Turnip Seeds

There is a great range in the types and maturity times of turnips. Tankard shaped varieties are suited to dairy and beef operations as they are often easily pulled out during grazing. Globe shaped types generally hold better in the ground and can be used for sheep as well as cattle. Maturity ranges from 10 – 12 weeks for vigorous, quick yielding summer types, through to over 16 weeks for slower-growing, but higher yielding keeper types typically used for grazing in autumn and winter.

Summer Turnips: 2 – 3 kg/ha

 

Keeper Turnips

Summer turnips such as Dynamo reach their yield potential over a relatively quick 10 – 12 weeks and will typically continue to grow and retain quality to a degree
up to 14 – 16 weeks, especially under mild conditions and good fertility.

Longer maturity, or “keeper” turnips have a longer growing season requirement with the benefit that they tend to hold their bulb quality well into the later season. Purple turnips such as MPT or Mammoth Purple Top require 16 – 20 weeks to reach their yield potential, and the white fleshed Green globe may require 20 – 24 weeks. 

Keeper type turnips have a significantly harder bulb and should be considered for mature stock classes. They are a very useful type of turnip, although most varieties have been around for decades and we often see less leaf and bulb disease tolerance when compared to modern developments in summer turnips.