Garden shredders

[MrsBertBibby]

We're thinking of splashing out on one of these, to keep on top of our massive green waste generation. Anyone got any experience of them?

I have the same issue and am looking into this at the moment!

One thing I can say is that my experience has been that it is not worth buying the cheap ones. I had a Bosch one that was about £80 a few years ago, and it just took ages to shred, constantly jammed and was a complete PITA to clear.

Which? recommend the Makita UD2500 which is £200.

yup got a bosch electric, it's invaluable. AXT200. Which? gives score of 70%; highest scoring is Makita UDT 200. Whatever you go for consider how moveable it is and how easy it is to unclog and how much to replace blades.

We had a Bosch one, but it ended up just sat in the shed, it constantly locked if anything over about an inch diameter got in, and it was slow, it took forever, and DH hated the noise ! We have a very good green waste collection now , once a fortnight, so sadly, it tends to be sent off to that!

I wonder if we had the same model, book?? That sounds like an exact description of what mine did!! I suspect this is a thing where you have to drop some cash to get a decent one, and where the more you spend the better you get. I have been finding excuses to linger and watch the tree surgeons in the city and they have a huuuuuuge one that is on a trailer and it can munch its way through really, really big branches. I have chipper envy!! It probably costs thousands and thousands.

We have no green waste collection (bah! having an incinerator in the city is rubbish - recycling rates are terrible, even though it is way more ecofriendly than incinerating stuff) unless we pay something like £80 a year.

There are two different types of shredder:

The noisy 'impact' sort, with rotating blades that slash through stuff by brute force;

and the much quieter sort that has gears that crush material more slowly.

www.lawnmowersdirect.co.uk/faqs/view/best-garden-shredders-for-home-use--buying-guide

You need to examine the two types, to see which will be better suited for your garden, and the material you produce.

We've got artificial grass which seems to be a magnet for leaves, branches and god knows what else! Despite what some people have said, we went with a relatively inexpensive option (the Dirty Pro Tools Garden Shredder) and I'm very pleased with it. It's basically got all the powers and features of a Bosch, but costs half the price! It vacuums up all the mess, mulches it, then collects it in a bag underneath. It can get quite dusty so perhaps consider wearing a face mask, but overall I'm chuffed to bits with it. So much so, I actually wrote a blog post on it - diygarden.co.uk/guides/best-garden-shredders/

I've got This one and it is absolutely invaluable.

I have a bosch which is useless.

Now I just accumulate stuff in a very big pile, then rent a trailer led shredder and shred a mountain in a day. I do have lots of land, so the mountain is not in the way.

At some point I will invest in a decent thermal one, but they're about 3 or 4 k so it's hard to justify when I can rent one which will do a year's worth of stuff for 200.

And yes, shove, those big ones are 15k+ to buy new (ouch!)

I've got Qualcast silent, which I bought on a special offer a year or two ago. It's great for hedge clippings etc. Found it very good, it also dismantles and packs up small to be stored in the collection box.

Anything that's too thick to be put through I use for kindling.

We're on our second chipper. Decided to spend a bit more and got the Bosch for £129. The previous one was £70 ish did the job but did keep jamming.

We've only had it a few weeks , so far so good .

I wouldn't be without one though. Anything too big to chip goes in the kindling pile. Makes great compost and saves me a trip to the recycling centre, sadly no green collection here.