[Closed] Which garden shredder?

We bought a cheap one from Homebase and fed a mature Sycamore canopy into it. It was a bit shagged by the end, but did the job. Biggest problem was getting rid of the vast amount of chippings it produced..

[url= https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3701/12570446153_d10fd80c7f_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3701/12570446153_d10fd80c7f_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/k9NPGe ]Chipping the canopy[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

None, they are a waste of time, just get some big bags and take a load to the local tip every so often.

You're in Wales, aren't you? Might have a spare one going, a bit like that green one. It works fine, but the time it saves in reduced trips to the tip isn't as much as the time spent feeding stuff into it.

Beaten to it. I can see how it might have a purpose if it makes the difference between having everything taken away and having to make trips in your car.

We've got a cheap one similar to that green one. Works ok. Not fantastic at leafy stuff and it'll often jam when you stop it. Secret is to pile up the clippings then keep it running. If you chip it straight into sacks then it is ok efficiency wise. Also makes the clippings much better for composting which might save a few trips to the tip.

Well to be fair the other purpose would be if you actually want to make use of the shredded output, eg as a mulch. I could see that working well with hedge clippings, but I don't have a hedge...

None, they are a waste of time, just get some big bags and take a load to the local tip every so often.

Cheap one was fine. Pig to open up to sharpen blade but managed loads and loads of chopping. Wood chip makes good compost bulk, add to soil for raised beds or put on free cycle?

Thanks for the offer nedrapier but I'm in Austria at the moment. The local tip here is only open for three hours on a Saturday morning and I am not home on Saturdays. They collect green waste once a month so I have a mountain. I thought shredding it as I could spread it as mulch and possibly take a jumbo bag now and again into the forest.

We've got a fairly solid Ryobi one and despite the maker promising that it will magically disappear garden waste the reality is that for most things it's incredibly disappointing. It's the sort that chews rather than chops and hedge trimmings would just go straight through pretty much unchanged. If I really want to shred and compact small stuff our leaf blower/sucker does a much better job (and has other uses, like leaf blowing and clearing gutters). YMMV.

Slight hijack: Is conifer mulch good for the soil? Got quite a lot of it where we took some out. Got a suspicion that it might be too much of one thing to be useful.

I heard conifers tend to be quite acidic, might be good for azaleas (etc) in limestone areas. But don't take my word for it.

I have a Bosch one with a helical screw cutter. You can put branches in and let it do its thing whilst you get the next bit ready. You can pretty much get a decent size conifer in a bin bag minus the trunk. The cheap ones like my neighbour has require you to force the branches down onto a spinning blade. It looks like a nightmare job doing it that way and he is continually un jamming it.

http://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-electric-garden-shredder/698091_BQ.prd

we have a cheap one like this ^ much better than impact shredders as the vibration on them is way ott.
These have a slow turning bladed drum which drags in the branches /twigs etc in and chops them up. Goes up to 45mm dia
Had ours 6 + years yet to kill it and have tried quite hard.

How big is your garden?
[img] [/img]

is chopping it with your mower and composting it an option?

Rather amusingly (I'm easily pleased) both footflaps' and blastit's shredders appear to come out of the same factory as my Ryobi RGS1500R.

[url= http://www.productreview.com.au/c/garden-shredders/m/ryobi.html ]Ryobi shredders[/url]

First one I bought was the same as footflaps', it died a horrible death from being overfed - jammed and burned-out the motor despite supposedly having thermal cutout.

The RGS1500R that I use has a steel body (the others are plastic) and 3 feed points: oblique on the side for thicker stuff (struggles above 20-25mm), direct-down for medium stuff (<10mm) and a hopper for clippings or re-feeding.

It often runs for 3-4hrs at a time disposing of hedge cuttings: it does seem to struggle with damp/fresh greenery (the outlet bungs up due to stickiness) and can bog down if over fed with thick pieces (feed little and often). Listen for it struggling and watch that stuff is still falling out the bottom - switch off in either case and clean/de-bog and it will do fine.

Shovelling the shreddings into a compost bin isn't so difficult.

Another vote for the Bosch here....quieter too

First one I bought was the same as footflaps', it died a horrible death from being overfed - jammed and burned-out the motor despite supposedly having thermal cutout.

Mine was surprisingly resilient, jammed it no end of times over feeding it 2" branches and ramming them through the smaller hole! By the end it was blunt as f*** though, it did have everything 2.5"* or less from a 20m tree fed through it...

Gave it away to a friend who was clearing his garden once we'd finished the tree.

* I managed to fell a large branch on it and split the casing in two, so after that I could feed thicker stuff into it.

None, they are a waste of time, just get some big bags and take a load to the local tip every so often.

+1

Home ones are pathetic and life's to short to stand for hours feeding little sticks into them.

We've a black and decker one, similar to the small ones above.

It does a good job of smaller stuff, hedge triming and the like. Got a small mountain down to a binbag which then goes into the compost. Doing that in the garden wheelie bin would be 3-5 fills every spring, meaning we'd still be clearing cuttings away into August!

Need to hire a big one (~£90 at HSS) at some point to dispose of a load of leylandi. OTOH it'll still fill a trailer anyway once shredded so it's a case of lots of trips or time spent shredding. Depends how close to the tip you are or how easily you can dispose of a load of resinous, acidic wood.

Another bosch fan here, had a spinny blade one first and it was noisy and hard work. The bosch just chomps through anything that's too small for the log pile, then it all goes onto the compost heap.

why not hire one from the local tool hire place, at least you'll discover if you really need one