A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening I planted radishes

Hi, Big Jim here:

Planted some radishes about a month ago. Thinned them out when the 3rd leaf started to form (as the package suggested). Suggesting 28 days to harvest, I picked one andgot nothing but a little bit of root.

Is there some special way to pick them? I mean, if I just pull it up, should a radish come up if it is there, or do I have to dig it out of the ground? I'm having terrible luck with radishes. I thought they were supposed to be easy. :)

Thanks again,

Big Jim

You can't go by the dates. You have to wait until the radish starts breaking the top of the soil. You'll be able to see it coming out of the ground. I've had some plants though that never made a radish, just roots.

That's exactly what has happened to the beets I put out. No beet, just greens and roots.

You should of had radish by now....I had alot of false radish this year also. Makes me wonder if it's from bad seeds.

You should just pull and have them, they pull the easiest of all veggies.

very interesting! I have had some years of great radishes and others of just roots. Never thought of it being bad seed before. Usually blamed it on the weather like to much rain But bad seed sounds like a good reason too

I never thought about bad seeds either. I always thought it had something to do with the soil.

I am so very glad I read this--i will be less harsh on myself in the future--thanks so much

I thought I was the bad seed. Glad to hear it might be my radishes. :) Thanks everyone for the advice. I will give them another couple of days and start looking for those radishes to pop out on top. If I don't see anything, I will uproot them I guess.

Thanks again.

Sounds like a plan JimSlade. Can't wait till I can plant some veggie and watch them grow instead of watching it snow

you know even talking about planting makes me feel warmer--- :wink:

It does doesn't it? Those gardening catalogs will soon be in our mail boxes.

Ya know, I just realized that your in Florida. Cool spring radish varieties will not grow roots if they are planted when it is too hot. You might need a special variety for the heat in your area.

I already have one from Jung I think it is--BUT I think I may pass this year

and just take care of what i already have planted (flowers)

I want this to heal right so I can do what I want from here on out
this resrtiction thing is the pits---I don't want to do it forever after--that is for sure

Same here...I had planned to make two new flower beds in the spring...they are gonna wait til fall now.

That may be the case too BigJim

because of your wedding?

No, surgery Sheri.

We certainly jumped off topic here.

Radishes

radishes--surgery--it's all the same---

I get side tracked easily.

Anway, last spring several people were posting somewhere about having only roots on their radishes. I can't figure out if it's a moisture problem - too little or too much, or light problem or what, but it's never happened to me with radishes. Just with beets.

The only thing I've ever heard of is that the soil is compacted. But I have to say my radishes took much longer than 28 days to finally produce radishes. It could be that the ground needed more amending. My soil isn't very good to begin with. But when I did pull them up they were nice sized. I grew the white radishes.

Before I knew much about veggie gardening other than you put in the plants/seeds and take out the produce--I will say I noticed the condition of the soil mattered when it came to root veggies, especially. If the ground was loose & well watered I did better than if the ground was compact and dryer--

That is a good point! Thank you for that. I will have to reread the labels. I would hope the local Lowes would sell me appropriate seeds though, ha! :)

I'm doing my best to till the land before I plant anything. I hope that helps.

I'm not sure how it works, but you can try growing a cover crop like beans (I just sprinkle mung beans) the roots will add nitrogen from the air into the soil. I think you sut off all the top when it gets 4-6" tall and you till the roots with the soil, but I'm not too sure. The roots will help to loosen the soil as well.

I planted radishes two years ago & got some tiny radishes. The tops grew big, but I got tiny radishes. Maybe I added too much plant food.I can plant 'em from early fall-mid spring.

I've got some to put out now but it's too wet. Hope everyone else is planting theirs too.