Van Brunt drill for soybeans

My friend and I are going to plant soybeans next year. He has an old John Deere Van Brunt grain drill we are going to use.
Looking for advice on settings, and meetering of seed. Also do you broadcast fertilizer with this type of planter, or is it mixed with the seed?
Any info is greatly appreciated.

Can't help with the settings, but don't mix fertilizer with the soybean seed. Best to broadcast dry in the fall to better disperse the salt content. If liquid not much concern, except that it is more expensive.

The fertilizer distibution depends on the type of spouts your drill has. My JD VanB model B has a fertilizer attachment that sends the stuff down the same tube as the seed; they mix together just below the fluted feed. Other options had separate tubes for the fertilizer and it dropped in just behind the seed. You have to be careful with applying directly with the seed as to much nitrogen can hurt germination. As said, a separate trip to broadcast the fertilizer would probably be your best bet.
As for the drill settings, there should be a chart under the grain box lid with the information you need.

if I remember right on a 6 inch spaced drill about 2 soybeans a foot

just out of curiosity what kind of fertilizer are you planning to apply? The seed bag will have a chart on the back that will tell you how many seeds you should have in a foot based upon your row spacing.

I calibrated my VB drill for corn once, by jacking up a wheel, turning it ten turns with the drill in plant mode and counted the seed, I found 2% of the small flat seed crushed. I'd try that with beans before I decided to plant beans with it.

A real planter counts beans a whole lot more accurately unless its a JD with bean cups. And with the high price of today's bean seed, that's important.

Gerald J.

I plant about 30 acres of beans with a Van Brunt drill every year. I use duct tape to cover every other feed run to get 14" rows. Seed dealer should tell you recommended population, and the bags should tell you seeds/#, figure out where to set it from charts on the lid of the drill. Plant them a little heavier than recommended. Chris

If you're planting beans with the Van brunt drill, you have to open up the seed door, to get the gate wide enough to let the seed pass without damage. you remove the seed tube, by lifting up on the little lever, that hangs on the side of the seed tube, at the top. Once you have the seed tube off and dangling, you will see the seed door, its about 1-1/4" square, with a lever that pivots in the center, and indexes into little notches, on the right and left sides of the box. There are 2 notches on one side and 1 on the other. You want to open the door to the second notch for most beans, third for bigger beans. You also want to crank up the the depth adjustment to near its shallowest. you want to see a been or two, as you drive along, or you got it too deep. Also important is to have the drill hitched right, too high in front, and you fill the seed tubes up with dirt, too low, and you plant too shallow. A good tip would be to get the manual for the drill you have, serial and model # is on one of the side end plates, mother deere can get you a reprint of the manual, or go to a steam and gas show, and find the manual seller, these were common drills. I never put fert out with beans, they don't need it, unless you have very poor soil. I did always inoculate the seed, though.

The hitch should be set at the height that will make the hitch frame level when being pulled.