Shredded wood would work well with "greens" for composting. The nitrogen breaks down smaller wood chips quite quickly.

You may need to use the largest plate to avoid blocking up the plate made for chipping branches.

It cost me $60, but I couldn't shred bamboo, reed grass and green corn stalks without it.

Bill, I do use shredded wood for mulch and compost, this is to get rid of
the big rangy weed piles that stay around forever.

Baymee, the largest plate for what?
What machine shreds your bamboo and green corn stalks??

I have a Mighty Mac. The small shredder plate that comes with the machine has holes about one inch in diameter. The large plate has elongated slots about 2 or 3 inches long. It makes a world of difference between shredding branches and wet green things.

Thanks for responding Baymee.
I looked up "Mighty Mac", they range from 680.00 to 4500.00.
Seems like a lot for chopping weeds.
What do you have?

Linnea,

"I looked up "Mighty Mac", they range from 680.00 to 4500.00. Seems like a lot for chopping weeds."

So, what price range are you interested in?

MM

I have a Mackissic 12pt10 and it is excellent. I bought all of the screens with it and they are 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and then I guess it can be run with no screen.

This machine was expensive but I wish I had bought one years ago. It is something that should last a life time. This machine is really solid.

I shred palm fronds with the large screen and they go right through. They did clog up on the smaller screens.

Well, maybe I need to reevaluate what I could do with it besides chopping weeds.
I didn't have a price in mind when I first felt the need for something that would
deal with this constant problem.

I tend to avoid power equipment if I can, have a particular aversion to 2-cycle engines.
My bookkeeper has a chain saw which he kindly brings at need.

I have a Troybilt tractor mower, a Murray 22" push mower (which never stops
in spite of constant abuse) and just ordered a "Bully" 13" electric mower,
which I hope will enable me to have large shrub areas without overall mulch cover,
just grass.

I've done a lot of damage with weed whackers and really don't like them.

I just have these large areas of Mugwort that I can't mow.
The ground is too rough, one is an 80' retaining wall made of boulders.
Any suggestions?

Linnea2,

"I just have these large areas of Mugwort that I can't mow."

Well, with a shredder-chipper you will still have to pull the Mugwort and feed it to the machine, and that in itself will be a lot of work for you. Even though the shredder chipper is on wheels to move around from one worksite to another, it remains stationary while you feed it to produce the shredded product. And then you will have to manually put the shredded product into a compost pile or bin.

I wouldn't want you to be under the illusion that the shredder-chipper does all the work for you. Basically it just shreds whatever you feed into it and discharges the shredded product partly under the machine and partly out in front of it. While I am shredding, every few minutes I use a hoe or shovel to pull the material out from under the machine out into a big pile in front of it.

After I finish a shredding session I transfer the material from the pile to my compost pile(s). I use a big red plastic one-bushel basket to help with that. I can carry a bushel of shredded product on my shoulder. I have my compost piles near my shredder-chipper so I don't have to carry the product very far. Finely shredded material has a lot of surface area, so it composts rather fast.

I have a {{gwi:310412}}, which is the predecessor to the MacKissic 12PT10 that dmullen has. Mine has a 9hp Briggs&Stratton INTEK 4-cycle gas engine, while his has a 10hp B&S engine. Otherwise, I think our machines are the same. My engine starts on the second pull when cold and usually on the first pull when warm. Starting it is no problem and, for me, an electric starter would be superfluous. But they are available at extra cost.

Like dmullen, I purchased several optional screens for my machine so I can choose what texture my shredded product will have. For rapid composting, I put as much material through my " screen as I can. It produces a very fine, fluffy product, completely unrecognizable from what was fed to the machine.

Our machines have a single flywheel-mounted chipping blade and 24 free-swinging hammers in a hammermill section. The hammers keep bashing the material until it is small enough to escape through the holes in whatever screen is mounted. Because the hammers don't depend on a blade cutting action, the hammermill is a very versatile shredding machine. You can even feed material like oyster shells, acorns, or even clay pots -- things you would never think of trying to cut with a blade.

Your fibrous Mugwort might give a wrapping problem if you feed it directly to the shredding chute. I had a bunch of wild grapevines (they were 20 to 30 feet long) to feed my MacKissic, and at first I started feeding them into the shredder chute. Parts of the vines started wrapping around the hammermill rotor, severely slowing the rate at which they were shredded.

So I stopped feeding them to the shredder chute and then tried feeding the vines, one at a time, into the chipper chute. The vines went in rapidly and the chipper knife cut the vines into short sections which fell into the hammermill section where they were rapidly pulverized through the ¼" holes of my screen.

The resulting product was soft and fluffy enough to fill a pillow with. Totally unrecognizable as having come from wild grapevines. It made a great addition to a compost pile. If your Mugwort is fibrous enough to "wrap" the hammermill rotor (like my wild grapevines did), I would simply feed the Mugwort in through the chipper chute.

I am not familiar with Mugwort, so I don't know the best technique to shred it. But if you have a lot of it, you should be able to produce a lot of fine-textured compost from it. If you have some existing old Mugwort piles, you can also put them through the hammermill (but wear a face mask to avoid breathing mold spores).

In fact, I would probably toss in a little of the old rotted Mugwort while the new Mugwort was being shredded. That would "marry" the two materials together and effectively "seed" your shredded Mugwort for rapid composting. Or you could toss a little rich soil or leafmold in with the fresh material to inoculate it with microorganisms for the compost pile. Soil or dirt doesn't hurt the hammermill.

MM

I place a large tarp under the machine and in front of it. Then when I'm done, I can pull everything away with the tractor.

Also, a pitchfork works best to pull out the stuff that gathers under the plate.

Thank you Maineman,
maybe I should consider renting a machine once a season?
Anything with knives, in my experience, needs sharpening and other maintenance.
It sounds lovely though, turning these monsters into fluff. And I could use
some composting material, just used up a big pile of old hay and another
of grass clippings and my bins are low.

It will still take days to pull them out, maybe I should rent a GUY with brush hog AND chipper :o)

Anyone ever rent one before you bought? I mean the chipper.

Linnea2,

You might find a MacKissic shredder-chipper at a rental place. MacKissic does sell some equipment to rental companies.

MM

Chipper/Shedder - 10 HP MTD Yard Machine. I bought this machine 7 years ago and use it very often for my 0.5 acre of plants. It works very well with some modifications. I removed the exhaust screen to prevent clogging. The material is a little coarse, but more than adequate. I also removed the side branch feeder, since it is a pain to store with this stupid piece jutting out. I put small branches into the main shute. It does not chop leaves with the side screen removed, and jams if the screen is left in place, so I don't use leaves in my compost. Dry leaves are a misery so if they cannot be reduced with the lawnmower, I bag them and send to the dump. Dry leaves don't compsot very well anyway.

I am very happy with it in general, since it effectively demolishes my large quantity of vegetative material, with little effort. All small chippers take a bit of effort to determine just exactly what can be accomplished.

Looking over the internet I find the manufacturers are selling many underpowered units, and are giving the engine size in cc which means absolutely nothing. CC is sales bafflegab.The smallest unit for a home garden should be 10 HP, but an 8 HP might work. The exhaust should and must be off the side. Some units exhaust underneath the hopper and is a pain, since one must constantly remove the debris.
Here is a couple of URL's to my chipper in operation.

Copy and paste gthe URL into your browsr address line.

http://meuho.notlong.com/
26 October 2007 Sod Busting

http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
This is the URL to my Garden Blog. It is practical and useful.