[Gleavo]

Hi this year I've decided to invest in a garden shredder so I can use the results of my big autumn cut down as leaf mold on my plot come next spring rather than bagging and taking it to the tip.

Thing is, I've got lots of hedge/shrubs but also tonnes of ivy and I know it's probably going to be quite problematic in the shredder.

If anyone has any opinions on the following contenders they would be gratefully received:

Qualcast Garden Shredder 2800w
Bosch AXT 2200w
Challenge Xtreme 2400w (Argos special!)

Again not a speed freak petrol head so I'd rather slow & efficient than a muscle machine that clogs every 30 seconds! Just if you have any experience of the above. To help me decide.

Thanks in advance!
G x

[Gwiz]

I'd love to help, but I know nothing about any of those three!
Hopefully someone will be more helpful

[Welsh Merf]

I don't have a shredder, but looking at your list I would suggest the most powerful motor, i.e. the 2800w one.

[Goldfinger]

I used to have one.

Got rid because of 'lack of use'.

OK, you may use it more than I did, but you may want to weigh up the cost against buying one, and hiring one just maybe once a year.

[Growster...]

Gleavo, a problem with shredding ivy is that it often re-roots if you use it as a mulch, and, then you have another problem.

The best result from a shredder comes from only chucking in dry stuff, and then not putting it on the soil as it leeches the nitrogen, so you can use it for paths etc.

Go for the most powerful as stated here, but for the record, our old B and D chappie has been going for over twenty years, and we still churn out enough for a good barrowload each season!

[Trillium]

I used to have a chipper/shredder with a strong B&S motor and it did a very good job of chipping things, including dogwood branches, which for their slim size, are very hard to chip normally (too slick). The more powerful motor didn't clog provided you fed it slowly and let it clear before pushing in the next handful.

Most important, you need to determine just how much overall largish branches you'd chip each year to determine what size and cost best suit you. If you're mainly into pencil thick branches, then you really don't need the big papa like I had.

Sadly, we neglected to cover it in the garage (which doesn't leak) and it rusted all the moving parts, so it was hopeless to repair since you had to remove literally a zillion screws to get at the motor parts. So do be sure you have somewhere dry to store whatever you choose.

[Scotch Thistle]

You might find this site useful, he's got some fairly impartial and honest reviews for various garden equipment,
http://www.fredshed.co.uk/boschshredders.htm

[fatcat1955]

I have the bosch and i'm well pleased with it. There are 2 types of shredder, 1 has a blade similar to a rotary mower at the bottom of the funnel which chops most things up to 15 mm in diameter. The one i have has a screw drive at the top of the funnel which crushes anything up to 30mm. The screw drive one's are a lot quieter but are no good on soft green growth. In an ideal world you would have both but if i had to pick i would rather have mine because it chops up the larger stuff and the soft green growth will rot down quicker than the big stuff.

[Willow_Warren]

I'm pretty sure the Bosch one is the one my parents have...

They use it a lot as have quite a few trees and a large beech hendge in the garden!  It is amazing how much they compress the about or waste you prodoce with a hedge trimming!  I invited them up to my house  for the day and asked them to bring their shredder - hedgy trimming day out for them 

I think the description says something like up to 30mm, but I only put smaller things though - say about 15mm...  the larger stuff was cut up for kindling for the fire though so now wasted!  Really soft stuff won't go through it to well...

It is convenient to have one "on-hand" rather than having to hire one though..

H

[Goosegirl]

I bought an Alko from Argos with some vouchers many years ago. The entry hole was tiny and it wouldn't even shred a small Christmas tree pruning so, when I retired, my OH persuaded me to buy an expensive, petrol-driven one. When assembled, it was huge, heavy, and my OH fell into my raspberry canes getting it out of the shed  . Branches were ok when you put them into the branch hopper, but prunings didn't fall to the business end of the other hopper. I decided on a Viking shredder (made by Stihl) - I think it is the GE250 model, and it is brilliant (I call it Ethelshred) .  I just grab an armful of prunings and stuff them into the top, then another armful which I stuff into the top and the first lot goes down and gets shredded. I got the shop to throw in a collection box which is also great. The resultant shreddings go into one of those large bags with handles that you get sand delivered in, and I leave it to rot down for a year or more. I have two of these bags so, when one rots down so far, I empty it into the other bag and have another one to fill whenever. The shreddings are great as a mulch.