Buying Advice Looking for a Chipper

[DeerCreekDave]

:confused2:Hey! I'm looking for a chipper for use on our farm, probably pto driven (need to make lots of mulch) anybody care to throw in your 2 cents?

 

[Gittyup]

If you are looking to a chipper to create significant amounts of mulch, you may be disappointed, unless it's a really big one. You'll be working real hard just to get a few yards. My experience is that chippers are good at getting rid of debris, and you can get a little mulch, but not enough to be a viable source when a lot is needed.

As far as PTO chippers go, there are several good choices: Wallenstein, Harper Goossen, Bearcat, salsco, etc. Some have really good luck with the chinese one's after proper prepping and adjustment.

 

[DeerCreekDave]

thanks for the reply, the deal basically is that we just planted 300+ 3 year old blueberry bushes and i need to mulch them the weeds are killing me/ we have 40 acres and lots of clean up to do, i dont expect miracles but a good size and self feeding wood be nice-
thanks
Dave

 

[jdonovan]

How much are you willing to spend?

What size material do you have available to feed into it?

 

[Verticaltrx]

If you are looking to a chipper to create significant amounts of mulch, you may be disappointed, unless it's a really big one. You'll be working real hard just to get a few yards. My experience is that chippers are good at getting rid of debris, and you can get a little mulch, but not enough to be a viable source when a lot is needed.

A decent size hydraulic feed chipper can make lots of chips. I made about 120 cu. yd. of chips in a few days working by myself with our 9" Bear Cat chipper. It's definitely a very capable unit, although probably not what the OP needs for brush and such. I can say that all the Echo Bear Cat chippers I have seen have been top quality, so maybe one of the other models would be suitable.

 

[jdonovan]

A decent size hydraulic feed chipper can make lots of chips. I made about 120 cu. yd. of chips in a few days working by myself with our 9" Bear Cat chipper. It's definitely a very capable unit.

+100 I've got a bearcat (with woods paint) 9540H. 9" capacity, hydro feed.

NOT CHEAP, but eats faster than 2 people can keep it fed. If we have limbs stacked, we can have a pickup full in about 5-10 minutes.

 

[Gittyup]

I should have qualified my statement by saying that unless willing to spend for a really large chipper. Of course, the big ones can make lots of mulch, if you have the material to feed it. It's just hard for most to justify spending thousands of dollars for a machine capable enough to actually make an effective amount of mulch. If you have lots and lots of debris to get rid of, maybe such a purchase makes sense, especially for a working farm. However, you can buy a lot of mulch for a thousand dollars.

I get mulch for free from the county landfill. They load, as much as you want. I've gotten as much as 50 yards in one year from them. I have 10 yards on my trailer right now. If you just want mulch, I'd look into this. Or run an ad. on Craigslist in the fall asking for free leaf/pine mulch. You might be surprised how much you can get for nothing.

 

[DeerCreekDave]

"Gittyup" -that's a great idea re: free, but i dont suppose you know what kind of trouble gets dumped in there, like bug, disease etc, in my case i would rather know what i am getting, there's potential there for disaster.

I expect this type of machine is going to cost ?5k or so, the material i have available is all sizes, anything not worth splitting for the wood stove is fair game (or pine etc)

anybody got an opinion pto vs. self powered?

thanks again!
Dave

 

[jdonovan]

anybody got an opinion pto vs. self powered?

self powered - another mouth to feed and maintain.
pto - ties up the tractor

There have been more than a few times I wanted to go fetch more brush wile the other half fed the chipper, but it was a no-go due to the tractor being attached to the chipper.

The intermittent chipper use I will have means the stand alone powered unit would sit for months at a time not running.

For my situation, the PTO was the better choice.

 

[deereman75]

If you have a 80 hp tractor and a $9000 budget, a 10 inch wallenstein with hydro feed would make alot of mulch fast. I would probably try to find a used self powered one at auction, they often go fairly cheep, and are faster then a pto machine.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Another thing about chippers with very branchy and stringy type material. They tend to clog up with that stuff. Even with a hydraulic feed. You need one with a large capacity and keep the knives really sharp. You can set the gap between the knives and anvil very close to get a smaller chip. Or with hydraulic feed you slow down the feed rate...
After that get a whole herd of goats and the "mulch" comes out of the goats "exhaust" port..

 

[Gittyup]

"Gittyup" -that's a great idea re: free, but i dont suppose you know what kind of trouble gets dumped in there, like bug, disease etc, in my case i would rather know what i am getting, there's potential there for disaster.

I expect this type of machine is going to cost ?5k or so, the material i have available is all sizes, anything not worth splitting for the wood stove is fair game (or pine etc)

anybody got an opinion pto vs. self powered?

thanks again!
Dave

Yes, there is some potential for bugs and disease in landfill mulch. But, I've been getting it for 20 years and our flower beds are some of the healthiest around. Very few living critters can survive the temperatures inside a decaying compost of mulch. The worst I've seen is a few mold spots. You can get termites, but if termites are active in your area, you are going to get them in any untreated mulch anyway. I guard against this by not using too close to the house, and I spray once or twice a year too. The real problem with landfill mulch can be trash: plastic bags, bottle caps, etc. For me, if I get it early in the season, it is usually trash free. For some reason the late season mulch has a lot more trash. I always inspect the pile before I get it. I got 10 yards back in April. I just spread it over this past weekend. Some of the best I've ever gotten: nicely shredded, well decomposed, and trash free.