Bosch Quiet Shredders OK for Mixed Waste?

 

I am looking for a garden shredder and answers to an earlier post were
pointing me in the direction of the Bosch quiet shredders.  I am looking
at the  AXT2000 HP, which has the spiral cutting system, rather than the
much more powerful AXT2200 HP, which is probably a bit over the top for
my needs.

I have used the cheap noisy type of shredder in the past and am not keen
to repeat the experience, but before I commit to one of these quiet
shredders, I would welcome advice on whether they are really suitable
for the waste from my medium sized garden.

I have a few trees and it is clear that these shredders have no problem
with prunings from those.  I understand that soft herbaceous stuff does
not need shredding, but I tend to have a lot of shrub prunings and
tougher herbaceous stuff to dispose of.

The shrubs include stuff like Buddleja, Lavatera, Forsythia, Dogwood,
Elder etc.

The tougher herbaceous stuff that takes a long time to rot down includes
   Leucanthemum (Ox-eye Daisy)and Lupin stems.

Has anybody any experience of using these shredders with this type of waste?

TIA

Steve

 

"steveswann(takethisout)"@blueyonder.co.uk says...

Everything goes through ours but we tend to wait until we have woody
stuff before attempting anything soft then feed alternate sorts of waste
using a nice woody stick if it starts to clog. waiting until
autumn/winter and of course everythings goes through no problem, its just
actual weeds we dont put through.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

 

Charlie Pridham wrote:

I had one and found it fine. The only problem was that I have a lot of
hedging, the trimmings need shredding. Doing it with the Bosch took
forever. I now have a petrol shredder, its throughput is great, just
throw the cuttings into its maw and away it goes.

 

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:32:23 +0100, takethisout



I've had a Bosch 1600HP for about seven years now and it's still going
strong, although I think the blades are getting a bit blunt and the
bore a little worn now. I don't know the 2000 model, but it may be
similar in design.

As you say, most herbaceous stuff doesn't really need shredding, but
the problem I find with it when it does is when you try and feed too
much through in one bundle, IYSWIM. There is quite a wide feed slot on
the top of my machine, but this narrows down inside to the throat
where the screw cutter is. If you feed across the entire width of the
feed slot, this has to compress down to fit the throat below. The
compressing force is purely one of drag by the screw pulling the stuff
downwards. Woody stuff is strong enough not to break, and by-and-large
goes through OK, but herbaceous stuff will compress to a certain
degree and then snap, resulting in a jammed-up throat that can be a
pain to clear.

The solution is to be aware of the problem and why it happens, and
feed herbaceous stuff more slowly.

--
 
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

 



I started the previous thread - following the advice given, I went out
and bought the Bosch 2000 HP Quiet Shredder. Homebase currently have
them at £199. Be careful, there are very similar, cheaper blade-type
Bosch shredders, with similar model numbers - easy to pick up the wrong
one if you don't pay attention.

Very impressed, quieter than I was expecting. As long as you don't try
to feed too much green material in at the same time, it handles it fine.
Supplied with a carefully designed metal hook which you can safely
waggle around inside and shove stuff about as the hook is just too short
to reach the blades :-)

Last weekend it happily chomped up a load of prunings from a Horse
Chestnut - branches to 25 mm, thinner twigs and attached juicy green
leaves. Munched through buddleia, some leylandii, etc

It also nicely deals with corrugated cardboard - the box it came in is
now shredded into the compost heap rather than my having to take it down
to the local tip!
--
Larry Stoter