will this thing shred straw for my garden mulch?
1357593
I'm gonna bet not. think of it as being more of an effective "smasher into bits" as opposed to "scissor slicing into bits." I tried to run some very dry desert palm tree fronds though it and all it did was make masses of fibrous strings that clumped up and clogged the shredder.
1357594
I don't think so. I tried to get it to shred very dry long strands of Bermuda grass (that I had weeded out of some mulched areas) and it just sort of wrapped around the blades and stalled it out. Even when the blades are completely sharp, it would do that.
1357595
It should shed straw. The blades will certainly shed straw and you will just have to shove it in the hopper with the shoving tool a large handful at a time.
1357596
It might since the straw is dry - just feed it a little at a time. It would do cornstalks (which are notorious!) as long as I did one, then alternated with woody material.
1357597
yes, I think so. I haven't tried straw,but I can't imagine it being a problem.
1357598
Gary--dry straw shreds to about 50:50 of 1" pieces and the rest slightly smaller to about 2"pieces. It does a nice job on small branches, alfalfa pellets, leaves. I had hoped straw would be 1/4 inch pieces.
4276
Yes. I'm currently using it on mine. Though I probably wouldn't buy it again. For some reason that I can't figure out, it leaves small strips of uncut grass whenever the grass is heavy. Never had that problem before with a plain mulching blade.
1731681
Yes it will but it's slow. It will pull grass and weeds out of the ground, roots and all. You will have to stop and rake the stuff out of the way as you move along the area. I have a mantis tiller which really tears up the ground but it doesn't pull the weeds out as well as the B&D.; My battery lasts for about 30 miinutes, but I have 4 batteries so not a problem....
354168
It will suck up acorns. I have rock hardscape and this thing picks up small rocks but it has a metal chopping blade and so far no damage.
912532
Yes, that is what we are using it on. Works great! Now mulching rather than bagging.
1145174
My experience with shredding leaves with this machine was that it jammed up with any volume. I spent more time unclogging it than I did shredding. I doubt it would do a good job.
1165838
I would not recommend this chipper for shredding anything. There are other machines that are better shredders. You might look at something advertised as a 'leaf shredder' rather than this type of 'chipper.'
934409
I honestly don't think it will matter. It's a strong rubbery substance. It will definitely work better than a regular straw.
1214878
In my experience it will not effectively mulch, especially if the material is moist. I have found that this unit works best on small branches and not much else. Having the first unit fail and the second one perform much less than advertised I would not recommend this unit for anything other than small dry branches 1/2 inch or smaller, and I am hesitant to recommend that.
840592
Yes definitely! Its really sturdy we have it in a rock box instead of a sandbox the kids dig up rocks with it so mulch should not be a problem!
463037
I would doubt that it could shred a lot of leaves without a lot of attention. I think you would do better with a lawn mower
1829847
It will handle them, the vac function works very well and the mulching blade is durable. However it will be very noisy with the acorns being ground up! On the down side, the blowing function does not work well for anything heavier than dry leaves - the end of the nozzle is too small to allow a lot of air out.
36711
Should be no problem with the leaves & small acorns. Live down in the south where there's mostly pine trees, magnolias, and burr oaks. Picks up and shreds magnolia leaves just fine and magnolia leaves are even worse than oak leaves with regards to being thick and never decomposing. This Toro I'm sure would have the suction to pick up the acorns, but I don't know how much they'd actually be mulched or what it may do to the impeller blades. Live and learn.
488903
I am pretty confident it will, but I have never done it. I've used it mostly for cutting down small trees and brush and it works really well for that.
1214877
Yes, if the leaves are not too small and preferable dry. If leaves are wet, the rotating cutting blades have difficulties to cut and it can block the shredder and you have to clean more often. Small leaves are better to put in a black plastic bag and wait 3 weeks and you have good mulch. Don't push too many leaves in the shredder, wait until shredder is ready for the next leaves/branch.
90836
I used this to pick up newly fallen leaves, not mulched leaves. Esentially it is a hose that connects to your leaf blower/vac and would depend on how powerful your vac is. I would think that would work but would depend on how fine the leaves are mulched and the power of your vac. Good luck!
817474
I used it inside the coop with no problem. I put it up on a couple of stone pavers so it did not touch the straw.