One of the challenges for yardeners as they care for their property is what to do with all the organic waste – leaves, grass clippings, weeds, material from pruning, and twigs and branches that fall out of the trees and shrubs. Years ago the simple solution was to bag up that stuff and put it out on the curb for pickup by the trash truck. In the past decade most communities have banned lawn waste from trash pickup because it clogged up the expensive landfills. Some communities will collect leaves in the fall and store them someplace in town so they will decompose. Other communities will pick up woody materials on specific days and then they will shred that material for use as mulch in parks and municipal plantings.
If you are having difficulty in getting rid of all or some of the organic waste produced from the normal plant care routines, perhaps a shredder is a tool to consider. The purpose of a landscape shredder is to break up the organic material into little pieces so it can be used as mulch or placed in the compost pile without taking up much space. There are three kinds of shredders on the market. Electric leaf shredders only deal with shredding leaves, preferably dry leaves. Self-propelled shredder vacuums not handle leaves very well, but can handle the smaller twigs and small branches that fall to the lawn from time to time. They cannot handle larger branches. Chipper Shredders which handle weeds, leaves, and small branches are gasoline driven machines. Electric chipper shredders have not proven to be reliable. Gas chipper shredders come in a number of sizes and costs depending on how much material you are generating each year. Here are some of the issues to consider before you make a purchase.
Choosing a gas shredder
When should you consider buying a gasoline-driven shredding machine? If over the season you collect a significant amount of sticks and branches that fall or are pruned from your many trees or shrubs, you might consider buying a chipper/shredder machine. While not cheap, they last for decades and might help keep your organic waste on the property instead of sending it out to the trash. It makes wonderful mulch.
Shredders come in all sizes and shapes. Since this is not a low-cost item, it is wise to get a feel of your options.
• Electric chipper/shredders: I do not recommend the little electric chipper/shredders. I've tested a half dozen over the years and because they are under-powered they clog up too easily no matter how careful you might be in feeding material into the machine's hopper.
• Gas chipper/shredders: I have had good experience with gasoline-driven chipper/shredders over the years. All kinds of organic yard waste can be shredded into particles the size of a nickel. In most cases, the leaves, weeds, and twigs will be reduced at a 10-to-1 ratio. In other words, 10 bags of leaves when shredded produce one bag of shredded leaves. In the best machines, the shredding function is joined by a chipper attachment, allowing larger branches to be chipped into more mulch. Depending on the model, homeowner units can accept branches up to 3 inches in diameter.
The two variables to consider when making a selection are: horsepower and size of the chipping hopper.
A 5-horsepower machine will handle the load for an average property that is less than an acre (Yard Machines, $550). It can chip branches up to 2 inches in diameter. If you have a large number of trees to maintain, you should look at machines with 8.5 horsepower (Craftsman, $800) or even 10 horsepower (Troy-Bilt, $900). These machines will chip branches up to 3 inches in diameter. Shredding and chipping requires significant power to be done effectively. The higher the horsepower, the easier it is to handle larger volumes of material, especially if it is wet, which is often the case.
To get an idea of all the sizes of shredders available, check out the shredder section of Amazon.com. Most tool rental outlets will have one or two gas shredders for the home landscape. I used to go in with a neighbor and rent one for a day and cover both properties.
• Shredder vacs: For those of you with a large yard and many trees, look into a tool called a shredder vacuum. This self-propelled machine will suck up leaves and small sticks, then turn them into mulch. They usually have a side attachment for chipping larger sticks that don't get sucked up by the vacuum. Some rental stores carry shredder vacuums.
For information about dealing with yard waste see the files in Yardener's Helper for:
Yard Waste Management
Using Mulch
Composting