Drowning in yard waste- how to dispose?

[plowhog]

I'm overwhelmed with yard debris and need some ideas.

My outbuildings are surrounded by many black oaks that exceed 100ft in height. Years of falling leaves have left about 8-12" of solid leaves on the ground, intermixed with vegetation and small sticks/branches. The bottom 3" is compacted so tightly it is almost like thick shag carpeting.

I raked around two outbuildings- only about 4 ft. of clearance. Just that filled eighty of the large-size 39 gallon black plastic contractor cleanup bags. I need 100 feet of clearance-- i.e. 25 times as far.

Next is to use a landscape rake, but in 5 minutes, I will generate a mountain of debris bigger than I can manage. I can't burn it since everything is tinder dry right now.

The leaves won't go through my chipper-- it only wants bigger, long branches. I have heard of chipper/shredders but have never used one. Is there such a thing as a dedicated shredder without the chipper part? Or are there other ideas?

 

[Jchonline]

How much property do you have? Can you just put it somewhere? It will decompose and be nice soil someday! You could also bury it if you have something to dig with. Just be sure it is in a place you don't travel over it (walking, driving, etc).

 

[dusty3030]

Down here, we'd burn it. Where you are you certainly can't so that stinks. I would think that there would be a landscape service with a large vacuum truck perhaps you could hire to suck up the pile and haul it off.

 

[MossRoad]

If that were us, we'd use the FEL bucket with teeth and start pushing away from the buildings, then scoop, transport and dump in one location to get a handle on just how much there is to dispose of or just compost in that location.

Were I grew up, we had 65 mature oaks on a little over 1 acre. It all had to come up each fall or you'd be buried in it.

Can you till it in or do you not wish to disturb the soil underneath?

 

[CalG]

You have my sympathy. Lack of moisture keeps those leaves from decomposing. I had the same issue when living in Goleta. The trees dropped faster than debris would rot. Fortunately, we had a wash right out back. Barrow after barrow over the side about twice a year.

MacKissick makes a chipper shredder that is a much better shredder than a chipper. I've got a hundred head of 100 foot tall maples, and that shredder gets a lot of use reducing the volume each fall. (to be used for mulch all summer)

BUT, dry leaves will just blast through without much change in volume. Maybe the discharge screen selection could improve this.

3 Point Wood Chipper Shredder for PTO, 3pt Wood Chippers for Tractors

3 point wood chippers made in the USA. Get serious 3pt wood chipping, shredder capacity for your tractor. PTO tractor mounting. Chip up to 4-3/4 inch branches. 24 hammers will shred any debris.

www.mackissic.com

 

[Diggin It]

Compost it. Sell it.

 

[CalG]

Compost it. Sell it.

He would need to water it to get it to heat up. I hear water is in short supply there.

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm overwhelmed with yard debris and need some ideas.

My outbuildings are surrounded by many black oaks that exceed 100ft in height. Years of falling leaves have left about 8-12" of solid leaves on the ground, intermixed with vegetation and small sticks/branches. The bottom 3" is compacted so tightly it is almost like thick shag carpeting.

I raked around two outbuildings- only about 4 ft. of clearance. Just that filled eighty of the large-size 39 gallon black plastic contractor cleanup bags. I need 100 feet of clearance-- i.e. 25 times as far.

Next is to use a landscape rake, but in 5 minutes, I will generate a mountain of debris bigger than I can manage. I can't burn it since everything is tinder dry right now.

The leaves won't go through my chipper-- it only wants bigger, long branches. I have heard of chipper/shredders but have never used one. Is there such a thing as a dedicated shredder without the chipper part? Or are there other ideas?

Some organic farmers will take them as field fertilizer

 

[RalphVa]

I had a MacKissic TPH-122 (now 123) for 16 years. It's great for shredding leaves, and I did do about 100 bags of free leaves I picked up from the town people who just threw them away. Shredding does reduce their volume by about 1/2 to 2/3.

However, you kinda have to dribble the leaves into the big hopper. Otherwise, they just plug. Takes a while.

I once had a MacKissic shredder only on my 5665 Gravely.

 

[kenmbz]

have the same shredder issue, dry leaves about same volume, wet leaves clog if you go even a bit too fast.
I have used my bucket with teeth to move piles around to other spots.
Maybe a lawnmower with mulcher blades would help here, but be careful of dry leaves around exhaust and motor.

How big an area and do you have any area to put it?