Turnips - SARE

Brassica rapa (Brassicaceae or cabbage family)

Production

Soil preparation

Turnips should follow after other cole crops.
A soil test will determine how much compost to apply.
Spread lime as needed to increase both the pH and Ca levels. Dolomite lime will also increase Mg levels. Spread gypsum when calcium levels are low but pH is correct.
If compost does not contain enough K, it can be added by the fertilizer company in the form of potassium sulfate.
Test for boron and apply only as recommended by the soil test. A fertilizer company can add boron to compost to optimize boron distribution. If this isn’t an option, distribute soluble boron through a water solution with a sprayer directly on the soil. If applied directly on the crop, don’t exceed more than 1 lb. of boron per acre to avoid leaf burn.
Plant turnips in raised beds.
Jang, Sutton Jr. or Planet Jr. planters in combination with small seeds like turnips don’t perform well with plant matter on the soil surface, so avoid planting them after tall green manures.
Turnips require a fine and firm seedbed. Prepare the land a few weeks in advance to provide the opportunity for some initial weed control via shallow cultivation or flaming.
Alternatively, place a silage tarp over the prepared and irrigated seedbed 3–5 weeks in advance of the seeding date (depending on the time of year). This will flush many annual weed seeds and reduce weed pressure. Remove the tarp when the weeds have died.

Common recommended fertilizer rates¹

Nitrogen	Phosphorus	Potassium	pH
60	0-125	0-200	6.0-6.4
¹Rates are for New York and are from Cornell University’s Nutrient Guidelines for Commercial Vegetable Production (2019). Check the Cornell website for updated guidelines, or consult with local experts for recommended rates outside New York.

Varieties

New Jersey variety trial
Hakurei or Tokyo market are good for bunched turnips.
Purple Top White Globe is good for winter storage.

Direct seeding information

Seeder	Rows	Seeds per foot	Seed plate no.	Depth (inches)	Sprocket setting	Notes
Planet Jr.	3	35	1–2	2		Only use a regular shoe.
Sutton Jr.	3	12	96 H 1.0	1/4-1/2	See Notes	Sprocket 22-17 for storage turnips
Jang	5	12-24	YX 24 or YYJ 24		See Notes	Sprocket: Front 14/rear 10 for bunched turnips; Front 10/rear 13 for storage turnips

Number of successions

Spring: Avoid growing turnips during hot and dry weather. Plant turnips as one of your earliest crops in the field. Depending on your markets, plant each week for continuous harvest from spring into early summer. This is limited to 2–3 successions in New York.
Fall: Turnips perform well as a fall crop. In New York, we resume seeding or planting in August on a weekly basis, and stop 4–5 weeks before the first frost. This gives a continuous harvest until November. Don’t plant storage turnips before mid-August, or they can get oversized.

Cultivation procedures

Use a basket weeder or wheel hoe when weeds are in the white thread stage, without burying the young crop. Weed control is more effective when you eliminate weeds before they emerge.
Use spring hoes in combination with side knives for a second cultivation.
Hand weeding isn’t always needed, as turnips grow quickly and shade out in-row weeds.

Insect protection

Control black rot (Xanthomonas) by purchasing clean seeds, keeping the greenhouse clean and exposing seed to hot water treatment. Some organic seed suppliers hot treat their seeds, so check with them before applying your own treatment, as double treatment can affect germination.
Flea beetles
- Cover the crop with floating row covers or insect netting before emergence to avoid flea beetle damage. Keep covered until harvest. Alternatively, use a spinosyn-based product like Entrust.
- Fall-planted turnips don’t need any protection after the third generation of flea beetles, which is around September 1 in the Northeast. If possible, follow Extension bulletins that publish the timing of each generation of flea beetles, or place yellow sticky cards at plant height to monitor their presence. Check the cards at least twice a week.
- Spray beneficial nematodes on heavily infected land to control flea beetle grubs and to avoid future generations. Flea beetles tend to overwinter in nearby hedgerows and grass strips.
Scout for the eggs of imported cabbage worms or diamondback moths on the underside of leaves. When the small-worm population is over 2 per plant, spray a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt aizawai or Bt kurstaki) product, such as XenTari, or a spinosyn-based product, such as Entrust, every week until the population is under control. Alternate your spraying schedule by using Bt products along with a spinosyn-based product to avoid resistance buildup.
Check the soil for wireworms, as a high population can make turnips unmarketable. To avoid wireworm damage, rotate with crops like onions, lettuce or alfalfa, or include buckwheat as a cover crop the previous year. Some results have been obtained using beneficial entomopathogenic nematodes. Promising results have also been obtained applying Beauveria bassiana.
You can prevent cutworms by spraying the soil with the beneficial nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Once the pest is in the crop, control the population by spraying the crop with Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, or spread a baited product containing spinosyn, like Seduce, around the plants.
Cabbage maggots: To reduce cabbage maggot infestations on young seedlings, cover them with floating row covers or insect netting, as you would for flea beetles. Maggots appear in 3–4 generations in the Northeast, starting in early spring.

Other cultural practices

Irrigate frequently for optimum yield and plant health. Frequency depends on soil type, evaporation, precipitation and the particular needs of the crop.

Double cropping and/or cover cropping

You can plant fall lettuce or spinach after early-planted turnips.
You can follow a late turnip crop with a cover crop, but don’t incorporate the residue when harvesting in November. This is to avoid winter erosion.

Harvest, Bunching

Yield	Average of ½–1 bunch per row foot
Standards	Harvesting¹ 50–60 bunches per person, per hour
Standards	Washing 100 bunches per person, per hour when washing by hand, and faster when using a conveyor washer
Tools and supplies needed	Rubber bands or twist ties (customer preference may influence this) and plastic 1 ⅓-bushel boxes
¹Harvest rates don't include the time required to transport crops from the field to a wash and pack shed or storage facility.

Ready-to-harvest and quality indicators

Turnips are 2–3 inches wide, with healthy tops for bunching.
Turnips are white (not turning yellow). They have no tunneling or eating damage by cabbage root maggots or wireworm, and no cracks. Leaves are light to dark green, with no yellowing, necrosis or aphids.

Harvest procedures

Pull the larger turnips out of the rows, clean off any dead leaves, and tie 3–5 turnips per bunch. Hold the twist tie tightly next to the stems and twist the bunch. Make sure the tie is tight enough to keep the turnips together during washing.
All bunches should be uniform in size and weigh approximately ¾ lbs.
Don’t make bunches and count them into boxes at the same time, as this can cause mistakes in counting. Instead, leave piles of 4–5 bunches on the bed or in the wheel tracks. Periodically pause to box them to avoid over harvesting. Place all the bunches in the same direction in the box to keep the leaves clean.

Washing procedures

Use a mesh table to wash the turnips. Be careful to keep the nozzle away from leaves as they are very tender. Some growers have connected a valve operated by a foot pedal to a stationary nozzle to free up a hand, which increases efficiency.
Alternatively, use a rinse conveyor washer. Add a sanitizer like hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid to the water in the circulation tank of the rinse conveyor vegetable washer. Use the guide How to Wash Produce Using a Peracetic Acid Solution to establish how much sanitizer solution to add to water. Make sure you use the appropriate pressure on the nozzles to avoid leaf damage.

Additional resources

Production Guide for Storage of Organic Fruits and Vegetables

Packing and storage summary for bunching turnips

Cleaning in the field	Remove dead and yellow leaves from bunches.
Packing in the field	15–20 bunches per plastic 1 ⅓-bushel box. Pack all the roots on just one side of the box so the greens don’t get muddy.
Packing for delivery	15–20 bunches per 1 ⅓-bushel box for a CSA, packed in rows of 5. 24 bunches per 1 ¾-waxed-bushel box. Pack tightly, root to leaf. See the International Federation for Produce Standards for the correct PLU code. Add the prefix 9 for organic crops.
Storage	At 32°–41° and 95–100% humidity. Pack with ice in closed containers for storage longer than a few days.

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.