Mankind has invented many convenient devices that can facilitate the work of the gardener by automating it. One such mechanism is a garden shredder for grass and branches. There is no such garden or vegetable garden where it would not be useful. Unless, of course, the owners want to have order and cleanliness in their plot, and at the same time get mulch or permanent bio-fertilizer, like valuable vegetable compost.
- What is a garden shredder for?
- Electric garden shredders
- Garden shredders
- Classification shredders by power
- Important things when choosing shredders
88 to content ↑ Why do you need a garden shredder?
As its name implies, it is intended for grinding. Any garden garbage - thick stalks of weeds, even thick branches of trees - “in the teeth” of this device. And from grass, branches can be made not only environmentally friendly fertilizer, but also mulch.
What usually do with the branches after pruning the garden, weeding the garden? Packed in huge bags, ordered garbage trucks for export. Or burned, while receiving, of course, valuable ash for fertilizer, but at the same time ingesting smoke and disrupting the environment. Ash can be collected after gatherings near the brazier( birch logs are especially good for this purpose).And the rest of the garden, plant residues( grass, branches) is best processed in a shredder.
If the need for your farm of this useful mechanism is long overdue, you should understand what are garden shredders. And they are different.
They are selected according to the following parameters:
- engine type,
- engine power,
- type of knife system,
- size of trash receptacle,
- availability of different modes( ability to recycle different types of garbage),
- degree of automation of the mechanism and its reverse,
- degree of user protection.
Engine type shredders are divided into electric and gasoline.
↑ to content ↑Electric garden shredders
Electric - the engine has a capacity of up to 2.6 kW.Such mechanisms will cope with any plant residues, including branches, up to 4 cm thick. Garden shredders with an engine of such power are not too noisy, not too expensive, but not too powerful. They are easy to maintain. It is quite suitable for a not very large backyard or amateur gardener.
The minus of electric grinders is the length of the cord, which limits the movement of equipment around the area.
Plus - ease of use and maintenance, as well as environmental friendliness.
↑ to content ↑Gasoline garden shredders
Gasoline shredders are equipped with a two- or four-stroke engine that runs on a mixture of gasoline and oil. They can be attributed to professional gardening equipment. These devices are many times more powerful than electrical "fellows"( engine power up to 8 kW), capable of recycling even wood waste with a diameter of up to 6 cm. In principle, they are subject to garden waste of any kind.
Plus gasoline shredders - mobility of movement on the site.
Minus - very noisy, decently spoil the environment.
↑ to the content ↑Classification of shredders by power
By power all garden shredders can be divided into three groups. Conditionally call them: amateur, universal, professional.
Amateur devices have an electric motor of low power( up to 1.6 kW).Cutting system - knife( disk).They are "in the teeth" branches up to three centimeters in diameter. For a young garden plot, processing of weeds, tops, grass, leaves, branches of young trees are perfect.
Universal devices can be either a gasoline or an electric motor. Their average power is 2.5 kW.The diameter of the shredded branches is maximally 4 cm. Additionally, they can be equipped with a “vacuum cleaner”( garbage retracting system), a milling cutter( and not knives), a mulch funnel.
Professional devices - the most powerful.
More often produced with gasoline engines with a capacity ranging from 3.8 kW( if the engines are electric, then three-phase).Equipped with large cutting mills, have wide funnels for loading garden waste, always with a retractor system, with the function of manufacturing and pressing mulch. The diameter of the shoots, branches for processing - up to 6 cm.
Grinding systems are of two types - knife( disk) and milling.
A disk system is a disk equipped with two( or more than two) steel knives. They are driven by a shaft. The speed of movement directly depends on the hardness of garden waste being shredded. Best of all knives cope with young branches, tops, weeds, leaves, grass. Slightly lighter than fresh, the mechanism crushes dried branches.
Knives, although made of steel, but rather quickly become dull, from which the quality and speed of processing is significantly reduced.
Milling system is a mill - gear with numerous sharp edges. This type of processing device is much more reliable, much more practical disk. The retractor itself feeds crop residues to the cutters( just load it into the funnel), and the thickness of the processed waste is the maximum possible for such equipment, including dry branches of old trees. Such equipment is suitable for large farmer or garden farms.
содерж to content ↑Important details when choosing a shredder
What you should pay attention to when choosing a garden shredder for grass and twigs:
- It is advisable to have hardened steel knives or double-sharpened knives( dull knives can simply be flipped).
- It will be more convenient to use when the funnel for receiving the processed residues is wide, conical and inclined.
- Pay attention to whether there is a pusher for garbage in the kit - it is necessary if there is no retractor mechanism in the grinder design.
- Ability to switch modes for shredding various wastes will increase productivity, reduce energy / fuel consumption.
- Choppers with pre-cutting knives will last longer.
- The anti-start function prevents sudden power up after power surges( applies to electric shredders).
- Reverse scrolls the knives in the opposite direction, if something is wrapped around them or a branch is stuck in the mechanism.
- Combined models are more expensive, but they have several holes, allowing to grind large and small debris at the same time.
- Safety glasses are required to work with the grinder.
- When buying, pay attention to the noise level - for use of equipment in a private sector( if there are summer residents' neighbors) it should not exceed 84 dB.But do not forget about yourself either - protect your own ears with special headphones.
