Planting Purple Top Turnip for deer
Brassica rapa
Deer hit this hard. That is the point.
- Seeding rate
- 5 to 8 lb
- per acre, broadcast
- Minimum plot
- 1 acre
- smaller gets browsed out
- Plant
- Mid to late summer, 60 to 90 days before first frost
Rates are broadcast figures. Drilling runs roughly a third lower. These are starting points from extension guidance and have not yet been re-checked against a second source per record, so treat them as indicative and soil test before you buy seed.
About Purple Top Turnip
The classic late-season brassica. Deer largely ignore the tops until a hard frost converts starch to sugar, then hit them heavily, and dig the bulbs through winter once the tops are gone. That timing is the whole point and the commonest mistake. Planted too early it bolts and goes woody; planted too late it never bulbs. The window is 60 to 90 days before your average first frost, which for most of the north means late July into mid August. The second mistake is scale. Brassicas do not regrow from grazing the way clover does, so a small plot under pressure is stripped and finished. One acre is a realistic floor and this is the wrong crop for a quarter-acre opening. The third is repetition. Brassicas in the same ground year after year build up club root and other soil pathogens. Rotate them, ideally on a three-year cycle. Broadcast at 5 to 8 lb per acre. The seed is very small and very easy to over-sow, and a thick stand produces small bulbs.
Soil and care
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7.5
- Drainage
- Well drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Maintenance
- Moderate
Similar to Purple Top Turnip
Other food plot forages with the same deer rating.
- Cereal RyeSecale cerealeZones 3–9Frequently damaged
- Crimson CloverTrifolium incarnatumZones 5–9Frequently damaged
- Forage ChicoryCichorium intybusZones 3–9Frequently damaged
- Forage OatsAvena sativaZones 5–9Frequently damaged
- Forage RadishRaphanus sativusZones 3–9Frequently damaged
- Forage SoybeansGlycine maxZones 5–10Frequently damaged
Protecting Purple Top Turnip
Deer will destroy this without protection, so the question is which kind you are willing to pay for.
- How tall a deer fence needs to beEight feet, and six is the most common expensive mistake in deer fencing.
- What a deer fence costsMaterial ratios are stable even when prices are not, and installation reliably doubles the figure.
- Repellent that actually worksThe egg-based recipe that reproduces the active ingredient in the commercial sprays that win university trials.
- Check it is actually deerDeer tear and leave a ragged stub. A clean 45-degree cut is rabbits, and slug holes get blamed on deer constantly.
Where Purple Top Turnip grows
Hardy across most of these 51 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering.
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- New York
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
- Washington
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Utah
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- District of Columbia
- Hawaii
Browse from here
Every list Purple Top Turnip belongs to.
Hardy in these zones
Common questions about Purple Top Turnip
- What is the seeding rate for Purple Top Turnip?
- Broadcast 5 to 8 lb per acre. Drilled rates run roughly a third lower. Soil test before buying seed, because pH matters more to the outcome than the rate does.
- When should I plant Purple Top Turnip?
- Mid to late summer, 60 to 90 days before first frost. It is a cool-season crop, so the window is set by your average first frost rather than by the month.
- How big does a Purple Top Turnip plot need to be?
- About 1 acre as a realistic floor. Below that, deer graze the crop faster than it establishes and you get bare ground instead of forage. Local deer density moves this number more than anything else.
- Do deer actually eat Purple Top Turnip?
- Frequently Severely Damaged on the Rutgers scale, which measures how heavily deer damage a plant. On an ornamental that is a warning. On a food plot crop it is the specification.
- What hardiness zones does Purple Top Turnip grow in?
- Purple Top Turnip is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9. Outside that range it will either not survive winter or will struggle with summer heat.