question on radishes for brother in law

He has a ton of radishes in his garden, nice big green leaves like this and teeny tiny radishes, how come? he's been to the county extention, they tell him the same thing every year, when he brings his soil sample in, more triple l3 and more lime.

it doesn't do his garden any good though, what can he do to make the radishes bigger and the leaves smaller. he is using mulch on his garden, it's not fresh but not old either. and I told him that would deplete his garden of nutrients, but he said he used the garden lime on there to help. so what can he do to help this situation?

kathy

forgot the picture here it is

Get rid of the "triple 13" would help.

That is offering more N than he needs for a root crop. Putting more Phosphorus and Potassium would do him justice....and preferably doing so via compost or other humusy ingredients, especiallly if the soil is clay-ey.

By the way, too much mulch will inhibit bulb growth too. And no, it won't deplete the nutrients of the soil unless he is tillling it under...if it's on top of the ground it should be okay. As for the lime, that doesn't offer any nutrition at all. It only raises the pH (and will add some calcium/magnesium).

he does till in the mulch but it's tillered in till the garden season is over then it has a year to break down, how does one get the Phosphorus and Potassium to put in their garden? he's always used mulch to help hold in moister and keep out weeds. it didn't seem to bother the radishes last year, he had nice healthy plump radishes, but this year, their tiny like the one in the picture, and huge leaves.

I use ground phosphate rock for phosphorus. Potassium goes in my garden in the form of wood ash but there are also commercial sources. The "triple 13" may supply enough of both of those though unless there have been heavy rains/irrigation which would wash them away. I'm not the least bit familiar with the 'man-made' fertilizers so can't suggest how much he should be using; perhaps the advice of the Ag folks is correct and he just isn't using enough?

It sounds like he must have good friable soil if he tills in all his leaves each Fall and that's great for radishes! It's hard to tell in the pic but if the leaves are pale and yellowish he could use a bit more N. If they show signs of purple underneath they need some phosphorous. Does he ever spray fish emulsion or compost tea? That would help.

Late planting combined with excessive heat will also contribute to the symptoms he is having. Hope he ends up with a good crop. I luv radishes! (Ah yes, a nice radish sammich with rye bread, a dollop of mayo, and some sweet tea! Ain't nuttin' like it!)

If he had good radishes last year it could be weather conditions. I agree with Shoe tho, too much nitrogen can sacrifice root growth. I use 5 -10 -15 on root crops.

Hey Dill...isn't there a "heat tolerant" radish of some kind? Maybe one of the "chinese" types? Some sort of daikon maybe?

I have not found it to be so, Shoe. Daikon simply means radish in Japanese. The type are large long season radishes that we old folks like to call winter radishes. In the Orient they are cooked more so than eaten raw. Grown in the fall in the southern US they can be stored like turnips, or in an area wher the ground does not freeze , just left in the ground and pulled when needed. Unlike spring radishes they get milder with age. But never found one that could stand late June, July. early August.

a radish sandwich LOL yuk, maybe a mater sandwich not radishes LOL

thanks for all the help guys, will pass this info along to my brother in law

That's what it was, Dill..."winter radish". However, I remember sowing seeds of them in the hot summer heat so went to Johnny's to see what they had. It's hard to imagine the seed germing in August, eh? Mercy!
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/detailcat.html?source=&edit_id=383&cat_id=1&parent_id=43&topcatid=1&subcatid=43&subcatid2=471&topname=Vegetable%20Seeds&subname=Radish&subname2=Daikon%2FLong,%20White&ct=comm&level=2&prodname=Miyashige

K_ann...hehehe...laffing at ya! How 'bout a few slim slices of radish on a delish cucumber sammich then!? A little dash of mayo and black pepper? Yumm!

I can usually sow them in last two weeks of August, Sow late collards at the same time.