Chipper More advice on PTO chippers wanted

[Grande]

I'm considering purchasing a PTO chipper and am wondering if it is the right tool for the job and worth the $$$. Here in southern VT we are plagued with invasive bittersweet vines that are choking the native vegitation, all the way up to the hardwoods. It's getting tiresome dragging vines and dead limbs out of the woods and making burn piles.

Locally, a gravity fed Salsco 4 1/2" chipper is $2,800. Is that a good price/choice? Are there any better on-line resources? It would be driven by 25HP (PTO) Kubota L3010.

Thanks in advance as always for the guidance.

Grande

 

[FL_Cracker]

I purchased a manual feed and returned it one week later. They will work you to death. Now I purchased a auto-feed and I love it. I can put a 6" 30-40' tree in it and 15-20 seconds later it's a pile of chips. Get the auto feed if you can... Yes it's more money but I saw mine just sitting because it was too hard to use.

 

[Propertymaint]

Do a search in this forum for pto chippers. You will find a lot of good info on all the brands. I did quite a bit of research and the auto feeds are a lot easier on the operater in my opinion. I originally wanted a a Valbee or Salsco but the price range was more than I wanted to spend. These are nice machines if you are using them regularly. I couldn't justify the price for my business in which I may use it for a week straight and then it sits in the garage for the next three months. Renting one was always a pain in the butt. I opted to go the Jinma chipper route. It was an inexpensive unit but works quite well. The auto feed utilizes a belt type system which works well as long as your careful with it. If I was using my pto chipper daily I would of opted for the name brand with hydraulic feed system but the Jinma works surprisingly well for my application. Again, do a search for pto chippers on this forum. You will find out all the pro's and con's as well as pricing. Good luck.

 

[kayssupply]

I will post another vote for the Jinma. I just don't have time to watch a fire for hours. I also have finally gotten my yard to where I don't want a big burnt hole in it. I just had mine out this weekend. It had set for months. It takes a little tinkering with when you first get it to get it all adjusted right. After that, it does a very good job for the money. I have learned to do a little better job trimming the branches before I feed them in. If you have large side branches they don't want to feed as well as a long straight one. A few minutes trimming makes the job much easier. Bottom line, a good value for the price.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Well, I am going to buck the trend here, and suggest you look at the Goossen and Crary manual feed chipper/shredders. The reason is the shredder portion. I have rented hydro power feed units on a couple of occasions, and they feed vines at the same rate they feed 5 or 6 inch trunks. With a large, heavy duty shredder, all you have to do is get them in the vicinity of the hopper, and they are GONE. I have a lot of
Eastern Red Cedar, which means a lot of limbs and brush. Even though the larger branches and trunks are a little bit of work in the chipper, the shredder makes faster work of the 1-1/4 and smaller stuff than a power feed unit. They also produce a finer chip, which decomposes for mulch faster and looks nicer in your beds.

Another side benefit of the chipper/shredder combo with a blower unit...I just used mine as a straw blower to lay down a perfect layer of straw mulch on a newly seeded yard. A professional with a real straw blower couldn't have done a better job.

 

[hobbyfarm]

Grande,
<font color="brown">Here</font> they have a bunch of discussion about the goods, the bads, and the uglys of chippers.
Good luck.

 

[Grande]

As always, thanks to all for the guidance.

Grande

 

[MadDog]

You might also want to consider the WoodPro AVP chipper/shredder made by Vandermollen. A search will turn up my earlier post w/photos. I use it on my B7800 (24pto hp) so you'd have plenty of power for it. The hopper configuration makes power feed unnecessary.