Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Chippers  (Read 6567 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Chippers
« on: February 22, 2018, 04:20:03 pm »
Does anyone use a chipper for wood trimmings?  We are doing our winter hedging at the moment and it seems such a shame to just burn the trimmings.  We have a huge amount, so I was wondering how effective the chips are as mulch, paths and so on.  Is it worth the effort, or should we just carry on polluting the atmosphere with a fire?
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

PK

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • West Suffolk
    • Notes from a Suffolk Smallholding
Re: Chippers
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2018, 05:26:19 pm »
I do but it can be relatively time consuming:-

https://notesfromasuffolksmallhoding.blogspot.co.uk/

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Chippers
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2018, 05:51:58 pm »
We have a shredder and a chipper, run it thru the chipper twice.
Very satisfying to have that big pile of twiggy stuff into a nice neat little pile.
Never used it on paths, keep meaning to, mainly seems to go straight round shrubs or into compost bin with some manure, (that's usually the leylandii). Rots down lovely.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Chippers
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2018, 06:01:47 pm »
Most of our hedge trimmings are hawthorn which is of course thorny.  Does it create any problems going through the shredder or in use by sheep or poultry?
I can't find any chippers for hire near here, and new prices, even second hand prices, are astronomical.  We did once buy a chipper from Lanark mart for not a lot, but it fell to bits quite soon  ::)


Any suggestions of a model which would do the work but not cost the earth?
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

PK

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • West Suffolk
    • Notes from a Suffolk Smallholding
Re: Chippers
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2018, 07:43:15 pm »
I recently bought at a discount:-
MOUNTFIELD MCS2200 Garden Shredder
Price: £109.98

and find it fine for hedge trimmings, mainly blackthorn and hawthorn which do not present any problems.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Chippers
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2018, 08:32:04 pm »
Thank you PK, but it would be too small for our needs.  We have a good km of hedging, which is tall and has some branches too thick for your machine.  I think there will be at least 7 or 8 sheep trailers full, before we start on pruning the trees.

"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Chippers
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2018, 10:47:42 pm »
Wow thats a lot of hedging FW, 'fraid you are goibg to have to find something bigger than a garden machine.
Would it be worth approaching your local council and finding out if they use a contractor, if you have everything just ready it may not cost much?

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Chippers
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2018, 12:47:11 am »
I could hire a nice big towable one for £100 a day, if I don't mind going to Pitlochry for it.  Trouble is it would take all day to get there and back  ;D .  I'll keep searching for one more local.  Siromer make chippers for our wee tractor, but I expect they would be expensive - I'll investigate further.
Thank you for all the suggestions and help  :)


modified to say:  I looked up a Siromer chipper - £1700 ish  :roflanim:
« Last Edit: February 23, 2018, 11:53:32 am by Fleecewife »
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: Chippers
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2018, 09:28:24 am »
A great-nephew uses our garden shredder to chop up apples to make cider!

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Chippers
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2018, 12:42:51 pm »
I was looking the other day, thought £250 would buy something robust... I was wrong!

Cuddles

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: Chippers
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2018, 12:48:55 pm »
Hi FW,

Is there no HSS hire centre close by?  If not there is a place in Livingston AKRO multi hire that does towable shedders. I've never used one of them from him but I have used them for other stuff and they're normally pretty good. It's still not on your door step but should be a lot closer than Pitlochry!

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Chippers
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2018, 01:21:42 pm »
A great-nephew uses our garden shredder to chop up apples to make cider!
Me too- works really well

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Chippers
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2018, 01:51:55 pm »
Hi FW,

Is there no HSS hire centre close by?  If not there is a place in Livingston AKRO multi hire that does towable shedders. I've never used one of them from him but I have used them for other stuff and they're normally pretty good. It's still not on your door step but should be a lot closer than Pitlochry!


YES  :yippee:  Thank you so much Cuddles.  That place didn't come up when I googled, but indeed they do have the same towable chipper as the place at Pitlochry, for the same hire rate.  Brilliant.  Livingston is only about 20 miles away so perfect.  Now to persuade Mr F  :thinking:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Cuddles

  • Joined Feb 2014
Re: Chippers
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2018, 06:40:36 pm »
Glad I could help. 

I would have thought the chipper would be a new big boys toy to play with for the day... can't see that needing much arm twisting  :roflanim:

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Chippers
« Reply #14 on: February 24, 2018, 12:19:46 am »
I think it's me likes the big girls toys  ;D   Mr F always gets the job of repairs, which is not so much fun.  The advantage of hiring - if it breaks, they mend it  :D
Still, there's a few more days of hedgework to do before the pile would be big enough to chip, so I'll work on him til then.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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