Grinding chips twice through the same type of chipper; small farm

[MrMoon5shine]

Thanks MrMoon5Shine! That's been largely disproven! There ARE tree types that can be detrimental but they're rare and cedar, thought it doesn't break down fast, has been proven not to be one of them surprisingly. I had to research this myself. Most of what grows around here is no problem and I've done this in my garden for quite some time! Cheers!

thanks did not known that, always learning!

 

[flushcut]

Keep your eyes out for a Vermeer HG 2000. They are no longer manufactured but they are still around. Or see if you can get you hands on the IPL/IPB and back engineer one. The base chassis is a BC1000 chipper.

 

[BeaverMonkey]

What about black walnut? Doesn't that secrete a type of natural herbicide? Juglone?

If you are willing to spend the money on a useable chipper, and the maintenance that comes with it, surely you could sort out some sort of slanted vibrating screed/screening system? You're already planning some sort of conveyor system to feed the chipper... Putting the big pieces back through a chipper probably won't do what you're wanting: most of those larger chips out of my machine are the result of feeding pieces that are too small to start with, or the tail end of a log/branch, where the feed rollers are not forcing it into the knives- they just get sort of shredded and blown out.

Could you put the big stuff (or maybe just all of it) through some sort of roller-crusher instead? Seems like that would make even the big stuff thin and pliable enough to put out with the mulch, and would help it break down faster?


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[TreeMuggs]

CrookedClove, what size are the biggest chunks you are worried about? If they are just out of a regular wood chipper then I think you are over-thinking this. Just leave them in a pile to compost for at least a year (or better, 2) and use them just like that. If you watch Back To Eden, he plants everything directly into composted mulch straight from chippers. The only stuff he is screening is from the chicken yard, just so he is getting the best of the best. The larger chunks help to create the micropores that aid in gas exchange. As Paul says in the documentary, this is not meant to be difficult, this is how nature works. Screening 300 yards of wood chips certainly sounds like a lot of work to me. Keep it simple. Let time and rain do all the work for you, they compost quicker than you might think. Cheers.

 

[CrookedClove]

TreeMuggs, the fact that there's bigger chips is only a problem because it can prevent a lot of the new shoots from coming up easily (or at all). The more energy the plant spends getting through the mulch, the less it yields at the end of the season. When you grow 50k plus plants that's a hidden cost that adds up quick. We get temps of -15 degrees every year so we like to mulch pretty thick. It's not realistic to thin the mulch back out every spring to assist the young plants, so the alternative is getting the right consistency!

 

[CrookedClove]

Keep your eyes out for a Vermeer HG 2000. They are no longer manufactured but they are still around. Or see if you can get you hands on the IPL/IPB and back engineer one. The base chassis is a BC1000 chipper.

Great call Flushcut! Hadn't seen that one yet! Still scary how much they cost... $30k for an older used one is quite a chunk of change. Garlic farming provides a nice income on the side for us but isn't a major cash cow, so I'm going to have to consider the screening route and see what I can find!

 

[treebilly]

Isn't garlic a pretty hardy plant? Not that my small family garden is even close to what you're doing, but I've had 8" sprouts completely covered in snow. I was told that it doesn't care what the winter is like. I can understand a little about it pushing up , but mine has sprouted by now.

Good watch on that returning to eden. I'll be viewing it again paying better attention

 

[CrookedClove]

Rich, in OH you can probably get away with that during many winters, especially if you're close to the lake (I'm from Holland MI). Where I'm at we not only get very very cold nights but high winds at times too. Put the two together and even garlic cannot stand it. I've had cloves frost damaged underground that never even came up where my mulch had blown off. Frost damage once to a garlic sprout and you're alright, frost damage twice and you're in trouble. The common practice is to not have them sprout too early and to cover them (yes, with mulch) if they do come up before winter. The goal is to plant them at such a time in fall to where the sprout doesn't come up but the roots do get a worthwhile head start. Yours wouldn't make it through my winter and I doubt it'll reliably make it through half of yours on average. Good question!

 

[flushcut]

Great call Flushcut! Hadn't seen that one yet! Still scary how much they cost... $30k for an older used one is quite a chunk of change. Garlic farming provides a nice income on the side for us but isn't a major cash cow, so I'm going to have to consider the screening route and see what I can find!

30k isn't scary, have you seen the price of a new chipper now that's scary.

I think for what you will spend on a tub grinder, used, would equate to many years of delivered compost.

 

[CrookedClove]

30k isn't scary, have you seen the price of a new chipper now that's scary.

I think for what you will spend on a tub grinder, used, would equate to many years of delivered compost.

I suppose if the end product is something I can resell, even at just $10 a yard to gardeners, then over the years you could recoup a lot of the cost!

 

[Altissimus]

Find a big forestry outfit within a hundred or so miles w a Tub Grinder or Demolition Mill , yard lots of waste ahead of time ... Have them in for a day or two a year.

 

[flushcut]

At $10 a yard you would need to sell 3,000 yards to recoup your 30k investment NOT including fuel, teeth, bearings, grease, and support machinery (read an additional $10-20k per year). The guy by us that tub grinds charges around 4k a day but has around $1,100 in over head a day, mostly fuel. It's something to think about. I would think realistically you are going to be in the 100k + range even for modest tub grinding.

 

[SeanKroll]

Post chipper conveyor belt screening/ sorting?