best, biggest wood chipper for farm?

[GoinCountry]

I need a wood chipper. I have 2 acres of large diameter trees to cut down and chip. Most chippers only handle 2.5 inches diameter. I need
bigger, but not $44k worth. I've read up on DK2. I'm wondering who has one and what brand, etc?

 

[Kiki]

@gtaus Can you help?

 

[Sally PB]

I have a DR chipper/shredder that I like. It was around $1000 at TSC. It says it'll handle 3" diameter stuff.

When we had some trees taken down (way too close to the house and too big for DH to do), they chipped up everything 6" and under. Yeah, it was one of those $44K model ones, I bet. It ate up 6" oak like nothing.

Could you rent one, perhaps?

 

[gtaus]

I need a wood chipper. I have 2 acres of large diameter trees to cut down and chip. Most chippers only handle 2.5 inches diameter. I need
bigger, but not $44k worth. I've read up on DK2. I'm wondering who has one and what brand, etc?

First thing I would ask, why do you need wood chips?

My setup: I have a small electric wood chipper that is good up to 1.5 inches. That is great for really small jobs, like picking up dropped branches around the house after a good wind blow. Cost was less than $150.00.

I have an older larger gas wood chipper that is good up to 3.0 inches. Current price around $1,200.00. Much faster than the electric chipper, but the gas chipper can be a pain in the butt to get running at times. If I have a big cleanup, then I will take out the gas chipper.

Anything around 3.0 inches or larger gets cut up and thrown on my wood burning pile. That's firewood for me. Or, I might use some of that wood as the base of a new hügelkultur bed.

I have used wood chips in my chicken coop and run. Wood chips are great for coop litter, mulch around the plants, walkways, hügelkultur gardens, etc... I do feel good about making wood chips instead of just burning the wood debris. Nothing organic leaves my home. I find a use for it somewhere.

Having said that, I discovered that I could get all the free wood chips I can haul from our local county landfill. It takes me about 20 minutes to load up my trailer full of wood chips that will last me more than a year. If I had to chip that volume at home with even my gas chipper, I would be spending hours and hours on the project. If I need lots of wood chips, I just go to the landfill and load up the trailer. Much better use of my time and labor.

Let me add, that last winter I used paper shreds I make at home instead of using wood chips as bedding in the coop, and I had great success with the paper shreds. I will be using paper shreds again this winter in the coop. In other words, I don't really use much wood chips anymore. The wood I do chip up at home is used in Dear Wife's flower gardens as mulch, and I will still toss wood chips into the coop for deep bedding and chicken run to compost.

If/when my gas and electric chippers die, I will not replace them. Not when I can get free wood chips just down the road.

I tried to contact some local arborists about chipping up my larger wood, but their machines only go up to 6 inches, and after that they buck up the wood and throw it into their truck. Basically, they can chip up most branches of a tree, but the tree trunk itself has to be cut up into rounds and hauled off. Your local arborists might have heavier machines, and it might be worth asking how much they would charge to chip up your wood and leave it with you.

Those big commercial units are crazy expensive, and I could never justify that cost for my 3 acres of wooded land. Especially now that I know I can get free wood chips from the landfill.

If you have local access to free wood chips, or if you can get on chipdrop.com for a shipment, then you might not be very interested in buying a wood chipper. But, I guess it depends on what you really need the wood chips for and how much do you need?

 

[GoinCountry]

First thing I would ask, why do you need wood chips?

My setup: I have a small electric wood chipper that is good up to 1.5 inches. That is great for really small jobs, like picking up dropped branches around the house after a good wind blow. Cost was less than $150.00.

I have an older larger gas wood chipper that is good up to 3.0 inches. Current price around $1,200.00. Much faster than the electric chipper, but the gas chipper can be a pain in the butt to get running at times. If I have a big cleanup, then I will take out the gas chipper.

Anything around 3.0 inches or larger gets cut up and thrown on my wood burning pile. That's firewood for me. Or, I might use some of that wood as the base of a new hügelkultur bed.

I have used wood chips in my chicken coop and run. Wood chips are great for coop litter, mulch around the plants, walkways, hügelkultur gardens, etc... I do feel good about making wood chips instead of just burning the wood debris. Nothing organic leaves my home. I find a use for it somewhere.

Having said that, I discovered that I could get all the free wood chips I can haul from our local county landfill. It takes me about 20 minutes to load up my trailer full of wood chips that will last me more than a year. If I had to chip that volume at home with even my gas chipper, I would be spending hours and hours on the project. If I need lots of wood chips, I just go to the landfill and load up the trailer. Much better use of my time and labor.

Let me add, that last winter I used paper shreds I make at home instead of using wood chips as bedding in the coop, and I had great success with the paper shreds. I will be using paper shreds again this winter in the coop. In other words, I don't really use much wood chips anymore. The wood I do chip up at home is used in Dear Wife's flower gardens as mulch, and I will still toss wood chips into the coop for deep bedding and chicken run to compost.

If/when my gas and electric chippers die, I will not replace them. Not when I can get free wood chips just down the road.

I tried to contact some local arborists about chipping up my larger wood, but their machines only go up to 6 inches, and after that they buck up the wood and throw it into their truck. Basically, they can chip up most branches of a tree, but the tree trunk itself has to be cut up into rounds and hauled off. Your local arborists might have heavier machines, and it might be worth asking how much they would charge to chip up your wood and leave it with you.

Those big commercial units are crazy expensive, and I could never justify that cost for my 3 acres of wooded land. Especially now that I know I can get free wood chips from the landfill.

If you have local access to free wood chips, or if you can get on chipdrop.com for a shipment, then you might not be very interested in buying a wood chipper. But, I guess it depends on what you really need the wood chips for and how much do you need?

I want chips for will kk

 

[GoinCountry]

wow, I've learned don't try to answer on my phone. I've decided screw the woodchips. I want them for pathways mostly. Rice hulls are actually the best, but I don't live in california anymore.
there is 'free chips' but when you sign up you can get ANYTHING. palm fronds, anything. Most people here want their chips anyway.
i'm still trying to figure out what to do with half a cleared acre that has small shredded stumps sticking up everywhere.

 

[gtaus]

I've decided screw the woodchips. I want them for pathways mostly.

It's hard to justify spending lots of money on a wood chipper for a small intended use of wood chips. Might be better off buying bagged wood chips mulch at Menards, 4 bags for $10.00 on sale. Way cheaper than buying a chipper that you might not need.

Stump removal can really be a pain in the butt. I usually burn out my small stumps with a fire ring, some diesel gas, and lots of junk wood. That takes a long time, but good if you only have 1 or 2 stumps and don't mind waiting. If you have lots of stumps to remove, you might consider renting a stump removal machine for a day. I was able to grind out about 20 small stumps in just one day. So, the rental paid for itself.

 

[GoinCountry]

these stumps are 1-4 inches, shredded. a bushhog went thru and cleared out the area. Now I can't plant anything there bc of the stumps. The roots underground won't burn, no oxygen. Some are pretty big, most are fair to midlin. We have probably 2000 big and small stumps and stumplets. lol
yeah, I'm looking at renting an excavator. they ain't cheap.

neighbor said her goats would eat them all, but i don't have fencing for goats. i guess weight the cost of goat fencing and the time, or an excavator and less time. prolly excavator. if one of hers got out, it just wouldn't be good. and they STINK.
I have 2 acres of forest. the chipper would chip it, or a lot of it. but i'm off the chipper now. i just can't let all that money go to waste that I paid for clearing that area, with brush coming back.
I envision moving the chicken coop over there, theres shady area, and maybe another animal.

 

[gtaus]

Well, if you have 2000 stumps, maybe renting a machine and finishing the project in your lifetime is the better option.

I have had some success using a farm jack to pull out small stumps. That might be an option if you don't mind putting in some sweat equity into your project. Here is a YouTube video of how to use a farm jack to pull out stumps.

Of course, for small stumps, a spade and axe would get the job done. Or, sometimes I might dig down far enough and use my recip saw with a pruning blade to cut it out. Manual methods work, but they take time and energy.

My brother-in-law from Texas used dynamite for stubborn stumps. Well, he said he did anyway.

My dad used to tie up a stump to the pickup and give her gas. I don't recommend that option, but he did pull out lots of stumps at the expense of trashing out the pickup.

Some people hook up blocks and tackle and use a winch or tractor to pull out stumps. I have never done that, but using pulleys to increase the pull strength works for them. You just have to be willing to invest in the more expensive hardware to get the job done.

Lots of options to consider. Hope you find a solution to your problem.

 

[GoinCountry]

Thanks for all the ideas. 99% of the stumps are under 3 inches. They were shredded by a bushhog. They aren't big enough to rope and pull out by truck. These days it's like 80% humidity and 93° heat. It doesn't take much to knock me out. I'm gonna rent something that digs.