Garden Shredders/Chippers

AmandaCountryGirl

We are in need of a shredder/chipper but are going round and round in circles trying to find one that can deal with both hard and soft material. 
Are we asking too much to have one machine to do everything ? I would love some advice of which ones are good as well as ones to avoid. Don't mind spending a bit more if it will do everything we ask but can't stretch to commercial machine prices.

BobTheGardener

I have an alko impact shredder which copes well, once you get the feeding technique right (push soft green stuff through using branches etc.)  In my opinion, it works well because of the 'straight through' design and the fact that I remove and sharpen the blades occasionally.  I last used it to chip about 30 or 40 3m+ long laurel branches which were about an inch and a half diameter at the base.  Had it over 25 years now and have bought about 5 sets of new blades over that time (and they are still available!)

Pete.8

I've had one of these for 4 years now and I am very pleased with it
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D43EF06/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I put all the hedge and tree prunings through it - it takes branches up to about 2" dia.
It self-feeds and it's quiet too.
Everything then goes on the compost heap.
It's never jammed so far

If it's mainly soft plant material you need to deal with, then it's probably not for you.

TheVanguard

Pete.8 said:

I've had one of these for 4 years now and I am very pleased with it
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D43EF06/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I put all the hedge and tree prunings through it - it takes branches up to about 2" dia.
It self-feeds and it's quiet too.
Everything then goes on the compost heap.
It's never jammed so far

If it's mainly soft plant material you need to deal with, then it's probably not for you.

I have the same one, likewise it’s done great for me, mainly used on tree branches. 

KT53

Many shredders will tend to block up if too much soft, green material is put through at one time.  I always put green through at the same time as harder 'twiggy' material and rarely have a problem.

Ferdinand2000

When I looked into mine there seemed to be a couple of basic mechanisms, and a lot of different models seem to use the same third party mechanism. Particularly looking in say the sub-£200 range and places like eg Argos and B&Q. 

I ended up with a Qualcast version of one of these for £80 a few years ago because it had a half price offer. The mechanism on mine seems to be a crusher as much as a shredder, but does the job. I would not put stuff much over say the size of a man's thumb into mine, or a bit smaller if it was not freshly cut. It does hard and soft as discussed above but sometimes clogs.

If you spend quite a lot more you can get a chopper.

The Bosch turbine mechanism seems to be different to others as far as I can see.

I would say look at some video reviews until you are happy with your choice.

If I have bigger branches I could probably just cut them down to a reasonable length after removing the brash, with a pruning saw or even a chain saw, and put a pile of them outside the gate with a "free to a good home" sign, and they would go in a couple of hours and be useful for somebody.

F

AmandaCountryGirl

Thank you for all your advice. Really appreciate you all taking the time to reply. Going to do more research over the weekend.