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Machine to shred wet leaves?

 
pollinator
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I'm in the process of purchasing a new home & property in Missouri where I have quite a few VERY large oak trees. I am thrilled about the mulch (I had zero deciduous trees on my previous property in WA) but am wanting to anticipate how to best and most effectively use all the leaves, since I will need large amounts of mulch for my gardens. Since we have such an issue with ticks here, and ticks tend to overwinter in leaves, I was advised to not leave big piles of whole leaves but to proactively shred and compost them.

I am looking at leaf shredders, etc - but are there any leaf shredders that can handle wet leaves? All the ones I've seen are dry leaves only, but I figure there's got to be a machine out there that can handle wet leaves. I don't have woods, so don't really need a wood chipper for that, but would they be able to handle wet leaves better? This is beyond the "lay them out and run the mower over them" volume level, I think.
 
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I have a PTO wood chipper that will chop 8" logs.  Wet leaves jam it up.  I was chipping branches that had wet leaves on them and it jammed the chipper so tight it almost killed the tractor engine before I saw what was happening.  I had to tear the chipper apart to get the wet leaf jam out.  As far as I know, nothing will shred wet leaves, and the risk to equipment is pretty high if you try it..
 
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I have a much less serious wood chipper that handles 3" logs and it also doesn't like wet leaves. I wait for them to dry and drive over them with my mower. I'd be inclined to use them unshredded if they're not going to dry out for you, and just suffer the ticks come spring.
 
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My chickens shred wet leaves better than dry ones...

They spend the winter in a protected run.  We put all our fall leaves (primarily maple and birch but some oak) in a bunker in there that is 4' by 4' by 16' long.  They start out dryish to a bit wet (wetter the better).  2+ times a week I dig a hole in the pile with a pitch fork and throw in coffee grounds from a coffee shop.  Of course the chickens are scratching and pooping on the pile too.  Each time I dig the hole in a new place.  By the time I'm back to where I started, it's starting to break down and heat up (compost).  By spring it's definitely broken down a bunch but not yet compost.  Although that could be to our excessively cold winter temps fighting the composting process.  By mid/late summer it's ready for the garden.
 
Bethany Dutch
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Mike Haasl wrote:My chickens shred wet leaves better than dry ones...

They spend the winter in a protected run.  We put all our fall leaves (primarily maple and birch but some oak) in a bunker in there that is 4' by 4' by 16' long.  They start out dryish to a bit wet (wetter the better).  2+ times a week I dig a hole in the pile with a pitch fork and throw in coffee grounds from a coffee shop.  Of course the chickens are scratching and pooping on the pile too.  Each time I dig the hole in a new place.  By the time I'm back to where I started, it's starting to break down and heat up (compost).  By spring it's definitely broken down a bunch but not yet compost.  Although that could be to our excessively cold winter temps fighting the composting process.  By mid/late summer it's ready for the garden.



How interesting! Sounds like mechanical means may not work here efficiently, but I wouldn't mind letting birds do the work. When you say "bunker" what do you mean by that? Like a fenced area to keep the leaves enclosed inside the chicken run?
 
pollinator
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Bethany Dutch wrote:This is beyond the "lay them out and run the mower over them" volume level, I think.


Have you considered a souped-up lawnmower like a BCS or Grillo tractor with bush hog?
 
Bethany Dutch
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John Wolfram wrote:

Bethany Dutch wrote:This is beyond the "lay them out and run the mower over them" volume level, I think.


Have you considered a souped-up lawnmower like a BCS or Grillo tractor with bush hog?



Oh... a bush hog! Didn't even think of that. That would work, I think!
 
Mike Haasl
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Bethany Dutch wrote:How interesting! Sounds like mechanical means may not work here efficiently, but I wouldn't mind letting birds do the work. When you say "bunker" what do you mean by that? Like a fenced area to keep the leaves enclosed inside the chicken run?


Yup!  Turning is a chore but it gives me chicken time in the winter when they're bored anyway.  Sometimes I throw seeds in the compost so that when I'm back to the same spot, they've sprouted and the birds can dig through them.
Late-fall.jpg
Late fall
Late fall
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mid winter
mid winter
 
pollinator
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I agree about chickens being better at shredding wet leaves than machines. I have a leaf vac shredder that I can only use in the dry season, which is unfortunate because leaf color change and then drop in the west correlates with the first and second heavy cold rains of autumn.
 
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The OP mentioned ticks overwintering in leaf piles - there are certain breeds of birds that are known to be good at tick control, but I suspect just about any chickens in Mike's set-up will control ticks well enough!

I've know too many people hurt by tick-born diseases to "just put up with them", particularly if you're in a deer-rich area. Deer ticks only spend part of their life-cycle on deer - in my area both rodents and certain amphibians host part of the tick life-cycle.
 
Bethany Dutch
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Jay Angler wrote:The OP mentioned ticks overwintering in leaf piles - there are certain breeds of birds that are known to be good at tick control, but I suspect just about any chickens in Mike's set-up will control ticks well enough!

I've know too many people hurt by tick-born diseases to "just put up with them", particularly if you're in a deer-rich area. Deer ticks only spend part of their life-cycle on deer - in my area both rodents and certain amphibians host part of the tick life-cycle.



This is what I'm thinking too! Granted - I am hoping (perhaps naively) that after a few years I can establish systems that will significantly reduce ticks on my land, both with planting perimeter beds of aromatics, keeping things short and tidy, sulfur which apparently works great, and a few other things. But I don't want to create habitat for them, that's for sure!
 
Trace Oswald
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Jay Angler wrote:The OP mentioned ticks overwintering in leaf piles - there are certain breeds of birds that are known to be good at tick control, but I suspect just about any chickens in Mike's set-up will control ticks well enough!

I've know too many people hurt by tick-born diseases to "just put up with them", particularly if you're in a deer-rich area. Deer ticks only spend part of their life-cycle on deer - in my area both rodents and certain amphibians host part of the tick life-cycle.



I have had Lyme disease and it is very unpleasant.  Deer ticks are very bad here and I know a lot of people that have had Lyme disease, along with almost everyone's dogs getting it.
 
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I use my lawn mower to suck up all the leaves from my street,it sucks them up and shreds them, but watch out for stones
 
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Bethany,

My approach with leaves has always been to collect them dry when they shred effortlessly.  If you can prevent new leaves from adding to the old leaves, maybe some of those older leaves will dry a bit and shred.

But wet leaves could be a resource by themselves.  Wet leaves should be excellent at smothering out weeds, making an almost impermeable, organic barrier to the weeds.  And best of all, that barrier will eventually become part of your garden soil.

Eric
 
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I have tried mechanical leaf shredders, with the same sort of results as others have reported. Choosing to only work with dry leaves would be nice, but I don't have that much control over our weather.
I joined the thread to recommend chickens as an excellent solution to the problem. They shred the leaves, do a great job of cleaning out whatever bugs are trying to overwinter in the leaves and generally reduce tick populations wherever they have access.  By spring, they've added plenty of nitrogen and what has not composted yet makes good mulch with fertilizer included. Plus watching chickens working through big loose leaf piles is entertaining ;)
 
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Bethany Dutch wrote:

John Wolfram wrote:

Bethany Dutch wrote:This is beyond the "lay them out and run the mower over them" volume level, I think.


Have you considered a souped-up lawnmower like a BCS or Grillo tractor with bush hog?



Oh... a bush hog! Didn't even think of that. That would work, I think!


Around here, you can rent them from Home Depot.
 
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Bethany,

I have this machine:

https://betstco.com/3-point-wood-chipper-fh-eco19/

Bottom chute is for feeding branches (up to 3") and the top one for plant debris: leaves, twigs, small pieces. Inside of the machine there are rotating hammers that pulverize the material. It never bogged down my 33 HP tractor when I was feeding leaves (wet or dry). What caused occasional problems were the fresh juicy branches and I found out that alternating green and dry material prevents any clogging.
They also make a self powered unit with a built in gasoline engine.

I really like this machine , because of the shredder feature. Besides that I was never planning to chip anything bigger than 3 inches. Anything larger than 2..5" I cut with my chop saw and save as firewood.
 
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