# Orchardgrass setting for a JD Van brunt FB



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

I have a John Deere Van Brunt FB drill. I think it's older than I am. 
The seeding chart does not include orchardgrass.
Can anyone tell me what OG is equil to as far as seed size of the setting if I want to put on 12 pounds to the acre?
Thanks, Mark


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## geiselbreth (Feb 21, 2010)

check agrisupply they have calibration cup that should help u out


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Since it's a very old drill, I would just use the lbs per acre recommendation for your seed. Then calculate the seed that is being dropped by the drill at different settings to get to your desired lbs/ac. Here is how I did it.
1. Generate a length number based on wheel rotation. I did 10 wheel rotations and measured the distance from start to stop of 10 wheel rotations to get length.
2. Next I measured the width that the drill covers to get width.
3. Length X Width gives you the area covered in 10 wheel rotations which is converted to a fraction of an acre.
4. Next we jacked up the drill and collected the seed from a few of the drop tubes on the 10 wheel rotations, weighed the seed and averaged that amount, and then multiplied that by the number of drop tubes to get the total lbs dropped in 10 wheel turns.
5. Now we know how much seed is dropped in the area covered that we calculated in the length x width #3.
6. To get lbs dropped per acre we just multiplied the number from #5 out by the fraction from #3 to get the total in the acre. 
I think...


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

majacoby2003 said:


> I have a John Deere Van Brunt FB drill. I think it's older than I am.
> The seeding chart does not include orchardgrass.
> Can anyone tell me what OG is equil to as far as seed size of the setting if I want to put on 12 pounds to the acre?
> Thanks, Mark


Orchard Grass is similar in size to Fescue, with Orchard Grass being slightly smaller. Reducing opening size of Fescue setting by 10-15% will get you close for Orchard Grass.

Regards, Mike


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## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

Mike,
This drill's charts for this JD Van Brunt model "FB" doesn't have Fescue listed either. What I did find funny is the chart list Johnson Grass! Most people try to get rid of johnson grass. Does anyone know if Johnson grass and orchard grass seed is the same size?

Mulberry Grove farm,
I did the calabration mention for Teff a few years ago with this drill. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go that route again with the Orchard grass.

Thanks, Mark


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## mulberrygrovefamilyfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

Majacoby
Have you run a sample to check to see if the chart is still valid for the drill? I ended up having to do the calibration with every seed because when I ran the original sample it was off from what the chart said. I'm sure it was because of the age of the drill, wear and tear and the setting arms getting bent etc. So I had to run it for everything. Those old Van Brunt's usually work pretty good even after 40 or 50 years of service if they're kept out of the rain. Good luck.


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## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

Chris,
Good point! I will have to run the test with the OG and come up with the setting. 
Thanks, Mark


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