Chipper Chippers - Are they worth it?

[MLB]

I don't own a tractor shredder. I can tell you that lots of people that buy the smaller chipper/shredders use them a lot the first year or two and then it tapers off dramatically. It sounds great to recycle all that waste material, but after a while it seems like a lot of time for a pile of wood chips. Real chips take forever to compost and tie up the nitrogen in the soil if applied fresh and more than an inch or two.
Neighbor with 3 acres bought a nice (stand alone) and used it big time the first year. Now he burns the piles and hauls in (free) wood chips from a local lumber processor.
It's really slow tedious work for what you get out of it.
That said I salute you that do it! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RoyJackson]

"...use them a lot the first year or two and then it tapers off dramatically. "

Once or twice in a season...that'd be it for me. Maybe a third time if we have windstorms dropping branches. That's just to be rid of the stuff. We don't use much mulch.

 

[buzst]

Initially I thought a chipper was the best way to clean-up my woodlot but after 3 weekends and a lot of work I saw very little progress. So, my next thought was to burn the branches. I made several burn piles in safe locations and waited for conditions to be right to burn. After nine months the piles were still there. My schedual and the weather just couldn't connect. The solution for me turned out to be to use the old wood as the base for a berm. I use the fel to carry the fallen wood to an area on the property where I want to create or block a view and stack it lengthwise, each piece parellel to the next, making the berm the required length. In the fall I cover the wood with fallen leaves from the lawn and beds. After two years they are grown over and you would never know they were there. Its cheap, easy, and does improve the property.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Buzst, that's the best advice I've read/heard all day. I think I'll take that path from now on (and it might make a nice home for some out door critters - preferably some that either taste good or won't cause me any additional head aches)...

In my case, instead of cutting off all the branches and making piles, I think I'll drag the whole tree (only use the logs for outside fireplace anyway - mostly soft woods) and cover it with the grass, etc...

 

[hayden]

I'm a chipper fan. I've had one for 5 years and just upgraded to a new one with hydraulic feed. I agree that in most cases you'd be challenged to make a purely financial justification. On the other hand, if you can afford it, the convenience is worth a lot. I use mine probably 5-10 times a year, and none of that use would happen if I had to rent due to inconvenience. Looking back over the 5 years I've had the first chipper, it's cost $500 a year - well worth it in my case.

 

[GlennT]

Just wanted to reaffirm what others have said. I have a small Valby chipper and although I am glad that I purchased it, I can't justify it financially. I could rent a much larger chipper locally for $100 a day and do the work in a fraction of the time or I could pile up the brush in my pasture, wait for a rainy day and burn it. The reason that I purchased the chipper is to have it available whenever I want to use it. It only takes about a few minutes to hook it up to my quick hitch (it's on a dolly) and connect the PTO. I can get rid of brush immediately after cutting and thereby eliminate skunk and snake havens (we have chickens), reduce the number of fire hazards, avoid unsightly brush piles, and wind up with wonderful chips for use as mulch in eroded areas, on walkways or around trees and bushes. What a deal!! Also, I hate to waste natural resources. Here in central Texas it seems that we are always experiencing a drought and much of the time it is dangerous to burn anything. I doubt that I will ever use the chipper enough to fully justify its cost, but I really like to have it available. It keeps our place a bit safer, certainly it looks a lot neater, and as long as the wife doesn't complain and I was able to scrounge up the cash, why not? I probably would have squandered the money on booze and babes, anyway (read: old geezer's fantasy). The Valby will last forever--or certainly longer than I will.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for the input. I think I agree that financially it can't be justified, but... I'm still deciding. Thanks for the input, the more views the better the decision will be.

Frank