Sowing late Stubble Turnips

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

I know the latest date for sowing ST has been covered a few times on here so apologies.
I have 40 acres available to me that we could possibly get in in the next day or two, if I uped the seed rate ,and made it come as thick as cress, would that compensate for the lack of growing time to make bulbs , but make some good leafy feed ? Would broadcast on to cultivated land and roll. Seed at @ £ 2.70 kg thinking 3 kg acre. Not expensive per acre but quite dry atm with only “ maybe “ rain forecast.
would appreciate any thoughts or comments .

 

[AndrewM]

Depends what time of year you want to graze it. Mild winter, might be a crop after Xmas. Don't drill it crazy thick else it will just compete with itself too much?

 

[neilo]

I know the latest date for sowing ST has been covered a few times on here so apologies.
I have 40 acres available to me that we could possibly get in in the next day or two, if I uped the seed rate ,and made it come as thick as cress, would that compensate for the lack of growing time to make bulbs , but make some good leafy feed ? Would broadcast on to cultivated land and roll. Seed at @ £ 2.70 kg thinking 3 kg acre. Not expensive per acre but quite dry atm with only “ maybe “ rain forecast.
would appreciate any thoughts or comments .

IME it won’t grow much, however thick you put it, until it warms up in the Spring. It will normally start to sprout shoots from mid-Feb (if we get a warm week) or early March, here or back home anyway.
It won’t come to anything much before that, then double in size every few days as it tries to bolt.

I’m just putting the drill on to put 17ac similar in myself.

 

[Great In Grass]

If you are expecting a more leafy crop which I expect you will get why not Forage Rape?

A couple of per cent more protein in the leaf and slightly cheaper cost per acre seed cost too.

 

[Wombat]

Really depends on the season, we drilled some forage rape 3rd week of sept last year and basically it came to nothing as it turned cold and wet for the next 5 months.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If you are expecting a more leafy crop which I expect you will get why not Forage Rape?

A couple of per cent more protein in the leaf and slightly cheaper cost per acre seed cost too.

You would have to put twice as much on as Turnips normally, so any cheaper?

 

[michael N123]

Depends what time of year you want to graze it. Mild winter, might be a crop after Xmas. Don't drill it crazy thick else it will just compete with itself too much?

Would it not be better abit thick so frost doesn’t get into it as much? The bulbs aren’t gonna grow much no matter what

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Would it not be better abit thick so frost doesn’t get into it as much? The bulbs aren’t gonna grow much no matter what

If you sow it thick yiu will have a poor crop anyhow so your rolling the dice with nothing to gain ,but depends what you call thick ,I would not go over 2kg acre on turnips, germination will be as good as atm

 

[michael N123]

If you sow it thick yiu will have a poor crop anyhow so your rolling the dice with nothing to gain ,but depends what you call thick ,I would not go over 2kg acre on turnips, germination will be as good as atm

I only sow stubble turnips at 1.5kg sowed some forage rape for first time yesterday into stubble at roughly the same yesterday just to see what it does

 

[Kevtherev]

Do a mix of both forage rape and turnips

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

Lot of turnip seed in the shed Would prefer not to buy more seed . Been waiting for this field to be harvest for well over a month.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Long term ley with 1lb to the acre of rape ,looks a bit thick to me but farmers seems happy

 

[Greythundercloudys]

This is 12 acre of rape, its had a very dry summer but not bad, l didn't sow red shanks, they grow of free.

 

[robbie]

Lot of turnip seed in the shed Would prefer not to buy more seed . Been waiting for this field to be harvest for well over a month.

I've still got several acres to go in, I'll be upping the rate a bit to 3.5ish kg/ha .
I'm not expecting much only bulbs the size of golf balls but the sheep man who's supplying the seed is keen for me to still put them in.
Mine will be combi drilled into cultivated stubble

 

[michael N123]

I've still got several acres to go in, I'll be upping the rate a bit to 3.5ish kg/ha .
I'm not expecting much only bulbs the size of golf balls but the sheep man who's supplying the seed is keen for me to still put them in.
Mine will be combi drilled into cultivated stubble

You don’t need to cultivate the stubble beforehand just go straight in with combi

 

[robbie]

Its a tine combi not a power harrow and there was some lodged areas so a lot of trash to deal with.

You don’t need to cultivate the stubble beforehand just go straight in with combi

 

[spin cycle]

at the risk of hijacking the thread....whats wrong with mine

better where they've been sheltered....125kg/ac of 20/10/10....samson at 4kg/ac

 

[Jerry]

Know the soil indices?

 

[neilo]

What was the preceeding crop? Did it have full rate SU herbicide applied?

(4kg/ac will always make for a hungry crop too)

 

[Derrick Hughes]

at the risk of hijacking the thread....whats wrong with mine View attachment 984914


better where they've been sheltered....125kg/ac of 20/10/10....samson at 4kg/ac

View attachment 984915

Has it had a lot of rain or surface water , brasicas will not do if it's wet ,also 4kg acre is far to thick, at least double to think , if you don't mind me saying