Turnips!?? WTH?

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

So just got back from the farm. I was driving by a "failed" soybean plot I planted in mid-June that dried up before beans could get going. I saw a disturbance on the edge of the field. To my surprise it was 2 or 3 mature turnip plants the deer have been destroying the greens on! Better yet, each has a gigantic bulb the size of a softball. Now for the weird part.

I didn't plant turnips in this plot this year. So, they were either stuck in my bag field spreader or volunteered from last season. The interesting takeaway is that this means if I want big bulby turnips, I need to plant them in mid-Jun, not mid-late July or August! Funny how a random "mistake" can identify the missing piece of my turnip strategy.

The turnips I did plant mid July are green and thriving, but no noticeable bulbs. Anybody have similar experience with them?

 

[NovemberWhitetailz]

If you haven't I would suggest a soil test. I have 3 different 1 acre brassica plots and 2 that are up near farm fields produce great bulbs but have a ph around 7. My lower 1 acre plot the first two years had very little or no bulbs, after soil test it had a ph around 5.2 so the plants struggled to take in the nutrients to grow bulbs. This season, great results after amending the soil.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I just hope that plot has a bunch of these volunteers!

 

[Rich M]

We used to plant turnips for deer - they can handle a frost pretty good. Taste okay too.

 

[El Diablo Amarillo]

Couple things to consider with turnips

1) They were probably seeded a little too deep and failed to germinate last year. If you apply herbicides this year those were likely in a spot you missed. When you worked up the dirt this year it brought those up to proper depth and they germinated. Very common when broadcasting plot seed since planting depth consistency can be hard to maintain.
2) Unless you rotate another crop in between in season, turnips in continuous rotation should be avoided just like any other crop. Its very hard on the soil and can promote various bacteria, fungus, deficiencies etc...
3) DO NOT plant them earlier than the recommended dates. Earlier is not usually a better thing IME with turnips. Couple reasons are they go past their maturity/palatability before you really need them. They are intended to be a winter food source not a fall one. You need the frost to convert starches to sugars so the deer really pound them. If they mature by being planted too early the whole starch - sugar process is eliminated defeating the purpose of planting winter hardy crop because they have started to rot in your field
4) Like others noted annual soil testing is money well invested. Lime is your best friend esp with fertilizer and herbicide costs these days