How I Planted my Beans - Drill vs Corn Planter | Dream Farm w/ Bill Winke 

Thanks Nelson. I sure hope it rains for you there very soon. Watching the national weather maps it sure looked like the rains were hitting everywhere. You are in an unfortunate spot this year, that is for sure. Here's to hoping that changes soon. Have a great day.

Boy I sure hope you get the rain. That will be a nice mix of food plot crops. Good luck with the rain.

Nate that is all good information. I sure notice here that the deer love beans as soon as they pop out (and at all times after - but when they are small they are particularly vulnerable). I have also noticed that some of my free seed didn't do nearly as well as the stuff I bought making me think that those poor performers may have been in storage somewhere for a really long time or possibly in an environment (too moist) that killed some of the seed. Your advice on testing germination is very good on the stuff you are unsure about. Have a great day.

Thanks and same to you. I appreciate the contact. Have a great day.

Good deal. Those turkeys will hammer them once they pop out of the ground too. That can be the worst time for the beans, when it is just the seed coming up out of the ground. If a turkey nips it off then, the plant won't grow. The growing point is above the ground with soybean and if nipped off too soon, it will die.

When I first started planting beans I would disc the ground and then plant both directions with my 2 row AC planter. Four years ago I purchase a 3 pt. tiller and started tilling, broadcasting and harrowing the beans in. This year since I was planting into horribly dry sandy ground I decided I better get the beans in the ground so I went back to using the planter which is on 30-in rows. The ground was loose enough I felt like I could move over 15" and run the last row over without packing the ground too tight. My beans were 3 years old but they sprouted good in a glass in the window so we'll see how this works. Everyone talks about paying big money for food plot seed but I also get mine from the local co-op after planting season is over. The guys normally say just bring them the case of beer but I normally get two cases. Cheap at twice the price😅

Travis, that sounds like a great mix. I like to plant just beans so I can manage the weeds a bit better and then if they fail for whatever reason (drought and/or deer damage), I can rescue them in late July by broadcasting (or even drilling) brassicas (I like the Whitetail Institute Winter-Greens blend) into them. That has worked well for me over the years. Good luck and have a great day.

I appreciate it. I have heard that from other farmers. The agreement is that you cannot harvest the plants. Also, I have gotten a few loads over the years that you would not want to plant because the germination was pretty low. Some of the stuff I got this spring did poorly compared to the stuff I bought. For as few acres as I plant I may just buy my seed next year and not take the risk.

Sometimes it isn't possible to get the job done the way you want so you have to be a little more creative. Good luck.

It is hard to replace beans. I do think that deer love alfalfa as much as beans in the summer, but it isn't quite as useful in the late fall and winter as beans. I am starting to like sorghum with other things planted into the rows. Sorghum doesn't get tall enough to block out all the sunlight if you plant it on 30 inch rows, (36 inch rows would be even better) so you can layer other stuff in there with the sorghum. But, maybe your deer won't take to sorghum. If they do, that would be a good option. I know a lot of people are looking at stuff like buckwheat and even peas but I haven't grown that stuff much so I don't know a lot about it. If it was me, I would rotate to sorghum and annual clover (big fast growing clover) and then no-till beans into it the next spring. That would be my rotation probably if I had limited acres. I do like corn, but it is kind of two dimensional (good for fall and winter but not for spring and summer). Another option is to take part of the plot and plant it to clover or alfalfa and then rotate between corn or sorghum and beans on the rest of the plot. Just a few thoughts. It is hard to completely take beans out of the rotation completely (unless the deer are just wiping them out in the summer) because of how well they draw and feed deer throughout most of the year. Good luck.

It takes almost no pressure to turn that wheel, plus it is spring loaded so it does create a bit of down pressure that helps to create the engagement needed between the teeth on the wheel and the ground to keep it turning.

@@bill-winke Thank you!

If you're in an ag area and you have a local co-op they will have extra seed. They told me they put it in a spreader and they just spread it on fields to get rid of it. Basically beans come in mini bulk (huge bags) these days so you may need your own containers. Test plot beans probably still come in 50 lb bags though. A couple cases of beer takes me all the way and the guys are happy there. You can also store beans or corn for a year or so if you do it in climate control. That way you can plant early next year if you want instead of having to wait until this late.

Nate got it right. I would call three or four people each spring that I know are pretty well connected in the area and ask them if they know of any seed dealers looking to get rid of seed. That is how I find it. Sometimes you get seed that is a year or more old. That is the stuff you have watch as Nate mentioned. Good luck.

You have to just call around, especially late in the planting season. When the seed sits past the original planting season for which it was bagged, the seed dealers often can't sell it because the germination rate will drop below their allowable amount by the next planting season. That is what are looking for. Good luck.

I wait for the beans to get established and then spray to clean up the weeds. I like to wait so the beans stay hidden in the weeds until they can handle the deer browsing.

@@bill-winke thank you very much. What do you do with clover, wheat grasses, and brassicas?

I ended up at around 8 pounds per acre. My target was 10 but by the time I realized I was planting a little light I was close to done. I have planted as much as 12 pounds per acre with a corn planter using sorghum plates, but all the experts seem to agree that 10 pounds is the best for productivity.

@@bill-winke Thank you sir love the content cant wait for the next episode

The drill is an eight footer and the tractor is 85 hp. I think you could get by with a lower horsepower with this drill size, but you will likely need front weights or put something in the loader bucket to keep the front of the tractor down when going up hills.

@@bill-winke thanks