Bramble shredder required

[ShinySideUp]

My garden has brambles and when I take them out I want rid of them and usually burn them but with the weather getting worse now they won't dry and they just smoke if burnt so I'm after a shredder. All the reviews talk about the thickness of the twigs a shredder will get rid of but it's not twigs that are the problem, I can always burn them. I want to shred brambles, old potatoes, weeds, stuff like that.

Anyone have personal experience with a garden shredder that's good for sinewy, green waste?

 

[enrico]

My garden has brambles and when I take them out I want rid of them and usually burn them but with the weather getting worse now they won't dry and they just smoke if burnt so I'm after a shredder. All the reviews talk about the thickness of the twigs a shredder will get rid of but it's not twigs that are the problem, I can always burn them. I want to shred brambles, old potatoes, weeds, stuff like that.

Anyone have personal experience with a garden shredder that's good for sinewy, green waste?

The problem is never the hard stuff it is the green wet stuff that clogs it all up. Mine scrunches stuff and feeds it through at the same time but the scruncher can still get jammed with green leaves. I had one with wizzy blades but that was just as bad. I think you have to get on to the professional type stuff to get one that will shred anything.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Or cut it and let it dry then shred it?

 

[Murox]

I suppose it depends upon the size of your plot and your personal approach - I always used to have two distinct piles - one for stuff that would rot quickly and another for everything else. Whenever it was dry enough it was then set on fire . Not the tidiest way perhaps but it worked for me.

 

[OrchardBees]

Ah, but doesn't burning it bring down the wrath of your local Facebook group? Every other post on mine is a complaint about someone having a (legal) bonfire. I've accumulated a 'burn pile' over the past three years that's about 4x20ft. I'm too scared to actually light it because of the outrage it'll cause (it's now too big anyway, and probably has snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, etc in it that I don't want to kill) and have decided that a shredder is the answer. I just don't have the spare cash to get one that'll be up to the job, and I'm loathe to hire one for £250 a day, when I'll need one on an ongoing basis. So the pile just grows...

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Ah, but doesn't burning it bring down the wrath of your local Facebook group? Every other post on mine is a complaint about someone having a (legal) bonfire. I've accumulated a 'burn pile' over the past three years that's about 4x20ft. I'm too scared to actually light it because of the outrage it'll cause (it's now too big anyway, and probably has snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, etc in it that I don't want to kill) and have decided that a shredder is the answer. I just don't have the spare cash to get one that'll be up to the job, and I'm loathe to hire one for £250 a day, when I'll need one on an ongoing basis. So the pile just grows...

Facebook wrath? Reminds me of Dennis Healey commenting that being attacked by Geoffrey Howe was like being savaged by a dead sheep!

 

[pargyle]

There isn't a domestic garden shredder on the market that will shred fresh bramble - the sinews just won't cut with any of the disc type garden shredders ... Indeed, I can't find one that will successfully shred any really soft material. I've tried a lot and it's a lost cause.

There are some industrial shredders that will mulch soft stuff and the likes of bramble but they cost a bundle but not really economic unless you have acres of bramble .. and then ..best get in a herd of goats !

I converted an old Mountfield petrol rotary garden mower into a sort of shredder. I put a second blade on it and made a chute to feed material in from the top through a slot I cut in the body of the mower. I raised it up by removing the wheels and mounted it on a frame - I blocked up the normal exit for the grass box. It was pretty scary, the second blade must have been a bit out of balance and it shook like the devil was after it.

It worked after a fashion and it did chop up the soft stuff I put through it but I thought I could improve it .. so I took a grindstone to the whole of the leading edges of the mower blades. That certainly improved the mulch although ... using it scared me witless ... I had visions of the thing breaking loose and this mad whirling upside down razor sharp helicopter chopping me up like the Texas chainsaw massacre.

After a few uses and various 'improvements' the out of balance problem, which I could not cure, shook the bottom bearing to bits and as the motor was direct drive it started to leak oil and I had to consign it to the seemed like a good idea at the time pile. Where it remained unused until the scrap man called ...

I currently have a spare electric disc type garden shredder and I keep harbouring thoughts about removing the disc and replacing that with blades of some sort that would chop up the soft stuff that usually clogs the shredders up. Another project... another day .... It also occurred to me that I could use it as an apple scratter for cider making ...

 

[bobthecob]

I shred brambles with a Bosch AXT 25 TC. It doesn't do brambles as well as it does, say, tree branches, but it's pretty damn good. Sadly I can't find one for sale online at a sensible price .... possibly some kind of Covid shortage.

 

[pargyle]

I shred brambles with a Bosch AXT 25 TC. It doesn't do brambles as well as it does, say, tree branches, but it's pretty damn good. Sadly I can't find one for sale online at a sensible price .... possibly some kind of Covid shortage.

Yes ... I like the look of that .. My current shredder is the Bosch AXT-RAPID-2200 which deals very effectively with branch wood prunings from my garden trees and anything that is fairly hard but it clogs up with leaves and soft stuff and it's a PITA when you have to stop and clear it every few minutes. I've had a few garden shredders over the years and this was by far the best but it would not do what the AXT 25 TC would do but .. at the better part of £500 that's a lot of investment unless you really do need to clear a lot of stuff.

 

[Antipodes]

You could run over a small piles with a suitable lawn mower, several times, raking between passes. Some should go in the catcher. Lower the mower bit by bit. At the end of that process, rake the lot up thoroughly and put it in the compost.

 

[Murox]

Ah, but doesn't burning it bring down the wrath of your local Facebook group? Every other post on mine is a complaint about someone having a (legal) bonfire. I've accumulated a 'burn pile' over the past three years that's about 4x20ft. I'm too scared to actually light it because of the outrage it'll cause (it's now too big anyway, and probably has snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, etc in it that I don't want to kill) and have decided that a shredder is the answer. I just don't have the spare cash to get one that'll be up to the job, and I'm loathe to hire one for £250 a day, when I'll need one on an ongoing basis. So the pile just grows...

Like I said it depends upon the size of your plot.
To misquote a certain personality "Facebook is for old people".
I do not use it, some years ago it would not police itself or help police specifically regarding the abuse of minors- it hasn't changed much in my view and its full of mindless moronic sexist chatter.
Maybe there is a redeeming feature I have yet to see?

 

[user 819]

I have the Spear & Jackson Quiet model 2800 exactly same model as the Qualcast s2800, though it doesn't cut them to shreds it does make a mess of them that I can dispose of in the compost bin. The cutter is a crushing rotating block rather then the bladed impact type.
All my garden waste is first put in to large plastic bags and then somewhere dry for a week or two so green stuff dries and dies then in the shredder.
Green stuff needs drying at least otherwise you have to get one of the Forest masters the smallest is £500 nearly.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOREST-M...Self-Feed-Wood-Chipper-shredder-/124115694977

 

[user 6127]

If you have a petrol strimmer, whack a mulching blade on it, something like this: Promech brushcutter mulching blade, universal three blade, 305mm diameter, 25.4mm bore, with adapter ring to 20mm: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

These things are FANTASTIC and brilliant bramble eaters. Where a normal strimmer will just cut horizontal, as these blades are bent, they cut vertical and horizontal. Perfect at eating brambles. I cleared out our orchard using one. Not to great on grass, but brambles, raspberries, thistles and anything else gets cut up into small sections.

 

[understanding_bees]

My garden has brambles and when I take them out I want rid of them and usually burn them but with the weather getting worse now they won't dry and they just smoke if burnt so I'm after a shredder. All the reviews talk about the thickness of the twigs a shredder will get rid of but it's not twigs that are the problem, I can always burn them. I want to shred brambles, old potatoes, weeds, stuff like that.

Anyone have personal experience with a garden shredder that's good for sinewy, green waste?

Yes, I would recommend a petrol engine powered mulching machine. I am in Australia, and have an Australian made "Rover" machine, with 5HP 4-stroke engine which I have had for many years. It can handle green twigs and branches up to about 20mm diameter, although this size material needs to be processed slowly. The machine can handle 10mm thick branches with ease. You may not have this brand of machine in UK, but maybe there is something similar. Perhaps you can view the following web page:
https://www.rover.com.au/info-centre/rover-garden-shreddersOn one occasion I used my machine to mulch a large quantity of rose bush prunings, for a friend, and the resulting mulch had very little evidence of once having thorns. I think that the same would apply if you were mulching blackberry canes, and wonder whether brambles are similar. In any case, I would recommend that you do not use an electric mulching machine, because it would most likely not be powerful enough.
There is one other thing that you will need to consider. You said that you want to shred weeds. If you have soft material which is fresh, in other words which has a high water content, then you may have problems with clogging the machine. Just think of the mushy mess you can get on the underside of a rotary mower when you cut lush green grass. The mulching machine will work best if the material being mulched is drier, such as autumn leaves, or woodier, such as branches of shrubs. If you have a lot of soft, green material, then put some branches or twigs through the machine whenever it STARTS to get clogged (and not AFTER it has already clogged up).

 

[madasafish]

I have a mid 1980s German made Lescha Super Zak shredder with 2500KW motor. Disk plus anvil type cutter.. Cuts wood to 2cms wide..No problems with brambles.. Very sturdy. Easy to service..(I still have the instructions.

Cost c £250..

 

[Newbeeneil]

If you have a petrol strimmer, whack a mulching blade on it, something like this: Promech brushcutter mulching blade, universal three blade, 305mm diameter, 25.4mm bore, with adapter ring to 20mm: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors

These things are FANTASTIC and brilliant bramble eaters. Where a normal strimmer will just cut horizontal, as these blades are bent, they cut vertical and horizontal. Perfect at eating brambles. I cleared out our orchard using one. Not to great on grass, but brambles, raspberries, thistles and anything else gets cut up into small sections.

I have a 52cc Hyundai brush cutter with a similar blade. It makes short shrift of the brambles and braken around my apiaries.

 

[ShinySideUp]

From the varied replies there is one seemingly constant theme and one that doesn't surprise me -- none of them will shred fresh brambles no matter how much one pays for a shredder (except of course giant commercial ones at £1000 to £2000). I have spent a lot of time trying to find some sort of holy grail of bramble disposal and, like the apocryphal 'real' one, it probably doesn't exist.

My answer now? A tarpaulin over the cut brambles until they dry out then burn them and bollocks to the Facebook brigade. I am fortunate in that all I have to do is wait for a strong south wind and all the smoke goes over a little-used football pitch then off into the countryside.

NB I've come off FB anyway, got fed up of knowing that Zuckerberg knows everything about what I do -- I don't miss it.

BTW I do have a strimmer with a brush cutter blade which will slice them up no problem but the brambles grow very tightly in between things I don't want removed so can't use it that way. The lawnmower solution does work but is a bit of a faff; curious why no one makes shredders that work like upside down lawnmowers having a massive blade rotating at high speed. Perhaps I'll contact a Robot Wars builder .

 

[madasafish]

NB I've come off FB anyway, got fed up of knowing that Zuckerberg knows everything about what I do -- I don't miss it.

Zuckerberg told me my life was boring...and not worth reading about..................

 

[frankenstine]

brambels will burn quite easy but not as just a pile of brambels, stack a few old pallets or some wood that;ll burn well to make a good fire base then stack the brambels up ontop of it, bit of diesel and it'll burn well

 

[enrico]

Just for be record I use a mountfield 2200 electric mulcher. It is years old and still going but it can take your hand in with it! It has eaten three right hand gloves if anyone wants a spare left one I have three! It crushed rather than cuts so it does brambles after a fashion but only when dried for a week. Did all my corn stalks today and will do asparagus if allowed to dry for a couple if days!
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