[AT] OT Daikon or Tillage Radish

Sun Sep 2 12:09:37 PDT 2012

Cecil part of our farm is a sand hill.  Back when I was a kid a guy in town 
was in the chicken business and he offered to haul the chicken manure he had 
to dispose of to our sand hill.  He and
my dad figured it would help the land.  Well when they hauled it they didn't 
spread it as my dad thought they would.  Instead they dumped it in dump 
truck load size piles scattered all over.
We had no way to spread it so it sat there in mounds for years as we slowly 
tried to work it down.  The only thing it helped grow was common bermuda 
grass which spread like wild fire
and our little tractor couldn't manage it.  Back then there was nothing (we 
knew of) to spray it with.  That stuff nearly ruined that part of the farm.

Finally after my dad had died I started leasing the place to farmers with 
bigger tractors and they were able to at least get it knocked down flat and 
get the grass spread around some.  The only
thing that ever got the farm cleaned up was when, in the early 80's and 
after 25 years,  I leased the place to a cotton farmer.  If you ever want 
weeds and grass cleaned up on your farm put it in
cotton!  That boy got killed in a wreck and only farmed the place about 4 
years but by the time he was gone (literally) there wasn't a weed or blade 
of grass of any kind in any field on the place.
I hope you get along better with chicken litter than we did.  Of course for 
pasture it's fine because it just adds more grass!

Thanks for mentioning those radishes.  I have the info bookmarked in my 
computer and logged in my brain.  It might come in handy some day.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Cecil R Bearden
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 1:35 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] OT Daikon or Tillage Radish

Yes that is the radish.   It is a Daikon I found after some research.
Thanks...    I found some in 50lb bags at a seed company about 25 miles
away.   Of course they were sold out and I have to wait a couple of
weeks to get it.  I will just mix it in with the wheat seed in the
drill.   It is about time to sow wheat here, if we want any winter
pasture.  I wanted to sow this to break up the ground without having to
run the deep subsoiler.  No-till is great, but you have to break up the
ground every 5 years or so if you pasture it.  The soil gets packed.
This radish is supposed to break up the ground with the roots, and then
when it decomposes from the frost it produces some organic matter it
also brings nutrients from below to the surface, however, there are not
a lot of nutrients down below in that sterile ground!!!   Just some of
the hype I guess!  The seed costs $130 for a 50lb bag, and they
recommend about 8 to 12 lbs per acre.  That is $20 to $30/acre.  I am
going to try to use about 4lbs and see what happens.  It will provide
some forage for the sheep and with the ground we have, anything will
help.  I spread chicken litter at the rate of 1 ton per acre for 2 years
in a row.  It was about $65 per acre for that...   The only way to break
even is to pasture and get the gain on cattle.

Thanks to everyone for your input..

Cecil in OKla

On 9/1/2012 8:25 PM, Dave Rotigel wrote:
> Is this the seed that you are looking for Cecil? See: 
> http://www.hancockseed.com/application-area-239/wildlife-food-plot-seed-297/food-plot-greens-brassicas-299/daikon-radish-seed-5-lb-bag-487.html
> Dave
> PS, See also: 
> http://www.google.com/search?q=japanees+raddish&sugexp=chrome,mod=8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=japanees+raddish+seeds&oq=japanees+raddish+seeds&gs_l=serp.3...4863.6561.0.7038.6.6.0.0.0.0.148.773.0j6.6.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.CjpaRN10xCA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=8fd5d4d51e4d6935&biw=1381&bih=841
>
> On Sep 1, 2012, at 9:00 PM, Ivan wrote:
>
>> I always knew it as japanese radish ,they do get really big .A couple
>> foot long . A family friend was Japanese ,  she would always grate them
>> and serve in soy sauce . Hopefully next vacation will be to visit her
>> and get some real oriental food !
>>   I have seen them in seed catalogs before for gardening ,buy not in
>> large quanity . Ivan
>>    On 9/1/2012 10:37 AM, Cecil R Bearden wrote:
>>> Anyone heard of this radish or where I can buy seed in quantity at a
>>> reasonable price?.   In Oklahoma, it is foreign...    This vegetable has
>>> a tap root that can go below the plow pan in the soil and prevent me
>>> from wearing out my antique tractors to plow the ground up.  It also
>>> brings nutrients from below to the surface when it decomposes.    Really
>>> too good to be true, but if I don't try it , I will never know.   I have
>>> resolved to try the new stuff that I could never get my Dad to try out.
>>>
>>> Cecil in OKla
>>>
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