Any owner of a country house or summer cottage is faced with the need to dispose of plant waste. The best way to get rid of fallen leaves, dry grass and cut branches is with a garden shredder. Since this type of auxiliary equipment is still gaining popularity among owners of individual farms, it will be useful for interested people to get as much information as possible about it in order to make a truly smart purchase. You will learn how to choose the right garden shredder by reading this article.
During the grinding process
Working with a shredder has its own specifics. Chopped plants and pieces of ground wood fly out at an impressive speed and can harm unprotected areas of the body. Therefore, do not stand in the direction of the release.
Always use special collection bags or containers that attach directly to the baffle or discharge box. Firstly, this will prevent the crushed parts from scattering, and secondly, it is convenient for subsequent transfer of the same mulch, for example, to beds.
Load gradually. If you completely fill the hopper with garden debris, the cutting mechanism may not be able to cope with it and may become stuck. In addition, constant excessive loads will lead to increased wear of working units and their rapid failure.
If your shredder does not have an automatic material feed function, you will have to do it yourself; use a special pusher for this.
According to the manufacturers, the use of a mechanical pusher increases the productivity of the chopper by 30%. Also, of course, this guarantees high safety of feeding plant debris to the grinding mechanism.
If any emergency occurs (children or animals appear near the operating unit) or if you need to change the location of the chopper, first turn it off and wait until the cutting elements stop completely. This way you will completely eliminate the possibility of body parts or clothing falling under the knives.
After the engine stops running, the knife shaft or cutter continues to rotate by inertia for a few more seconds. To stop them as quickly as possible, a special coasting brake is used. This fact must always be remembered when opening the shredder cover, for example, to clean it.
Use the garden shredder only for its intended purpose. Its inappropriate use, for example, for processing plastic and some other synthetic materials, will lead to rapid failure of the equipment and can be dangerous to your health.
What kind of device, scope of purpose
As soon as the first rays of the spring sun warm the earth, gardeners go out to fight excess vegetation on their site, which interferes with the development of useful crops.
But weeding, thinning, and cleaning dry leaves and grass ends up cluttering the area with garbage, which not only spoils the appearance of the landscape design, but can also cause numerous plant diseases.
What to do in such a situation? Leaving garbage is unacceptable, and burning it is a risky business due to the introduction of a ban on burning grass within city limits according to the new Russian legislation.
It is unprofitable to remove garbage at your own expense, and it is a pity to lose raw materials for such valuable compost. And here a unit such as a chopper becomes simply irreplaceable, which will simultaneously solve all problematic issues.
A garden grass shredder is a new word in agricultural technology that makes it much easier to work on a plot of land and forget about the headache of getting rid of unnecessary grass. Representing a container with a number of blades and a powerful motor, this unit is capable of grinding any herb in a matter of seconds.
Weeds, thorns, dead wood, leaves and other debris are processed into fine compost, which no longer takes up much space, but is stored for further use as fertilizer for garden beds.
If you do not need to fertilize the site, it will not be difficult to pack excess compost into bags and remove it from your territory, which was simply impossible with those piles of plant debris that were weeds before processing.
If wood chips are processed, they are often used as fuel. Wood chips, processed through a grinder, are formed into pellets and become an excellent type of heating fuel, replacing firewood and coal. If you wish, you can form pellets at home.
Thus, there are many advantages from purchasing a shredder, which is why it has gained worldwide popularity and is becoming increasingly in demand in our country, not only in large farms, but also in private landholdings.
Characteristics of medium power shredders
Medium-power shredders are an intermediate option, therefore they have average performance, which is why they differ from amateur and professional models. These units work equally well on both gasoline and electricity. They have a maximum power of 2.5 kW.
It is preferable to use such units in private houses and summer cottages with a small, middle-aged garden. The milling knives equipped with the shredders can easily and quickly grind thicker branches (maximum thickness 3.5 cm).
The main advantage of such units is a system that independently draws in waste. In addition, the shredder is equipped with a mulch funnel and wheels, which allows you to easily move the unit around the site.
Criterias of choice
When buying a chopper, we first need to decide on its power. Next comes the maximum diameter of the branches, which is not very important if you are sending large branches for firewood.
At the same time, we recommend that you look at the case materials and the overall level of assembly - there should be no low-quality thin metal on a powerful model, and the higher the power, the stronger the chopper should be.
Next, we look at the price, but do not forget to check the warranty period - low-quality models may be sold cheaper than their analogues, but are accompanied by a short warranty period.
Mobility
Most garden shredders are relatively lightweight (10-30 kg), so they can be transported in a car or on a hand truck.
In addition, some devices are equipped with wheels , so they are much easier to transport to a car or cart to the place of work than devices without wheels.
The most powerful devices that are suitable for chopping any wood are often installed on a non-self-propelled chassis or trailer of a passenger car.
in detail about trailed shredders here.
However, the most popular are semi-stationary devices that have to be carried manually, because they are cheaper than mobile ones.
Review of popular models
The table shows popular shredder models and their prices.
Some models have a complex structure
| Image | Models | Cost, rub. |
| Black Decker GS2400 | 12400 | |
| Bosh AXT 25D | 24880 | |
| Champion SH 250 | 6400 | |
| Makita UD 2500 | 14000 | |
| Elitech IVS 2400 | 10050 | |
| Redverg RD – GS 240 | 8100 |
To select the appropriate model, it is necessary to determine what types of work are required for a particular site. For removing grass, small shoots and branches, a device with low power is suitable. Medium power models include products from Viking.
High-quality models are easy to use
If the garden is large, then it is worth choosing a more powerful device, for example, from the Bosch brand.
Combined model of garden shredder
The milling mechanism of such a unit is capable of grinding large branches, pulling them inside. To obtain processed raw materials of different shapes, you need to purchase a chopper with the option of adjusting the speed of the cutting unit. The best option is a device with two holes for softer waste and for hard branches. Electrical designs must be designed to accommodate surge surges.
Milling knives - for large branches!
The milling crushing system is more powerful - most often a gasoline garbage shredder is equipped with such a mechanism. The cutter is like a gear with pointed edges, which itself pulls the raw materials into the funnel - you just need to load the waste into the receiving department, and you can do other things. The cutter is capable of crushing fairly thick branches up to 5–7 cm thick, as in the video. Most models with this type of knives are equipped with varying degrees of protection against motor overload - the motor stalls if you feed a branch that is too thick for the unit to handle. A reverse function is provided to clear the knives from clogged debris.
A gasoline milling garden waste shredder is a powerful and expensive device, however, despite its advanced characteristics, many remain disappointed after purchase - the fact is that the unit does not handle soft debris, such as grass and leaves, as well as large branches. Small waste and branches can simply scroll without being chopped. But it copes with large branches with a bang, and the resulting pieces of wood are excellent for mulching garden paths and tree trunks. By the way, some models of units allow you to adjust the size of the fraction of the resulting chips.
What happens? If we choose a disk shredder, we still won’t be able to process large branches, and the milling unit is not capable of shredding small debris - not the effect that gardeners expect from such an expensive purchase. There is a solution - universal garden waste shredders with the Turbine-Cut blade system. The cutting mechanism in this case is similar to a turbine with many sharp knives that will equally effectively chop large branches and small grass. They cost more than others, but the unit will not sit idle in the garage - without it in the garden or vegetable garden you will feel like you have no hands.
The best manufacturers
When choosing a shredder for a buyer, it is important not only to look at the device itself, but also to look at the brand that produces it, and all because of the reputation that has been built up over many years.
Patriot, Bosch, WORX are considered market leaders. The former is considered a leader in the production of gasoline shredders, while Bosch is the best among manufacturers of electric models.
But you must understand that the best shredder manufacturers will not sell their products cheap.
If the financial side of the issue plays a very important role for you, pay attention to domestic manufacturers of garden shredders, because it is also important to choose the right device.
Garden shredder device
A garden shredder is a body that contains a motor and a shredding system. A funnel for feeding processed raw materials is attached to the upper part of the body. It can be wider or narrower, depending on the purpose. A wide funnel is more convenient for feeding the remains of herbs and leaves, and a narrower one is more convenient for branches.
Garden shredder device
The crushed waste is poured out from below through a special hole. There are units with a plastic tank, and there are units with a soft bag. Plastic is convenient to use, but increases the size and weight of the unit. The soft container for recyclables is a bag. It takes up little space and is not so heavy, but it is not so convenient to use. There is a third option - no container at all. In this case, you can choose according to your taste or use both types - whichever is more convenient.
How does a hammer crusher work?
A hammer crusher works with the help of hammers, which are located horizontally and carry out a fight at high speed, as a result of which the raw materials are crushed to the required state.
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Question answer
Which shredder is better, electric or gasoline?
It all depends on how you are going to use it. If for country work, on a small plot of no more than six to seven acres, then it would be better to choose an electric one. If the unit is needed for a farm or large areas of land, then a gasoline unit will be more convenient.
Can branches be processed in a grass shredder?
It is forbidden. It is necessary to operate the shredder based on its technical capabilities.
Is a herb grinder used to process grain?
Yes, many models provide for chopping, in addition to grass, hay, dead wood and grain. But this needs to be clarified in the technical characteristics of the unit you are interested in.
What is the difference between milling and disk shredders?
The milling machine is capable of handling a large volume of work and can grind branches. Disc is intended exclusively for grass and only to the extent specified in the technical specifications.
Is it possible to adjust the fractions of the processed mixture in the shredder?
Yes, many modern models provide for setting fractions, which is very convenient if you need to sort ground grass or grain for different purposes.
