key growing information

Growing Turnips: How to Sow, Care for & Harvest

How to grow turnips: frost tolerance and soil, direct sowing for small or large roots, seeding rates, pest protection, harvest timing and storage.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Turnips - Key Growing Information

Freshly harvested and washed, red and white summer turnip varieties, lying side by side.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Brassica rapa

CULTURE:

Turnips handle moderate frost and like fertile soil that drains well, with a pH between 6.0 and 7.5.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

Counted from direct sowing.

DIRECT SEEDING:

Sow from early spring to late summer, ¼–½" deep in a 2–4" band in rows 12–18" apart. For small turnips, space seeds 1" apart (about 35 per foot); for bigger ones, 2" apart at half that rate.

AVG. DIRECT SEEDING RATE:

At 35 seeds per foot in 18" rows: about 320' per oz., 3.1 oz. per 1,000', or 5⅔ lb. per acre.

INSECT PESTS:

Floating row covers put on at sowing time keep insects such as flea beetles and root maggots off the crop.

HARVEST:

Small turnips about the size of a radish can be pulled after roughly 30 days, and full-size roots take about 40–50 days. Young roots are the smoothest.

STORAGE:

With greens attached, turnips keep 10–14 days at 32°F (0°C) and 95% relative humidity. Purple Top White Globe turnips dug in fall can be topped and kept 4–6 months at 32–40°F (0–4°C) and 90–95% relative humidity.

SEEDS/LB. (AVG.):

See each variety.

PACKET:

400 seeds per packet, enough for about 11'.