Not necessarily the most useful like my gorilla cart, not the ‘can’t live without’ like a good digging shovel, but the one that really brings a smile to my face every time: my trusty wood chipper.
I live with cottonwood; you can sit down, drink a beer, and watch them grow an inch. Thanks to my wood chipper that’s no longer a chore because I loooooove green mulch. It has literally turned what was a source of annoyance into a harvestable resource. My woodchipper is not all that powerful but it can take a 10’ cottonwood with a 1 1/2" trunk and turn it into mulch in half a minute.
It makes my trees and bushes happy. The mulch around the trees I placed last fall is pretty much gone. I mixed what was left with compost and topped it off with more mulch. It soaks water like a sponge and the twiggy nature of the mulch keeps it aerated.
Everybody should get a wood chipper, then your only regret would be not getting one sooner
I have the small one without a self feeding wheel. Works good, but really beats you up using it. I use it all the time. Little easier and more useful than burning.
I agree. We have tractor PTO-driven chipper that will eat 6" logs at 10 feet per minute. The orchard yields a couple of cubic yards of chips every year, and any other that we need comes from small end of making firewood. Lovely machine.
I have this toy, 212cc engine. It takes some spoon feeding but it definitely does an amazing job for a consumer unit. My previous one was an old Craftsman of similar power but this one chips a whole lot smoother.
Our sheep are being fed cottonwood right now as its dry here and not much is growing. Once they eat leaves and twigs and what bark they want we will chip the remains.
With guys doing tree service for a living we have 2 big Morebark Tornados. It’s good to have a backup. These beasts are the only way to put the mass of big trees into a dump truck.
Yeah, it’s all about horsepower and mass with a chipper. What I’ve got is overkill, but since the tractor has 70 or so HP, I had to get one big enough to handle that kind of power, or I’d have destroyed it in no time.
I have access to all the free green mulch I want. The local tree service has a huge pile and will even load your pick up for $20. But as I said, I live with cottonwood and many other things to dispose of every spring. It doesn’t get more efficient than this.
i here you. we have quaking aspen and balsam poplar here. cousins to the cottonwood. the former owner had the idea of planting 20 black willow around the perimeter of this property 40yrs ago. such a messy tree! sheds huge limbs in storms. ive had 3 cut down in the last 6 yrs. but at a cost of $700 a tree i dont see me affording to get rid of them all. luckily i have a abandoned marshy field abutting my property to the north that i throw all my branches in.
