Howdy folks! I’m curious, what have you noticed about radishes?
What conditions do your radishes like best? Especially if you broadcast seeds all over the place, I’m curious what you’ve noticed about their growth habits / habitat preference in your scenario!
I live tucked into a mountain hollow in the blue ridge of Virginia. In August I walked around the land and threw out daikon seeds here and there wherever I thought they might be happy. It is now mid-november and two of those seeds have turned into monster daikon radishes, each well over a foot long and 5 inches thick!
Both of these giant radishes grew up in and among a community of mature weeds, each in a different depression in the landscape. Both have grown in areas that receive direct sun most of the day, and both survived the foraging hunger of ducks, guinea fowl, and chickens!
Have you had any stand-out radishes or radish communities? I’d love to hear their stories!
Not even sure what variety these were because i grew them mainly for pig feed, but they either went straight to flower with no bulbs or got huge and never went to seed we’ve had several freezes here in nw Ohio and what i haven’t fed the pigs is still green and happy.
Well there are the root-type radishes and then the rat-tail type of radishes that are grown for their succulent edible seed pods. Also, some radishes produce very beautiful inflorescences, making them decorative in their own right.
Here in western Illinois, daikon radish seeds are sold in bulk as an agricultural cover crop. Surely those would be good candidates for broadcasting.
The greens might show promise as a cooked vegetable, perhaps to spice up kale.
They can produce a lot of seed which might also be a useful product for oil or food.
I see radishes as a cool season crop, so I would have particular interest in any that continue to prosper after a hard freeze.
multiple times I’ve misplaced or forgotten about my china rose radish plantings and they seem to do well and still taste great/not get pithy no matter the size. They might get sharp but I don’t mind that. I see there are several long red marketed strains now, I’d be curious to compare them/acclimate them in a grex. I’ve found radish seed stores for a very long time in our dry conditions (5yrs+) and I love to sprinkle it randomly in underutilized areas to help cover to control weed spread.
also diatamaceous earth works reasonably well to control for severe pest pressure during a few weeks at the beginning and end of the seasons. I try not to use it and don’t mind “HOLY” (holey) leaves but some years the flea beatles and earwigs will level all my brassicas and using the DE in a targeted fashion to preserve at least some crops has worked well. I’d have to think about that if I pursued a grex/acclimating strains.
I’ve found that spacing isn’t that important, and don’t plant them in my best soil. My best radishes are volunteers from wherever I dropped a random seed