Radishes need grow in the cool weather.

duan, it's officially summer but here weather is still late spring - night/day temps have reached from 5/15C (40/60F). It's been a particularly cool spring, too. I planted the radishes over a month ago when it was chilly...The leaves are nice and healthy, and no sign of bolting. Just no bulbs, as usual...

Sandy soil can have an exceptional amount of drainage. You may need to add peat or some other amendment as a moisture retainer to keep the soil evenly moist for your radishes. And yes, they are a cool weather crop so plant for the fall or early spring.

Check with your state's Extension Service. Each county should have it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking. They can also tell you the average last frost date for your area and ideal planting times for specific crops and varieties in your area.

The following two images are excerpts from the Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri (download the pdf complete with spring and fall planting dates, how much to plant per person, etc. Just call up the office in your county. Look under the "Government" section (usually blue pages) of your phone book under "Extension". They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area from data they've collected from growing those crops in your state.

Violet

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Those are nice charts Violet, thanks. We don't have Extension services here. There used to be an equivalent in Nova Scotia but it was cut back some years ago, and elusive ever since. Still having a hard time finding specific information about radish requirements but will keep looking. More organic matter is all I can think of.

are you growing the radishes in raised rows? most radishes need room to grow down into, sandy soil piled high should be perfect... or did you happen to buy leaf radish seed?

For some reason I'm not getting notified of posts on the forums, thus the delay in replying. AliKuro I wondered the same thing - that's just how they look, radishes grown for leaves. Our soil is fine for growing beets and carrots - so why not radishes?

PaulNS

hope you don't plow them under because radish leaves are delicious! just dice and add salt,leave a few days in fridge and you've got a great side dish,

or you can add soy sauce, diced garlic, red pepper, let sit a few days in refrigerator, and you've got another great side dish...

mmm sounds good - thanks for the tip!

All tops and no bottoms is a common problem with radishes. The usual causes are:

1. Excessive nitrogen fertilizer.

2. Not enough hours of sun.

3. Magnesium deficiency.

4. Not a steady supply of moisture.

Sandy soil should work well, except it is more difficult to maintain the correct levels of nutrients and moisture. A little epsom salts will cure a magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium deficiency - we've had symptoms of that with other vegetables. I'll try the epsom salts. And watering regularly, whether they seem to need it or not.

I just pulled all my radishes, they were starting to grow flowers and still had no bulbs. A few had some bulbs but were tough and not edible. Will try posted suggestions when fall comes near.

According to some catalogs, radishes of the "red meat type" are supposed to be sown in fall for a winter crop. If sown in spring, it will bolt and not produce a large root. That is my experience with "misato rose". When I sowed in spring, I got wonderful edible flowers, seed pods (small "rat tails") and rapini-like shoots. I sowed some last october or early november and got some "small" roots. Surprisingly, what roots I got were elongated (almost icicle or daikon like) rather than spherical. I think I will have to try for September or October sowing.

If anyone knows of a watermelon type radish that can be sown in spring or any time of year, I would be interested.

Years ago I read in an organic gardening magazine that radishes planted around a cucumber plant would prevent cucumber beetles from infesting the plant. Don't know that this helped the cucumbers any, but I distinctly remember that it was the best crop of radishes I ever had!

Paul NS,
From the Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture and Marketing:
Atlantic Vegetable Production--Radish:
http://www.nsac.ns.ca/lib/apascc/acv/production/radish.htm

I'd also be cautious of guessing about adding things like epsom salts. It may be a short term solution and make you feel better but for optimum results,
contact the Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture and ask them where you can have your soil tested. The results will show you exactly what you need to do to amend your soil. Testing in my state was less than $12 and results lasts three to five years. Completely worth it. No guessing, no buying and adding things you don't need and wasting money you don't have to.

The most important issue as mentioned above for root crops such as radishes is consistent moisture and cool temps. Again, sandy soil is only good if you have ammended it with peat so that the peat keeps moisture so that is is readily available to the plant. Only sand will not work because water will drain out of the sand so moisture will not be constantly available for the plant.

More info:
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/radish1.html

I read a post the other day on how tea was helpful in preventing root maggots in radishes. Maybe this will help with your fall crop:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/frugal/msg0323332415768.html

An update on this radish business: we planted red meat radish yet again (hope springs eternal) in our new garden patch, which is loamier than the rest, in late September. We forgot about them, checked on them in November, and were able to harvest immense (3") globe-shaped beauties for the next month. It's a treat to have fresh vegetables when snow is on the ground. So they do prefer fall, apparently, and maybe that loamier soil. Plus it was a very rainy fall.

Keep a few in the ground and eat the pods when they are tender. A large radish will make a huge bush covered with lovely flowers. Be careful, bees love radish flowers. I do to they are like sweet radish broccoli. If that makes any sense at all.

Paul,

Thanks for letting us know the results of your radish growing. It's very nice to hear that you succeeded and what you believe to be the solution. I have grown them with mixed results, sometimes terrific, sometimes lousy. I'm hoping for great crops this year. I enjoy eating radishes.

Jim

Jim, thanks go to this forum for suggesting it! Good luck with your next crop.
Negi we left some in the ground so will hopefully have blossoms and pods to try this spring. I tried arugula blossoms for the first time this summer and they were exquisite.

They sell some radish just for podding, but to me the black spanish and the daikons are the best for pods.

Watermelon-size radish is called "sakurajima radish." Some web sites say it gets to 100 pounds! Supposed to be a "fall radish." I think it's interesting! They offer it in the 2006 "Burgess Seed & Plant Co." catalogue for $1.50 ... only problem is their shipping is a flat rate of $7.95.

There are some other huge daikon radishes, too, also interesting. I love radishes!

> negi
> They sell some radish just for podding, but to me the black spanish and the daikons are the best for pods.

"Podding"? Are you meaning for transplanting? If yes, don't get them. It is best not to transplant any root crop like radishes, carrots, parsnips, etc. Always start from seed. Put them where you want them and don't move them.