Recommendation for petrol garden shredder

[Rob_H]

Does anyone use a petrol garden shredder? I'm thinking of getting one as I'm trying to get the garden in good order so it's looking presentable as we're looking to move - and we have lots of hedges and trees. Looking for one that will shred branches about 1 1/2 inches across as things have got out of control and it will probably be cheaper to buy then sell when we move rather than keep hiring one. Any recommendations?

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi Rob,

Most petrol garden shredders will chip up to 3", the one I use is made by Globe Organic they're based in Solihull. I picked mine up second hand from that well know auction site :lol:, it's the 9hp gardenmaster model although they do a smaller model called a brushmaster which chips up to 2 1/2" but at around £800 they're not cheap, although I can highly recommend globe for build quality etc.
Other makes to consider are Allen, Camon, Masport and Bearcat (they don't come up for sale second hand very often ) personally I wouldn't consider buying these cheaper makes that are available on ebay.

HTH

Steve

Forgot to add mine helps me to make a living.

 

[Rob_H]

Arrgh - was only looking to spend around £350 - not sure I'll get anything decent for that kind of money then.

 

[Steve Jones]

Rob,
you may get a second hand Allen or Masport for around that price but I think you would be lucky to find any of the others.

Steve

Eliet aren't bad either but I think might be just out of your price range, just found one second hand for £435 HERE, these are £1600 new capacity is 40-45mm

 

[johnf]

What about a bonfire gets rid of all that stuff you mentioned

 

[Rob_H]

We do have a bonfire area but there really is SO much hedging, loads of trees etc that hauling it down to the bonfire area is such a pain. Can't really have a bonfire any close to the house for garden layout reasons so it means hauling everything about 600 feet away. A lot of the hedging is leylandii and doesn't burn well. Mrs H is opposed to more expense but I'm trying to save time in the long run. We want to get the house on the market asap so need to get the garden looking good. The orchard needs pruning badly - had a chap in to quote for pruning the orchard trees and he gave a quote of £1300 - and that was two years ago and they're much bigger now. I want to do as much as possible myself as Mrs H has just gone part time due to us now having a little one and need to save as much cash as possible.

 

[johnf]

The £800 chipper mentioned earlier might help persuade you a 600 ft drag is not so bad after all

 

[Grinding One]

How about putting it on E`bay,some coin coming in and they dig it up?

 

[Harbo]

The trouble with these "small" diam. shredders is that they are fine for straight lengths but once you get side branches and crooked bits they begin to struggle? You can spend a lot of time trimming bits off.
Can you not hire a big one?

Rod

 

[Rob_H]

It starts to be uneconomical to hire as I'd need it for a few weeks - each stage of garden needs doing - spread over about 1 1/2 acres and each has trees/hedges etc so doing trimming/pruning on and off over a few weeks.

 

[paulm]

How about doing all the pruning and lopping first, then hiring a large professional machine for two or three days and getting all the shredding done at once ?

Either that or spend much more on a decent machine and then sell it when done to recoup some of the cost ?

Cheers, Paul

 

[Rob_H]

Will have to got for one of those options - not sure which yet.

 

[dickm]

FWIW, the Bearcat shredder seems to be an excellent machine (borrowed one from the local wildlife trust a few years back in exchange for some work). I've seen one or two advertised S/H in the £500-700 range, which is probably the going rate.
As noted, the key thing is the feed-in chute. If it's parallel sided for any length, this greatly restricts the diameter you can feed in unless the branch is dead straight.

 

[studders]

How about doing all the pruning and lopping first, then hiring a large professional machine for two or three days and getting all the shredding done at once ?

Cheers, Paul

That's pretty much what I did, the machine I hired just ripped through whatever I could get through the hopper, so it only took a day and a bit. The really large branches I just burned. Machine was quite noisy but did the job no trouble. I used the shreddings as mulch which went a nice brown after a couple of weeks.