Mulching Machine / Frond Shredder

[Moose]

To all serious palmaholics -

It is my desire to aquire a machine to chop up my fronds. Most petioles and leaf bases are very fiberous and are especially tough after turning brown. I am seeking recommendations or experiences with equipement that can turn my fronds into mulch. Please include manufacturer's name and model number if you can. It seems obsurd that I fertilize my palms and then dispose of the expired fronds instead of returning this organic material back into the ground. I used to chop up my frond refuse by hand. As my collection grows and my original plantings are going on 15 years in the ground, the amount of refuse is too time consuming for this method.

It has been relayed to me that palms are difficult on chopping blades. A machine that can have the blades easily removed and sharpened is an important variable on the equipement that I want to purchase.

All input and experiences are welcome. Burning of the refuse is not an option and I don't have the room for a massive compost pile. Thanks for your help.

Best regards,

Ron.

[oliver]

I have a 19 hp DR tow behind shredder, and I bought it with exactly your thoughts in mind. Unfortunately, it really does not like palm fronds very much. It is not a blade issue as much as an issue of the long fibrous bands wrapping around the axle of the flywheel. Before I realized that it was happening, I actually started a fire inside the flywheel housing. After stopping the machine and putting out the friction induced fire, it took me several hours to clear out jammed fibres. That was after only 2 or 3 full sized royal palm fronds. I believe that these machines are better off left for use on real "wood".

[waykoolplantz]

Most chippers dont like palm fronds...i rented a good one from Home Depot and in two days my 3 giant debris piles were chopped up.

It was @$175 a day...for a chipper that would have cost me $$8,000.00 or more

Pete Balasky has one with a 17 hp motor...and it gets clogged on fronds as well...ya need a big one with 28 hp or more

[Matt in SD]

I have no direct experience but have looked into this as well. From the researching I did I was under the impression that you have to get a "hammermill" type chopper/shredder. I don't believe horsepower will overcome the fiber issue if it's not a hammermill shredder. And of course hammermill shredders are more expensive.

I'd like to know if the shredders that Oliver and Pete have are hammermill or not. If they are, and still don't work, then I guess there's no hope.

Matt

[chris.oz]

"it is not a blade issue as much as an issue of the long fibrous bands wrapping around the axle "

This is exactly the problem I had even with a hammermill shredder.

The only solution is to pre-cut the stems into say, 6" pieces, prior to shredding.

But the fibrres in long leaves also get wrapped up.

I gae up on my shredder generally. Too noisy, too unrelaible, too much petrol consumption.

Composting is the only way I think.

[Patrick]

Very informative. I've been looking into this sort of thing myself...........

Guess I'd better figure out how to mulch properly. My pile gets a bit too dry too fast.

[Jeff Searle]

Moose,

Good luck. I get truckloads of free mulch from trre trimmers, and I have yet found anyone that has a machine that shreads palm fronds into mulch. I always remind them to bring "clean mulch", meaning no palm fronds, logs, paper and plastic, etc. Thank god for trash pick-up twice a month in our town, where I can put these palm leaves.

Jeff

[DoomsDave]

Shredding palm leaves is a no-go for me.

I've got a 10HP Yard Machines shredder that works great on dicots, but chokes on fibers in palms. (I'tll even shred bamboo! But not palms . . . .. )

I bury or burn mine.

"Sing around the Palmfire!"

[Wai`anae Steve]

I take my palm fronds to the local green waste recycleing place. Let them worry about chopping them.

The city picks up the dumping fee and they have one of those giant machines that eats tree trunks of a few feet in diameter.

Then I "buy" back the compost a few months later Should be some kind of credit for dump and pick up.

Wai`anae Steve

[Tad]

vermeer, the bigger the better and do one or two at a time

[The Palm Nut]

I have had my hammermill shreader for about 15 years, actually purchased it when there were relatively few on the market. I have gone through acouple of sets of blades and bearings. Its main use was mulching sugarcane but palm leaves were doable as well. Particularly the smaller ones. Blades must be sharp and material freshly cut, its hard work and time consuming but rewarding to know that all your waste is going back into the garden. I have access to free mulch now from the tip so its use is limited. If you have access to free or relatively cheap mulch and your garden waste is collected from the counsel for free, I wouldnt purchase a mulcher.

BTY my mulcher is a Masport 5hp petrol.

Cheers

Mike

[trioderob]

just get something like this and you are good to go.

[DoomsDave]

just get something like this and you are good to go.

Where's the Shoe for scale?

[BS Man about Palms]

Despite the above LOOKING like my house, regretably, it is not.

[cfkingfish]

I have used a $40,000 Vermeer mulcher, and it will take a 12 inch log, but Bismarckia boots will get stuck and/or not shred properly. I think the key with some of this plant material is to shred it when it is still moist. Palm fronds make great mulch though!

[Moose]

The experiences relayed is what I have suspected. A Palm frond shredder / mulching machine that would serve my needs may not exist.

US$40,000.00 for a shredder and the Bismarckia leave bases jam the machine? It makes since to me though, when I was cutting the fronds up by hand, you needed to cut perpendicular (90 degrees) against the way the fibres ran. If not, the cutting was difficult or not possible. This is disheartening as Christian is correct, palm debris makes excellent mulch and it appears to not break down as fast as conventional mulches.

Mike - your recommendation seems to be the path that I will take. The governing body does haul away debris. Not for free but I pay for the service whether I use it of not through a yearly "fee" added to my property tax bill. Free mulch is also available, but we get alot of garbage in it and weird exotics sometimes grow out of it. I will just keep my eye out for tree trimmers in the neighborhood chopping up oaks and mahogony.

Please keep your suggestions and opinions going in this thread.

Thanks for your input and help.

Ron.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Get rich quick and design one that'll eat up fronds...

[DoomsDave]

When I"m not being a pyro, I rake up the mulch, toss fronds on the ground, bury under mulch keep moist. Keeps weeds down, rots fast, more fronds more mulch, oh the beat goes on, a lah-tee-da-tee-da-tee-dee, a lah-tee-dah-tee-dah . . . .

[John Case]

Very informative. I've been looking into this sort of thing myself...........

Guess I'd better figure out how to mulch properly. My pile gets a bit too dry too fast.

Its the price we pay for a dry climate.

P\Make your pile as tall as is possible, wet it down and cover it with a tarp.....that should help reduce the evaporative loss....

Our lack of humidity is a real problem for small compost piles.

[Kathryn]

My twice weekly garbage collection takes my palm leaves, but I dispose of them in a vacant lot behind my neighbors house. The lot still has numerous cypress trees and hasn't been filled so it is a few feet lower than the surrounding lots and and often has standing water. About six of us put all our yard waste there and are slowly filling in the back portion. Whoever eventually lives there will have some really nice soil in the backyard - on top of the great soil deposited by the Mississippi River.

[Moose]

Kathyrn - I wish I had your option. Creating a nice big compost pile is awesome. I hate disposing of organic material. When you go to mulch, you just add a nice thick layer of that compost first and see how much your plms will love it!

See you in Brazil 2010!

Best regards,

Ron.

[MattyB]

just get something like this and you are good to go.

That picture has more photoshop touch-ups than Bill Sanford's headshot!

[Moose]

just get something like this and you are good to go.

That picture has more photoshop touch-ups than Bill Sanford's headshot!

Matt - I stopped by a tree trimmer who had one and asked how it worked on palm fronds. He told be the fronds eventually jam it up. It chopped up green fronds better than dried ones. Same problem, too much fibre.

[Kris]

Nice topic ! But i earnestly feel that dicot trees dried leaves make excellent mulch & humas than the one derived from palms..And i have seen that dried fronds of coconuts,royal palms all breed strange looking pests like beetles,grass hoppers,centipeds & millipeds..etc

And in south india we have large farms of coconut & areca nut..but to the best of my knowledge goes i have never seen any one preparing mulch from their fronds !

Now i realise why CIDP's,Sabal's,get infected with new fungus infections & why palm weevils grow so well...

Love,

Kris

[Homero C]

I jus need to know which is the best Chipper / Shredder to use for my Long Royal Palm Banches and Fronds

[Farmer Ed]

Hello everyone,

interesting topic about Palm fronds.  I just purchased some land in Sebring.  I was considering getting a mulcher also to clean up the dried fronds.  After hearing these comments, it seems the idea of mulching is out of the question.  We are allowed to burn the clippings in Highlands county.  Maybe irs more productive to burn the fronds, and incorporate the ashes into the compost?  Open for suggestions.

Farmer Ed