Is a 4" chipper up to the job or is fire the only solution
Discussion
Currently 10% of the way through clearing the above-ground vegetation from our long-neglected garden ahead of a levelling exercise and clearing/digging some foundations for some garden rooms/future extension.
In total there is c100m of overgrowth at anything from 2m to 5m deep. I'm currently clearing the above ground stuff - mostly bushes/self-sown weed trees but we have a lot of stumps which will be dug out with a 1.5t excavator in due course. Although I've barely scratched the surface my pile of cuttings is already massive.
Historically I'd have burnt it in situ but feel that with a lot more to go and living in the London suburbs I should probably get a chipper in. Looking at some of the branches coming out, will a hired petrol chipper be up to the job? If not do you know where a "beefier" one could be hired at reasonable cost for a weekend in S London?
In total there is c100m of overgrowth at anything from 2m to 5m deep. I'm currently clearing the above ground stuff - mostly bushes/self-sown weed trees but we have a lot of stumps which will be dug out with a 1.5t excavator in due course. Although I've barely scratched the surface my pile of cuttings is already massive.
Historically I'd have burnt it in situ but feel that with a lot more to go and living in the London suburbs I should probably get a chipper in. Looking at some of the branches coming out, will a hired petrol chipper be up to the job? If not do you know where a "beefier" one could be hired at reasonable cost for a weekend in S London?
Hss hire centres around £300.
https://www.hss.com/hire/c/outdoor-gardening/garde...
Some will claim to shift 4" and struggle .the one above won't.
https://www.hss.com/hire/c/outdoor-gardening/garde...
Some will claim to shift 4" and struggle .the one above won't.
We have a big towable chipper. It's handy, but for that sort of scale, a bonfire is probably easier. Handling every single branch, and feeding the chipper takes ages. Even at 1 second per branch (which it won't be), how long will that take?
Even better if you can use your 1.5t digger and make a big pile to burn.
Even better if you can use your 1.5t digger and make a big pile to burn.
We've got a Lumag HC10. It may chip up to 4" as advertised, but we've not tried. As per other responses, we 'harvest' the larger branches for kindling and firewood.
While an excellent piece of kit, recently we wanted to chip all the brush from a number of trimmed Beech trees and it took ages. In the end we decided to forego making wood chip and burned the remainder....which was far quicker.
While an excellent piece of kit, recently we wanted to chip all the brush from a number of trimmed Beech trees and it took ages. In the end we decided to forego making wood chip and burned the remainder....which was far quicker.
razor11 said:
We've got a Lumag HC10. It may chip up to 4" as advertised, but we've not tried. As per other responses, we 'harvest' the larger branches for kindling and firewood.
While an excellent piece of kit, recently we wanted to chip all the brush from a number of trimmed Beech trees and it took ages. In the end we decided to forego making wood chip and burned the remainder....which was far quicker.
How is it with shredding greener stuff?While an excellent piece of kit, recently we wanted to chip all the brush from a number of trimmed Beech trees and it took ages. In the end we decided to forego making wood chip and burned the remainder....which was far quicker.
I think my chipper/shredder is on borrowed time.
Sometimes it's easier to smunch up the small stuff while it's still on the tree.
With a big run of hedge to remove, it would be cheaper to get a bloke with a flail on a tractor to do it, than to hire a chipper.
Unfortunately can’t give you a clear response on the Lumag’s ability to shred green stuff as we made a point of trying to clear the brush before the leaves fully appeared.
I’ve got a feeling it’ll struggle with a high percentage of soft green matter. It seems to need a bit of woody material to keep velocity and hence the chute clear. Initially I had to clear the chute as it clogged with less woody material until I got the hang of it. I suspect they all do that given they’re essentially blades on a high-mass flywheel.
I’ve got a feeling it’ll struggle with a high percentage of soft green matter. It seems to need a bit of woody material to keep velocity and hence the chute clear. Initially I had to clear the chute as it clogged with less woody material until I got the hang of it. I suspect they all do that given they’re essentially blades on a high-mass flywheel.
razor11 said:
Unfortunately can t give you a clear response on the Lumag s ability to shred green stuff as we made a point of trying to clear the brush before the leaves fully appeared.
I ve got a feeling it ll struggle with a high percentage of soft green matter. It seems to need a bit of woody material to keep velocity and hence the chute clear. Initially I had to clear the chute as it clogged with less woody material until I got the hang of it. I suspect they all do that given they re essentially blades on a high-mass flywheel.
Thanks, that sort of confirms my thoughts.I ve got a feeling it ll struggle with a high percentage of soft green matter. It seems to need a bit of woody material to keep velocity and hence the chute clear. Initially I had to clear the chute as it clogged with less woody material until I got the hang of it. I suspect they all do that given they re essentially blades on a high-mass flywheel.
My Alko chipper/shredder was brilliant for certain things, straight fairly woody stuff, straight firm green stuff, it was quite efficient at reducing a car-sized pile of hedge cuttings to a compost heap and a bag of 'rejected stuff'. Tangles of green stuff are just hard work to deal with.
I got an Elite Minor 45 last year and it's been brilliant, max diameter is 45mm but to be honest I'm going to chump anything that size to burn. Goes through hawthorn, climbing rose, ivy, brambles, branches etc with no issue. It doesn't like green conifer leaves as they just turn to mush and clog up, but that's my experience with all shredders tbh.
Wasn't cheap but probably now breaking even on what it would have cost to keep hiring one, have covered all the beds in chippings and not had to take dumpy bags of garden waste to the tip.
Wasn't cheap but probably now breaking even on what it would have cost to keep hiring one, have covered all the beds in chippings and not had to take dumpy bags of garden waste to the tip.
Thanks all, getting stuck in to clearing again today - going to see what state we have. My worry is still the time it'll take to strip the smaller branches from the large. I think a chipper is the considerate option but also the most time consuming/expensive and I'm firmly on a budget.
Generally have a fire once or twice a year, this volume may mean once a week. Neighbours are no bother, except for one round the back who had a go the first time we had a fire a few years back.
Generally have a fire once or twice a year, this volume may mean once a week. Neighbours are no bother, except for one round the back who had a go the first time we had a fire a few years back.
Worth seeing if there any independent hire places around that will be sensibly priced for something proper.
Last summer I helped my brother with a similar job and we got a big trailer mounted diesel chipper for £130. Effortlessly went through a huge amount of stuff as quickly as we could feed it.
Last summer I helped my brother with a similar job and we got a big trailer mounted diesel chipper for £130. Effortlessly went through a huge amount of stuff as quickly as we could feed it.
Yeah, the big diesel trailer mounted one would have made light work of that - borrow a few mates to keep up with feeding it.
Don't underestimate the volume of chip too - I've got a twin axle ifor Williams tipper with high sides and that filled up pretty quickly. We ended up spreading quite a bit of it on site.
Don't underestimate the volume of chip too - I've got a twin axle ifor Williams tipper with high sides and that filled up pretty quickly. We ended up spreading quite a bit of it on site.
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