051 Chipper/Shredder Basics. Fabulous Fruit Friday!

Thinking about buying a rototiller? How about purchasing a chipper/shredder instead? It’s a machine that will make easy work of chopping up your garden clippings, including tree limbs, into the greatest mulch you could possibly own. The latest research shows that rototilling your soil actually damages soil structure and the soil biology. On the other hand, the end result of using a chipper/shredder is going to provide you with a quality of mulch that we like to call, gardeners gold. We get buying tips on chipper/shredders from Brad Gay at JB's Power Equipment in Davis, CA.
Also, it’s Fabulous Fruit Friday. Ed Laivo of TomorrowsHarvest.com tells us about one of the sweetest pieces of fruit you can grow at home: the Candy Sprinkles Nectarine (that's what you see in today's picture).

It’s all on Episode 51 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred. Brought to you by Smart Pots and Tomorrows Harvest. Visit smartpots.com/fred for more information and a discount on the original, lightweight, long-lasting fabric plant container, made in the USA. Interested in the Candy Sprinkles Nectarine, as featured on Fabulous Fruit Friday? Visit TomorrowsHarvest.com for more information. Who knows? There might even be a discount coupon waiting for you there! (Spoiler alert: It's GBSPRINKLE)

Links:
BCS chipper/shredder video
Rototilling can damage soil
Reasonably Priced Soil Testing:
University of Massachusetts/Amherst
Colorado State University
Candy Sprinkles Nectarine from Tomorrow's Harvest

More info including live links, product information, transcripts, and chapters available at the home site for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred.

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Transcript

Farmer Fred : 0:00

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.

Farmer Fred 2 : 0:20

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, well you've come to the right spot.

Farmer Fred : 0:33

Are you thinking about buying a rototiller? How about instead purchasing a chipper/shredder? Now, that's a machine that's going to make easy work of chopping up your garden clippings including tree limbs. it's going to make it into the greatest mulch you could possibly own. The latest research shows that rototilling your soil actually damages soil structure and doesn't do anything good for the soil biology. On the other hand, the end result of using a chipper/shredder is going to provide you with a quality of mulch that we like to call, "gardeners' gold". Also, it's Fabulous Fruit Friday here on Garden Basics. Ed Laivo of Tomorrows Harvest dot com tells us about one of the sweetest pieces of fruit that you can grow at home: the Candy Sprinkles nectarine. it's Episode 51 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and we're gonna do it all again in under 30 minutes. Let's get started.

Farmer Fred 2 : 1:28

You've heard me talk about the benefits of mulch for years and years how piling up arborists' tree trimmings for mulch can improve your soil you have a healthier garden. We're talking with Brad Gay, he owns JBS power equipment in Davis, California. What are the benefits of owning your own Chipper/Shredder?

Brad Gay : 1:46

The big, big thing if you're into gardening or if you're just starting out in gardening or whatever level of gardening you're at, the chipper shredder is going to give you a means of changing the soil quality of your garden and you're going to be able to get rid of stuff that you would maybe put in a container the city or county would pick up or you would have to haul off and you can maintain your yard and get rid of your trimmings, your limbs that have fallen down and chipping them up to a size that is used as a mulch or as a top dressing. You can end up with your tree limbs that have fallen you can have those you can chip those up you can do make your own mulch. If you're just even using them for small pots, you can get mulch and create a good high quality mulch and I can't think of anything better to accomplish that then a chipper Shredder.

Farmer Fred : 2:38

Chipper shredders are great especially if you have a lot of trees on your property and you're constantly pruning your trees. Instead of like you say instead of throwing those branches away, chop them, shred them. Just add them to the top of your soil as a four inch layer of mulch on your soil. It moderates soil temperature, it inhibits weed production. As it breaks down, it feeds the soil, making it richer. It's amazing too if you put four inches of mulch or even four inches of shredded leaves on your garden surface over the winter, and you go back in the spring you move it aside you dig down a few inches you'll be amazed at the number of earthworms that are saying thank you to you for doing that. And and earthworms improve the soil too.

Brad Gay : 2:56

But that's the fun of it. I mean I've been doing my garden I've had fortunate I've been doing this for 20-25 years and I can go out I don't have weeds are one thing but I can actually go into my soil even you know after it's been watered and have had made a plant in there I can still take my hand and kind of move it into the soil because it's porous enough that because of the mulch and all the good ingredients have been added to it so amended to be able to do that it takes a while so a good chipper shredder is like is a very good startup, getting good quality soil going for you.

Farmer Fred : 4:04

So let's talk about chipper shredder basics, what people should look for when buying a chipper Shredder. I would of course recommend buying it from a known entity, some company that you've heard of before, that has produced a lawn and garden equipment as opposed to going online and seeing a bunch of names you don't know. But when you're looking at the specs of a chipper shredder, what are the specs you should pay attention to?

Brad Gay : 4:32

Well, the big one I look at is what's driving your chipper, what's driving the shredder apart. There's just two different entities there that are combined and one is a wheel typically that has a cutter blade. Probably about four inches long but it's very hard steel. Probably two of them on on this what I call a wheel. And then the other part is on the other side of it has a bunch of Little like edger blades that are on small half inch shaft that spin around, and they will shred leaves. But the the chipper part is very important because that reel that you have on there that's holding those blades, you want that to have some weight, because when they have that weight on there, that's what's going to pull the limb in and chop chop, chop it up. If you notice if you have somebody in your neighborhood who has been around and you'll hear that whirring sound that's going on, they have this huge flywheel this turning that that's the chipper, and it has some pretty good sized blades in there that can eat up like a nine inch limb or something like that. But you can get that same technology as a gardener for your smaller chipper Shredder. And I usually recommend about a 40 pound flywheel will be just about a good place to start. you have to look in to see if that entity exists on what you're going to buy. And you're not going to get it in your cheaper versions, like you say, you'll get something that's labeled the chipper shredder, but you're talking about things...well, I've been there. And believe me I've had things that have turned my fingernails black and blue because I'm trying to force a limb through there like I got a baseball bat hitting a steel post, it just rattles around. So you want to get something that's got a big flywheel 40 pounds plus, and it'll, it'll help suck those limbs in through with very little effort and grind up a hardwood versus the softer wood. does a great job.

Farmer Fred : 6:37

What size branch diameter branch can a 40 pound flywheel handle?

Brad Gay : 6:43

Well, depending on what you've got, usually I'm gonna say three inches, in some cases it's four inches, I think on bcs he can take a four inch limb on there. But what's nice is you can take a good three, four inch limb, shove it down into the chipper shredder and I usually get it from where it is to the point where that now you're having the branches which with which would have leaves or smaller limbs and then when it gets to that point, you can take it out and then pick it up and put it over into your Shredder. And then that shredder will go in take care of the rest of the stuff the smaller limbs that if there's leaves on there, it'll take care of that as well and it just turns it into a fine, finer mulch. and a good chipper shredder, it will actually have plates where that mulch exits through after it's been chipped through a grid. And you can put in whatever size you want in there to make those pieces what size you want. Or if you're just doing corn stalks and you just want to reduce... like you grew corn, now you got to get rid of the stalks when you want to throw up your greenwaste well you can shred that down. Well I take that grid out just to beat them up to go you know, no so I can actually work it back in there. But they do have grids that you can install and it can make that mulch whatever size you want. It's actually a nice feature and that's that's what's pertinent in getting the good soil and mulch that you want for your gardens.

Farmer Fred : 8:13

You know you brought up a very good point there and the fact that we've been talking about you know chipping and shredding tree limbs, but for your vegetable waste in your garden, your corn stalks, or even your your tomato branches you could put those through a chipper shredder, probably the shredder portion.

Brad Gay : 8:29

Oh I take all my grapes. I got these runners off of my grape that it's a 300 foot fence that goes alongside of my yard and I put it all into grapes. And it's all table grapes. So you know grapes, and the grapes are one of those plants where you can literally watch it grow. So you've got these runners that are you know 10-15 feet long. And I'll go grab I'll just cut those off in the fall and I'll bring those over and get rid of all of that. And you mean you have to make sure when you're with you're using your super shredder By the way, if you're doing this because if you get you put a bunch of these grape vines that you're sticking in your shredder is like sucking spaghetti into your mouth with the spaghetti starts spinning around and flipping and everything except this is a like a whip. But you have eye protection, hearing protection, long sleeves, leather gloves so that you don't get smacked and it gets rid of a lot of stuff you just never thought of before all your fruit tree trimmings all the when you go and prune trees for the in the winter to get things ready for your peach trees and apricot trees. All those trimmings you can put through a chipper shredder too. And what you have in pile there will reduce it to at least 12 to one or more. It's amazing what comes out after you do that.

Farmer Fred : 9:49

I would like to reinforce your safety comments because anybody who's ever owned a chipper shredder and attempted to throw in some smaller but longer branches. Like you might like grape branches, for example, yes, they will whip at you because of the friction, the sucking action of the shredder that just basically tries to suck it all in. And in the meantime, you've lost hold of those branches and they start whipping around.

Brad Gay : 10:18

Oh, yeah, you just let it go. I mean, it's this article. It's like I got a bunch of whips. So yeah, you want to be you just want to protect yourself. I would say protect yourself. Like you're gonna go into a beehive. You know, you don't have to have that big big helmet on but you know, have eyeglasses on the helmet or a hat or something? Your I wear headphones for my ears just for the noise and all that that it deals with? So I protect myself quite well when I go out there.

Farmer Fred : 10:44

Well, and if you did, please do wear gloves and take off any jewelry or wristwatches you might have as well.

Brad Gay : 10:51

Oh yeah, keep track of your pruning shears.

Farmer Fred : 10:54

Yes, yes. Yeah, don't keep your eyeglasses in your top breast pocket. Yeah, it's, it's follow all safety instructions when you get a chipper Shredder.

Farmer Fred 2 : 11:11

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Farmer Fred : 12:21

Let's get back to our chat with Brad Gay of JB's power equipment in Davis. We're discussing chipper shredders. the cost of a chipper shredder is not cheap, but I'd rather see people invest in a chipper shredder than a roto tiller. More and more research coming out about rototilling soil is that it does the soil no good at all, you're better off doing no tilling whatsoever, and more and more farmers are going that route as well. So take that money that you might want to spend on a roto tiller and put it into a chipper shredder. what is the price range for a decent chipper shredder?

Brad Gay : 12:57

Well, it starts at about I would say about 800 bucks with entry level if you get a Bearcat. And in near and dear in the two inch to three inch chipper shredder range. I recommend I mean, that's, that's light use. And that's a good starter. And it certainly will do the job and it doesn't take care of what the next level is, which is about 1200 a little over 1200 1269 and it will take on a three inch limb and through everything I've been talking about. And it's something that you know, I've had my chipper shredder for years, I I it's got to be 25 years plus. And there's you know, you just have to maintain it, but it's one of the it's one of those most useful things when you need it. And then you don't have to deal with a pile of trimmings and try to get it to the garbage can or get it out of the yard on the curb as they still do that where you live or have to haul it off somewhere. Now you can take that and make it into a very useful product that will benefit your own garden. So yeah, you know, so anyway starts about 800 bucks. And you can go up to you know, in the two to three inch up to a little over 2000 if you go into four inch higher than normal so you get into the $3,000 range.

Farmer Fred : 14:19

Talk a little about the different brands that are available. You mentioned bear cat, I own a BCS and they are both high quality chipper shredders.

Brad Gay : 14:29

Oh, BCS is an excellent chipper Shredder. Hi, that's what I have. Go to BCS America website if anybody wants to go into it. That is a great site just to visually see what a chipper shredder can do for you and your garden. I mean it's amazing this, the gentleman does the video. He incorporates a lot of stuff in his in the mulch and cardboard for instance, he's taken cardboard, newspaper and those leaves of limbs and everything else has been debris that normally you would throw in a trash can or try to get, you have to get rid of it somehow. So or leave it in a big pile and let the roads get in there and habitated healthy. But what's the best way is running through a chipper Shredder. But that's a very good video you can get if you can just go to that site BCS America, a very good quality chipper shredder bearcat is very good. We also sell DR, Which is country homes products, they offer very good chipper shredders, we have accessibility for bearkat locally. So people want something that they can actually come in and buy it locally. I can get that rapidly. If I have to get DR that takes usually seven to 10 days. And BCS takes me about five days to get their stuff. So but those are all two, those are three of the top names that are out there that I would recommend.

Farmer Fred : 15:55

When one goes online and sees the array of chipper shredders. They're going to, I think, see the majority of them, unfortunately, are electric powered. I don't know if, "unfortunately" is the right word or not. But it just seems to me that a gas powered chipper shredder has more power than something that's powered by 110 volt electric,

Brad Gay : 16:17

we used to sell the electric, this was some years ago. And in Davis, there, there it was a viable need because most of the gardens there, you know relatively small I would consider. And they were using for table scraps and clippings and leaves and stuff like that. And they work well. But the problem with it, it had to fit in a slot to get it to go down into this chipper shredder contraption. And it's like, it's about this orifice. Oh, that's a lot of talking about with the size of about all medium size book, you know, it was only like two inches, two and a half inches wide, and maybe 12 inches long. And it was like so now you're trying to squish thing down to this slot to get it in there to work, they've improved it quite a bit better. But I know it's gas powered a lot, my lot of my problems are, if you get something in there, you get too much in there and it starts to plug up. And then you need to stop it gas power, you can shut the engine off. But if electric, if you do cause that thing to run and not be, you know actually turning over, you can cook those motors pretty easily. And we found that there was a well not a substantial amount of electric failures. But it's like a an electric lawnmower, if you use electric lawnmower, and you're out there trying to cut grass that's 12 inches tall, you're slowing that motor down a lot those motors overheat. And because you're plugged into the grid, it's it's just endless energy and those motors overheat. And so I don't give them a real thumbs up on quality. I know electric products have really kind of taken over the imagination or most people out there as far as tools and that but I don't think this is money well spent, at least at this point.

Farmer Fred : 18:13

And whichever unit you get, you want to follow all the instructions in the booklet that it comes with. And you mentioned a problem that all chipper shredders have be they electric or gas is they can sometimes jam up. And yes, very important to turn that motor off as soon as you sense that it is not chipping or shredding.

Brad Gay : 18:32

Yeah, you'll lose a belt or you'll cook a motor is what will happen if it's electric but the belt, you know for your because if you lose the belt, now you're done. And you got to go get a belt which you know restock belts for what we sell and we have access to them fairly rapidly. But you're done for the day, you just don't go down to a hardware store or auto parts store and buy another belt. That's just mess. It's not gonna happen. So it's a you got to stop those things relatively quickly.

Farmer Fred : 18:59

All right, chipper shredder, great investment for making your own mulch from not only tree branches, but your garden, your grape vines, your corn stalks, any sort of woody material can become your mulch in your garden.

Brad Gay : 19:18

Oh yeah, it's tremendous. Yeah, what it is I would recommend that I agree with you about the roto tiller and the chipper Shredder. I would spend the money on the chipper shredder first and then if you need a roto tiller I use a roto tiller but I've got a pretty good sized piece of ground but it's not used as much as I did before. I don't need to do that.

Farmer Fred : 19:38

We've been talking with Brad Gay from JB's power equipment in Davis. Chipper shredders: every gardener should own one. Thanks, Brad.

Brad Gay : 19:45

Thanks, Fred. Good talking to you.

Farmer Fred : 19:52

If it's Friday, that means it's Fabulous Fruit Friday here on Garden Basics with Farmer Fred. We are highlighting a tasty piece of fruit every Friday, courtesy of Tomorrow's Harvest and Ed Laivo, marketing manager, sales manager, fraternity Captain out there at tomorrow's harvest at Burchell nursery. Ed would you bring for us to munch on today?

Ed Laivo : 20:16

Oh my gawd, do I have a great variety this week. we have the Candy Sprinkles nectarine. And man, I'm telling you what. they dug this right out of a pile of sugar. It is so sweet. And it is incredibly attractive. Deep, deep, deep. I mean deep. Did I say deep? I mean deep red skin. I mean it is incredibly red. But when you open it up, the red radiates into this orange yellow flesh. The flavor is outstanding. I mean, an intense, almost tropical kind of flavor. Very unique to the nectarine. I got to tell you, you know, some of these nectarines that we're going to be talking about, oh my gosh, they are just to die for now. This is actually a late August ripening variety of nectarine. It's an exclusive from, of course, tomorrow's harvest. Boy. This is a this is one special piece of fruit. I gotta tell you, there's not much out there that will compare to the intensity of the flavor this fruit this late season fruit. I mean, a peach, a nectarine, I don't care what you've got in late August. I don't think it's going to stand up to the Candy Sprinkles nectarine at all. To tell you the truth.

Farmer Fred : 21:37

Well, it looks like anybody who lives south of the Mason-Dixon line or along the west coast or even along the Atlantic seaboard could grow this. It's for USDA zones six through nine.

Ed Laivo : 21:48

Yeah, it is. It's a widely adapted piece of fruit. You know, the big deal about some of these varieties that we're introducing, through Tomorrow's Harvest is that they have not been available, they're coming out of the Burchell nursery breeding program.

Farmer Fred : 22:04

Alright let's talk about planting fruit trees, the fruit trees that we've been talking about, I bet they all like plenty of sun, probably about, what, eight hours of sun a day.

Ed Laivo : 22:14

you know, at least eight hours of sun, I think if you're really expecting to get good, high sugared fruit, you know, that's really the minimum is eight hours worth of sun and I prefer the morning sun because the morning sun is a drying sun, you know, it helps to ward off a lot of bacterial fungal diseases that could creep up and cause you problems in the early spring. So I like that morning sun. And if that's got eight hours of sun with that morning sun, you've got a real favorable location,

Farmer Fred : 22:44

What sort of soil do fruit trees generally like?

Ed Laivo : 22:47

Good drainage, man, they want the best drainage. So you know, I mean, I'm always looking for that spot that, you know, I know is going to not have standing water during the wintertime specifically. But you know, keep in mind that even in the worst draining soils, you can still grow fruit trees. And that's if you elevate the planting, you know, either by a mound, a good high mound, probably 24 inches above the soil line and or raised bed. And that's just, of course can be made out of two by 12 redwood.

Farmer Fred : 23:20

What are the minimum dimensions of a raised bed for a fruit tree like this?

Ed Laivo : 23:26

three (feet) by three (feet) is typically what I recommend, you really are just trying to get a portion of that root zone above the soil line. So no matter how wet it gets at the lay of the land where the soil line is, no matter how wet it gets, there's a portion of that root system that's established above the soil line so that it gets oxygen even when the soil on the soil is saturated. It's almost like having a snorkel to your root system.

Farmer Fred : 23:53

you mentioned something very important. And I think many people are guilty of planting trees too deeply. And you want to, when you plant a fruit tree, you want to be able to see that bud union sticking up maybe an inch or two above the soil line after you plant it.

Ed Laivo : 24:10

Yep, that's a fact. And the budget, of course, is where the tree has been bolted on to the rootstock. Probably the simple way to do that when you're planting a bare root tree is to just say the top most root, you know, if you go say three to four inches above that, that's typically a safe place to have your soil line. And if you're planting of course a tree from a container, then I always recommend don't plant any deeper than the soil line that exists in the container when you purchased it.

Farmer Fred : 24:40

And I bet you would probably advise against spending all your money on fancy soil because that tree is going to spend very little time and fancy soil.

Ed Laivo : 24:49

Correct. Yeah, put your amendments on the surface. I'm more into mulching and composting the surface. take the opportunity to plant in the native soil because it's going to have to live in the native soil for years. If it doesn't survive in the native soil, then maybe you need a soil test. That could be one thing. But I think in the interim, you know, if you've had problems with growing things in your yard in the past, a soil test is always warranted, then you may want to include something in the soil to get it started. But ultimately, the root system is going to want to grow out into that native soil. So I want to make sure that I'm growing in native soil because it's going to be in that soil for its entire life.

Farmer Fred : 25:32

And if you have a sweet tooth, maybe that first tree you plant correctly, is the Candy Sprinkles nectarine.

Ed Laivo : 25:38

Well, I would hope so.

Farmer Fred : 25:39

And if you want more information about the Candy Sprinkles nectarine or that excellent fruit tree we talked about last week, the Scarlet Halo peach, visit the website tomorrows harvest.com and you'll find many other nutritious and delicious fruit and nut varieties there. You're gonna hear about some very tasty fruits here on Fabulous Fruit Friday on the Garden Basics podcast. Always a pleasure to talk with Ed Laivo from tomorrow's harvest. Ed, thanks so much.

Ed Laivo : 26:06

Hey Fred. Always a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much.

Farmer Fred : 26:11

If you're a gardener this time of year is great fall is for planting. The air is cooler than summer the soil is warmer than spring. It's the ideal conditions for getting your home orchard started with the outstanding fruit and nut trees as well as berry plants from Tomorrow's Harvest. And that includes the flavorful and productive Candy Sprinkles nectarine, a Tomorrow's Harvest exclusive. Tomorrow's Harvest fine line of fruit trees is the result of 75 years of developing, testing and growing. Three generations of the Burchell family have been at the forefront of research and development of plants of the highest quality and all of these beautiful edible plants have been carefully cultivated for your home garden. Look for Tomorrow's Harvest fruit trees at better retail nurseries. But if your favorite nursery doesn't carry the Candy Sprinkles nectarine or any of Tomorrow's Harvest other fruit, nut and berry varieties, you can order them directly from TomorrowsHarvest.com. Let the Burchell family's three generations of experience take root in your home orchard, Landscape, and Garden. Tomorrow's Harvest: it's goodness you can grow. To find out more about the Candy Sprinkles nectarine and many other nutritious and delicious fruit and nut varieties, visit TomorrowsHarvest.com.

Farmer Fred 2 : 27:28

Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and it's available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out and that includes Apple podcast, Google podcasts, I Heart Radio, overcast, Spotify, stitcher, tune in, and hey Alexa, play the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, would you please? Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.