acre plot of clover and radishes. Clover never makes it here in the summer.


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[Radar]

They getting big already.


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