No bags. I have about four plastic dustbins and used to have a zafira, which could take an enormous load. And many trips to the tip, about three miles away.
Garden chipper/shredder
- Thread starter annedonnelly
- Start date
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Earlier this year I had to deal with a very overgrown varied hedge (Field Maple, dogwood, hazel, etc.) most branches being 1" to 2" diam a few 2+"" but nothing above 3".
I looked at the "domestic" ones and realised they/d not be up to the job.
Ended up hiring a petrol one (Timberwoolf max 3") https://www.jewson.co.uk/p/pro-3-chipper-JTH06542 which coped but did struggle on occasions. Did all the cutting first then hired chipper and was running chipper for 2 days. That model seems fairly standard and available from lots of different hire places. You will need them to deliver (even with a trailed you'd need a few people to get it up a ramp.. I struggled just pulling it across the grass to the piles of cuttings, heavy petrol machine yet although it says 3" capacity I wouldn't wanted to have done much at that size.
Don't underestimate what the machine has to do. Impossible to comment as so much will depend on quantities, sizes, etc. but from looking at them I think the DIY domestic ones are only going to handle minimal quantities of domestic garden waste.
nb I did had some Leylandii branches but ended-up just leaving them to rot in a wildlife wood pile as doing them would have run into a 3rd day hire charge.
Ian
I looked at the "domestic" ones and realised they/d not be up to the job.
Ended up hiring a petrol one (Timberwoolf max 3") https://www.jewson.co.uk/p/pro-3-chipper-JTH06542 which coped but did struggle on occasions. Did all the cutting first then hired chipper and was running chipper for 2 days. That model seems fairly standard and available from lots of different hire places. You will need them to deliver (even with a trailed you'd need a few people to get it up a ramp.. I struggled just pulling it across the grass to the piles of cuttings, heavy petrol machine yet although it says 3" capacity I wouldn't wanted to have done much at that size.
Don't underestimate what the machine has to do. Impossible to comment as so much will depend on quantities, sizes, etc. but from looking at them I think the DIY domestic ones are only going to handle minimal quantities of domestic garden waste.
nb I did had some Leylandii branches but ended-up just leaving them to rot in a wildlife wood pile as doing them would have run into a 3rd day hire charge.
Ian
OP
OP
annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Canonbie
Apparently it's £1,000 per tree. There are 5 trees. One was supposed to be removed by the estate I bought the house from. I don't think there's much chance of that happening. Their tree guy is still playing catch-up after the storm and I bet this single tree has already dropped off his radar.
The trees are about 40ft tall. We've already filled a transit van twice. And there's a similar sized pile lying in the garden now. And you can't take a van into a waste disposal site.
We'd need to get everything down and then shred it all at once. There's not going to be room in the garden to keep it all before shredding.
Looks like I'll have to continue doing it bit by bit.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
Whilst I have no direct experience of such machines, from my (admittedly uninformed) assessment of what the machines have to do, I rather doubt any DIY level machine is really going to be up to much beyond chopping up clippings or brambles. By way of comparison a diy hammer drill might be fifty quid and a trade rated one double that, but a road drill is going to be a grand or more. I would surmise that you'd want the chipper equivalent of a road drill rather than something that B&Q sells which would push you down the hire route or paying a guy who owns such a machine to do the job for you.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
You say you have no experience of these machines, so how come you're spot on?
OP, get the pros to do what they do best.
- Location
- Glasgow
@annedonnelly I take care of our communal back garden.
The garden had been severely neglected for ever, at some point a laurel hedge had been planted - by the local council, I guess, because it's beyond our boundaries. This never been trimmed hedge is now a mini forest.
This year I am going to tackle it, got myself a mini chainsaw
but just enough to let some sun in.
I will get the professionals do do a proper job when my budget allows.
During lockdown I engaged a tree surgeon to get rid of some mega shrubs and to trim about 4 trees, it was almost £2000!
I did look into domestic wood shredders, but the flimsy ones are no good, plenty of reviews on Amazon, then where to keep it if you buy one?
The more substantial ones: would you be strong enough to move it/operate it? Again, where to store it?
Eventually it will compost.
The garden had been severely neglected for ever, at some point a laurel hedge had been planted - by the local council, I guess, because it's beyond our boundaries. This never been trimmed hedge is now a mini forest.
This year I am going to tackle it, got myself a mini chainsaw
but just enough to let some sun in.I will get the professionals do do a proper job when my budget allows.
During lockdown I engaged a tree surgeon to get rid of some mega shrubs and to trim about 4 trees, it was almost £2000!
I did look into domestic wood shredders, but the flimsy ones are no good, plenty of reviews on Amazon, then where to keep it if you buy one?
The more substantial ones: would you be strong enough to move it/operate it? Again, where to store it?
Keep the wood chips: a thick layer of cardboard, a thick layer of wood chips on top, kept my area clear of weeds for 3 years. And you can plant on the area right away.
That's what I do with garden waste too thick for the compost pile.
Eventually it will compost.
MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
...
We'd need to get everything down and then shred it all at once. There's not going to be room in the garden to keep it all before shredding.
Looks like I'll have to continue doing it bit by bit.
I have a similar issue with the ivy on my back wall. Cutting back only a 5th of it created two 'ton' bags of just the leafy bits and about a cubic meter of branches which I'll spend a day burning... then it's onto the next section. It's gonna take all summer.
Unless you get a industrial grade chipper you will spend your life doing it. You have to weigh up time spent against paying a professional tree surgeon.
Me and the Mrs spent several days chipping hedgerow we had cut back after it got over grown.
There was so many 1 ton bag of chippings it nearly killed us. The chipper was very big but just kept clogging on the green leafy material.
I would suggest you let the cuttings dry and turn brown before attempting to chip them yourself
Have fun
Me and the Mrs spent several days chipping hedgerow we had cut back after it got over grown.
There was so many 1 ton bag of chippings it nearly killed us. The chipper was very big but just kept clogging on the green leafy material.
I would suggest you let the cuttings dry and turn brown before attempting to chip them yourself
Have fun
Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
Electric shredders are fine for small stuff, but truly hopeless for anything bigger than half an inch in diameter. Woody stems are best chipped green as it's softer, but the small stuff is best left to dry first, or it just gums up the works.
My shredder rarely gets used. It was a good idea in theory, but in practice, it's more hassle than what it's worth. That said, I *did* buy it before ECDC issued everyone with a garden waste wheelie bin, and now most of the small stuff / clippings ends up in there. Green bin will take up to 3cm diameter branches, but anything that size or bigger tends to get kept to feed the heating.
Failing that, I just dump stuff under the hedge / trees and leave things to dry / rot down. Though I know not everyone has that option.
My shredder rarely gets used. It was a good idea in theory, but in practice, it's more hassle than what it's worth. That said, I *did* buy it before ECDC issued everyone with a garden waste wheelie bin, and now most of the small stuff / clippings ends up in there. Green bin will take up to 3cm diameter branches, but anything that size or bigger tends to get kept to feed the heating.
Failing that, I just dump stuff under the hedge / trees and leave things to dry / rot down. Though I know not everyone has that option.
Gillstay
Veteran
I have a small electric chipper and have just removed a leylandii that was in the wires overhead. I did it mid winter so the branches were brittle and chipper better. Got big Stihl loppers and cut through each branch where it was at the limit the chipper would take and stacked the rest.
That way it was quite fast to work as the chipper is going full on. Always stack stuff but end on to the chipper and get a good stack before you start. I haven't bothered to take out the stump as it will rot down quickly. Good luck. My S/H chipper cost £20 but I got lucky.
That way it was quite fast to work as the chipper is going full on. Always stack stuff but end on to the chipper and get a good stack before you start. I haven't bothered to take out the stump as it will rot down quickly. Good luck. My S/H chipper cost £20 but I got lucky.
Time Waster
Veteran
We have this too. Works well but you have to keep an eye on the box at the bottom.. Everything falls from one side and you have to wiggle the whole thing to spread it out or the shredder cuts out thinking the box is full.
When that happens you might have to turn the power up and open up the top of the shredder to remove a blockage. If you have to do this do watch the blades. They cut flesh cleanly but hurts a lot!
It is a very good home shredder.
Btw we had three big trees cut down and a large copper beech had the lower branches cut too. There were two very large leylandii trees with stumps about 50cm or greater in diameter.
Getting a pro in van cost. I think ours had the cheapest quote of about £1500-2000 if we had the waste removed. That was without removing the stumps!
We did a lot of hard work but then took a year long break or longer. There's still some branches left to shred but it's in the upper wild garden so not a big issue. Our garden is on a steep hill so it was really hard work bringing the branches down and shredding them then getting the waste away.
One or two tips. Leylandii shreds make a good weed suppressing mulch. Not great for plants you want I think but our garden is a little wild so there's a few native woodland things around and once removed the mulch stops regrowth for awhile.
If you plan to compost Leylandii shreds then make sure they're small such as this Bosch one produces. Then make sure a lot of green waste goes in too. You can get powder stuff that helps with composting too. AIUI nitrogen is an issue with brown waste like shreds and leylandii is possibly worse than most other tree chips.
Do not rush the job. It is hard work and we went at it great guns but burnt out. Slow and steady gets it done but just rushing into long sessions isn't great for keeping it going.
How big are the leylandii trees btw?
Time Waster
Veteran
Our Bosch shredder cuts through inch or thicker if careful. However we tended on cutting out the thicker branches and they're in a habitat pile in the top, wild garden against the boundary. Good for nature and it's so high it gives privacy while the laurel bushes thicken up behind.
Leylandii we found tends to be smaller branch thicknesses than the beech branches, the Holly and the hawthorn that also got taken out or thinned. It's the way it grows I reckon. So if mostly leylandii the Bosch shredder will be enough.
Pros cost a lot. That just for cutting without removal. To include branch removal you're going to double the already high price. More so if you want stump removal too. In fact some won't touch the stump if they cannot get heavy machinery access. Ours is not the garden for heavy machinery and being a big, steep garden anything involving waste removal was just prohibitedly expensive. At least our time is free and we fit the work around our life.
I think the OP is doing things right. Remove a bit, then shred with a good one like the Bosch. Then remove that day's chippings / removals. Cut, shred, remove and leave the day's jobsite clean after each session. That would be my advice if doing it yourself.
We got a pro to cut down so had it all to do and that overfaced us.
Leylandii we found tends to be smaller branch thicknesses than the beech branches, the Holly and the hawthorn that also got taken out or thinned. It's the way it grows I reckon. So if mostly leylandii the Bosch shredder will be enough.
Pros cost a lot. That just for cutting without removal. To include branch removal you're going to double the already high price. More so if you want stump removal too. In fact some won't touch the stump if they cannot get heavy machinery access. Ours is not the garden for heavy machinery and being a big, steep garden anything involving waste removal was just prohibitedly expensive. At least our time is free and we fit the work around our life.
I think the OP is doing things right. Remove a bit, then shred with a good one like the Bosch. Then remove that day's chippings / removals. Cut, shred, remove and leave the day's jobsite clean after each session. That would be my advice if doing it yourself.
We got a pro to cut down so had it all to do and that overfaced us.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Burning stuff is not an option open to everyone.
I have some friends who live out in the countryside and they have regular bonfires of stuff they cut from their hedges etc, no problem. But if you live in an urban or suburban area, then it's a no-no.
For a start it's antisocial, so common sense should tell you not to do it. But if the "don't be a dick" rule doesn't apply to you there's always the Environmental Protection Act 1990 https://www.gov.uk/garden-bonfires-rules
I have some friends who live out in the countryside and they have regular bonfires of stuff they cut from their hedges etc, no problem. But if you live in an urban or suburban area, then it's a no-no.
For a start it's antisocial, so common sense should tell you not to do it. But if the "don't be a dick" rule doesn't apply to you there's always the Environmental Protection Act 1990 https://www.gov.uk/garden-bonfires-rules
