Shop-Built Sidedresser Converted From Sprayer Allows Split Applications

Two functions are better than one, thought Matt Hubers, who was already pulling a fertilizer trailer behind his planter. If he could sidedress with that trailer, too, then it would be possible to do split applications.  

“I bought a used three-point sprayer at an auction. I took everything off and mounted coulters on it. Now I can hook that trailer behind it and sidedress fertilizer in the early summer,” he explains. Formerly, all the fertilizer went down in the spring at planting.   

Hubers also moved the pump from the planter to the trailer along with the rate controller and the section-control valves, “so the sidedresser is as capable as the planter of doing variable-rate prescriptions,” he points out.  

He estimates that his total investment involved:

• $7,000 for the bar, plumbing, and brand-new coulters.
• 60 to 70 labor hours. 

Features of the sidedresser include:

• Fully variable-rate capable: It’s possible to execute variable-rate prescriptions with the sidedresser.  
• Shared connections: Sidedresser and planter hook up the same to fertilizer trailer. 
• Three-section, 15-row 30-inch: Controller will shut off five rows at a time to prevent overlap.
• Low cost: Total expense was $7,000 vs. cost of a new or used machine. 

More about matt hubers

Farm operation: Near Platte, South Dakota, Hubers and his dad, Dennis, grow row crops on 1,500 acres. They also have 275 head of Angus cattle.  

Family: Hubers and his wife, Rachelle, have two daughters and a son. Regan is 14, son Hayden is 11, and Brooklyn is 9. 

Project: Last summer he bought a utility box and is now looking for a ¾-ton pickup frame to go under it.   

Classic cars: A 1969 GMC pickup is the favorite of all the vehicles Hubers has restored. “That’s the one me and the missus like to drive around,” he says.