PTO Chipper, Why Do I Need One?

[Old Red]

So I have started to read the threads about PTO chippers and these things have my attention. Particularly the Woodmaxx Hydro for my lil BX 23s tractor..... Here is my question. I have a grapple that I take limbs and brush and carry it to my brush pile and burn the brush pile when it gets big enough to burn. So in the is scenario, it doesn't appear I would need a chipper. For the guys who have them, why do you have them? Don't want to burn? Not allowed to burn? What am I missing. They look cool and I want once just not sure if I need it or not....I have however, bought tons of stuff that are cool that I don't need LOL. Thanks for the tips.....

 

[DMW]

Burning restrictions mostly. I also found that cleanup after limbing a tree is a lot faster. I pick up the branches once, then straight into the chipper.

 

[Silvic]

You don't need one unless you do.
Yes you can burn sometimes but maybe there is a burn ban when you want to burn. Maybe it is due to air quality, maybe due to fire risk during dry months.
Maybe you want the chips for making trails or lining trails, maybe you want to be more ecological and put more nutrients back into the soil at a different rate and with more natural material.

I would not be without a chipper and I would not be without my masticator/mulcher. (think chipper on tracks that mulches/chips as you go)
I also have a fire-trailer that I bring on site when I have to/want to burn slash.

If you would always burn as your preferred method and never have a reason not to burn (read as regulatory restrictions or not smart time due to dry conditions) and have no requirement or use for the chips, then you should not waste you money on a chipper. Otherwise they are a great tool.

 

[4570Man]

I want a chipper but this is more what I had in mind. Fast tree and land clearing with disc mulcher! - YouTube

 

[747driver]

We live in a National Forest. The Forestry dept keeps close watch on burn piles...especially during dry spells. They use helicopters to monitor. We have alot of trails so we use the chips for the trails. Also use them for erosion control on our 24 acres. We burn firewood so anything up to 4 inches goes through our WoodMaxx 8H. Every once in awhile I will go rent a commercial mulcher to clean up bigger piles. I can drive through the forest and chip as I go with the WoodMaxx.

 

[newbury]

As others mentioned - burning regulations in Alexandria, Va.
But also -
I've a 1/4 acre lot that that had been gone to nature for 30 years. Trees, sapling, briars, vines. After cleaning up I needed mulch.

These pics show maybe half the stuff I took out.





My choices were cart it to the dump myself in my F350 - about $15 dump fee and 30 miles of driving, plus labor of loading and unloading and I guessed at 10 loads AT LEAST. So I estimated $500
Pay a trashhauler to haul it - based on getting dirt trucked on a later project about the same - $500
Pay the county at ~$60 per 8'x4'x4' tied/bundled load
Rent a chipper for about $800 week
or
Buy my Jinma 8" chipper for ~$1,700.

Since I knew I would use the chipper later in Mississippi I bought, got good use out of it and have used it several times in Mississippi.

 

[oldballs]

All of the above...........

In my case i had already bought a stand alone chipper/shredder (MacKissic). I like it for small jobs and use the shredded/chipped debris for mulch and walkways on my little three acres and around some of my kids' places in residential neighborhoods. It can be towed by itself to their place.

 

[ericm979]

Burn permits are essentially impossible to get in our county. At least half the year it's too dry to burn even if I could get a permit (and we're in a wet area of California). It's tough to give away good firewood and I generate far more than I could ever burn. Anything that fits in the chipper gets chipped. Getting a rental anything takes a number of hours and I'd have to manuver a trailer up to where the piles are. The grapple helps with that but a pile built by grapple is harder to pull material from than one piled by hand.

I have a Woodmaxx 8H which I have generally been happy with. My Branson has 32 PTO HP and I sometimes wish for more when chipping 5" or larger material. I have to slow the feed way down and sometimes stop the feed entirely if the chipper slows too much. Woodmax say the 8H can go on tractors with much lower PTO HP but I wouldn't do it unless you're only chipping small diameter material. The chipper is the one attachment that makes me wish I had more power.

If you can burn legally and safely then there's a lot less reason to have a chipper.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

The biggest reason I want a wood chipper is to scare the **** out of my daughter's boyfriend. Just by coincidence I may happen to be cleaning/greasing/test running it when he comes by. Might make the conversation a bit more meaningful for him...

:laughing:

Actually, I do want a chipper, but I want a stand alone one, not one driven by my tractor's pto. Same goes for a wood splitter. I'll be bringing material to the chipper and splitter WITH the tractor. I don't want it tied down to the tool I'm running.

 

[Michael Aos]

I bought a ~$400 Harbor Freight chipper shredder.

Then before I'd even used it, I discovered my local landscaping supply will let me dump limbs for $6/yd.

 

[brusew86]

We have no burn restrictions here. I have 100+ acres nearly all woods. I like to scavange blown downs, and dying trees for firewood and/or for the lumber. I Like to walk in my woods a lot so I like to clean up the mess afterwords. Transporting all the waste to the burn pile is a real hassle.

 

[Old Red]

We have no burn restrictions here. I have 100+ acres nearly all woods. I like to scavange blown downs, and dying trees for firewood and/or for the lumber. I Like to walk in my woods a lot so I like to clean up the mess afterwords. Transporting all the waste to the burn pile is a real hassle.

Indeed it is...indeed it is....I knew someone would help me come up with something! I am all the time cleaning up around the edge of my field for my cab and I could toss the limbs in the chipper vs the woods and keep my edges nice. Helps with sneaking around on turkeys as well.

 

[oosik]

Well - I suppose, if I checked, there are probably burning restrictions. I thin and chip my stands of young pines in the spring - so its still pretty wet. I just don't like the idea of trying to burn large piles of young pines - they really don't burn that well.

I thin my young stands of Ponderosa pines and will cut and chip 750 to 900 young pines every spring. I have a big 'ol heavy grapple on my tractor but for this job it is useless. No way I can ***** foot the tractor into the stand of pines and retrieve a single fallen tree. All cut trees are drug out by hand - unfortunately, those are my hands - and stacked on a "to chip" pile.

If you can get rid of whatever you have by burning - and it creates no problems - then don't waste your time/money on a chipper. There are a world of other ag implements that are out there for you to consider.

 

[ericm979]

TI'll be bringing material to the chipper and splitter WITH the tractor.

I leave the chipper on the back while I'm picking up material with the grapple and taking it to the chipping area, then when I'm ready I turn around and chip it. Of course if you have a helper feeding the chipper it can't be on the tractor.

Before I got the grapple I'd hand pile the material to be chipped in a place that I can get the tractor to (our land is steep). With the grapple I still have to pile it where I can reach with the grapple but I can take it elsewhere to chip.

 

[CobyRupert]

We have no burn restrictions here. I have 100+ acres nearly all woods. I like to scavange blown downs, and dying trees for firewood and/or for the lumber. I Like to walk in my woods a lot so I like to clean up the mess afterwords. Transporting all the waste to the burn pile is a real hassle.

Uhmm.... NY typically has a state-wide ban from March to around mid-May. In their infinite wisdom it's in effect regardless of weather conditions, even if it's rained for 2 weeks straight. The result of this policy is now burn piles are 3 times as big, and the fire's 3 times as wild when the ban is finally lifted. So then ban finally gets lifted there's now pent up demand to burn them before they get even bigger, even though the weather might of turned dry. Genius !! :duh:

 

[TerryR]

Actually, I do want a chipper, but I want a stand alone one, not one driven by my tractor's pto. Same goes for a wood splitter. I'll be bringing material to the chipper and splitter WITH the tractor. I don't want it tied down to the tool I'm running.

Why take the material to the chipper? That's extra work. With a PTO chipper it's easy to take the chipper to the material.

 

[mikester]

So I have started to read the threads about PTO chippers and these things have my attention. Particularly the Woodmaxx Hydro for my lil BX 23s tractor..... Here is my question. I have a grapple that I take limbs and brush and carry it to my brush pile and burn the brush pile when it gets big enough to burn. So in the is scenario, it doesn't appear I would need a chipper. For the guys who have them, why do you have them? Don't want to burn? Not allowed to burn? What am I missing. They look cool and I want once just not sure if I need it or not....I have however, bought tons of stuff that are cool that I don't need LOL. Thanks for the tips.....

For me chipping is faster than dealing with lots of branches and huge low density burn piles....generally I have to wait for days with little wind and time to watch the fire.

Chips make great garden mulch. Win-win.

 

[brusew86]

Uhmm.... NY typically has a state-wide ban from March to around mid-May. In their infinite wisdom it's in effect regardless of weather conditions, even if it's rained for 2 weeks straight. The result of this policy is now burn piles are 3 times as big, and the fire's 3 times as wild when the ban is finally lifted. So then ban finally gets lifted there's now pent up demand to burn them before they get even bigger, even though the weather might of turned dry. Genius !! :duh:

Yes that is true. I have a large enough piece of property and its rural enough, I don't really abide by it However, once at a friend's house.....small town. We were having a fire, not even that big just a few pallets. IT was snowing and there was half an inch on the ground. Someone with nothing better to do called the fire chief who came by......yes its genius

 

[hslogger]

I chip because I think burning piles of brush makes no sense. I can use the chips as mulch, into the barn yard, flower beds, or into the manure pile to compost. If I stack my brush right, pulling off the piles is a simple task and easy to feed right into the chipper. Sometimes I take the brush to a central location where I like to pile it.

I have burned plenty of tree residue and brush in the past and I think it is wasteful.

 

[CobyRupert]

I chip because I think burning piles of brush makes no sense. I can use the chips as mulch, into the barn yard, flower beds, or into the manure pile to compost. If I stack my brush right, pulling off the piles is a simple task and easy to feed right into the chipper. Sometimes I take the brush to a central location where I like to pile it.

I have burned plenty of tree residue and brush in the past and I think it is wasteful.

Wasteful? I've wondered about this and would like to hear other arguments, but..... (IMHO):
If you chip, you're burning diesel, a non-renewable fuel that's brought up from underground and adds to the above ground carbon/methane levels. Plus the chips you create may now break down anaerobically, creating methane, which is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than plain old CO2 if you had just burnt them.