Wood chippings
Discussion
Hello, hoping for some advice.
Finally starting to sort out a reasonably overgrown garden and thinking about hiring a wood chipper to condense our garden waste (erm not green fingered so sorry about terminology!). I was just wondering if you are able to reuse any chips made from wood and green waste or if it would just end up spreading the nettles and brambles further around the garden? Has anyone experience of this or of the hire of said chippers?
Many thanks
Finally starting to sort out a reasonably overgrown garden and thinking about hiring a wood chipper to condense our garden waste (erm not green fingered so sorry about terminology!). I was just wondering if you are able to reuse any chips made from wood and green waste or if it would just end up spreading the nettles and brambles further around the garden? Has anyone experience of this or of the hire of said chippers?
Many thanks
Hired a chipper a year ago and took it back in the end as was ***p. 
In fairness we had used one before and managed to chip up some substantial tree cuttings (upto about 50mm IIRC). These chippings were used as a multch on the borders the same as the stuff we bought from B&Q. We didn't put any weeds through it as you seemed to be suggesting as that probably would spread them further.
The faulty chipper we hired just kept stalling so I couldn't get anything cut with it as it would only run for about 30 seconds each time. We took it back but they hadn't got another so we got a refund and I got sore hands cutting up the pieces by hand instead.
In fairness we had used one before and managed to chip up some substantial tree cuttings (upto about 50mm IIRC). These chippings were used as a multch on the borders the same as the stuff we bought from B&Q. We didn't put any weeds through it as you seemed to be suggesting as that probably would spread them further.The faulty chipper we hired just kept stalling so I couldn't get anything cut with it as it would only run for about 30 seconds each time. We took it back but they hadn't got another so we got a refund and I got sore hands cutting up the pieces by hand instead.
You can use the chippings around the garden, ideally if they are fairly small.
Wood, along with dried leaves is known in gardening circles as brown (carbon-rich) material. You can mix it with green (nitrogen-rich) material to make great compost. Green material unsurprisingly is generally green (grass cuttings, old plants, cabbage leaves from the kitchen). Ideal mix is 50-75% brown, so quite good if you want to make use of your clippings and start composting. Chippings also retain air for the worms, but remember it helps to turn and mix it every couple of weeks. Perhaps 6 months to have some great, real compost for use throughout the garden.
Otherwise, chips work well as a mulch over beds. They retain water in the soil beneath, smother out many weeds, whilst gradually decomposing to put organic/carbon-rich material back in the soil. Similar to bags of chipped bark from the garden centre, just paler. Decomposition is slow this way (a couple of years perhaps), and it will fade to nothing (4" on my garden has reduced to a couple of millimetres) - so don't expect it to fill that raised bed.
It's extremely unlikely that things (brambles, ivy) will survive and regrow.
Wood, along with dried leaves is known in gardening circles as brown (carbon-rich) material. You can mix it with green (nitrogen-rich) material to make great compost. Green material unsurprisingly is generally green (grass cuttings, old plants, cabbage leaves from the kitchen). Ideal mix is 50-75% brown, so quite good if you want to make use of your clippings and start composting. Chippings also retain air for the worms, but remember it helps to turn and mix it every couple of weeks. Perhaps 6 months to have some great, real compost for use throughout the garden.
Otherwise, chips work well as a mulch over beds. They retain water in the soil beneath, smother out many weeds, whilst gradually decomposing to put organic/carbon-rich material back in the soil. Similar to bags of chipped bark from the garden centre, just paler. Decomposition is slow this way (a couple of years perhaps), and it will fade to nothing (4" on my garden has reduced to a couple of millimetres) - so don't expect it to fill that raised bed.
It's extremely unlikely that things (brambles, ivy) will survive and regrow.
As part of my work I personally chip a lot of wood and also buy in a lot of chipped wood so I can give you a fairly experienced answer. If you have a lot of small branches (upto 50mm)you can chip them down and use them on your beds as a mulch. Medium to large chips are better for weed control and retaining moisure. Anything finely chipped breaks down very quickly and you would need to pile high and regularly top upto maintain the beds. You can colour fine chips though if you want to make a bit of a feature in your garden (I dye lots of bits blue for use in kids playgrounds). I wouldn't put any green material in there as you can easily spreads weeds/brambles about. I burn all my bramble (it goes up surprisingly well even when fresh).
In terms of what kind of chipper you use I would say a domestic type you can get from B&Q etc would be ok for low volumes of under 40mm branches but anything more and they start to clog and you'll waste huge amounts of time taking it apart and clearing it all out. You can hire a decent petrol one for around £50-75 a day which can handle 50-60 mm branches. I personally use a Timberwolf 18/100G and would recommend it (its towed). You can run it all day and get through materials upto 100mm and easily shred a few tons of wood.
In terms of what kind of chipper you use I would say a domestic type you can get from B&Q etc would be ok for low volumes of under 40mm branches but anything more and they start to clog and you'll waste huge amounts of time taking it apart and clearing it all out. You can hire a decent petrol one for around £50-75 a day which can handle 50-60 mm branches. I personally use a Timberwolf 18/100G and would recommend it (its towed). You can run it all day and get through materials upto 100mm and easily shred a few tons of wood.
richyb said:
Good advice
To clarify: green stuff only in compost, not in mulch.Having just bought a new shredder, the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 (£150) seems to be the pick of the bunch at that price. Claims 38mm, but 25mm is better. OK for occasional use (I have 3-4 sessions a year), but does have a tendency to make strips rather than chips. Two clogs in five hours but 60secs to clear. Next step is £250. Google for "FredtheShred" for advice from a brilliant nutter who test drives domestic shredders.
OK for me, but you may want to go/hire bigger & butcher.
HiRich said:
richyb said:
Good advice
Two clogs in five hours but 60secs to clear..../quote]
That pretty good going. I've used ones ones before than clog every few minutes and take 5 minutes to take the casing off and clear out. It would be quicker to shred it all with a pair of scissors! Lots of cheap crap available out there!
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