Holly hedge trimmings disposal

[Newark Jim]

Our home is surrounded by a huge (at least to me) holly hedge - it's approx 250ft long, 12ft high and 6-8ft wide

Cutting it isn't so much of an issue with petrol trimmers and a scaffold tower but disposing of the clippings afterwards involves filling a builders bag with as much as possible, stuffing it into my Focus and around 30 trips to the tip.

Is there any sort of shredder/chipper that would cope with the large amount of green waste that is generated? There's nothing particularly chunky and happy to deal with that separately, I'm just after something I can grab armfuls of the waste of and dump into the hopper for processing. I'd be looking at taking the shredded stuff to the tip if that makes a difference.

Burning isn't really an option as the holly produces too much smoke and the neighbours would lynch me.

 

Thanks 

 

 

[kkk2]

A Lawnmower is what we use to mulch up arisings, and a good blow gun and there is usually not too much to take away.

[scbk]

I'm more kind of the opinion, if you garden is big enough to produce such regular waste, it's big enough to have a compost heap of a suitable size 

[sime42]

I don't think any kind of garden shredder is going to help, they don't like Holly leaves in my experience. A chipper on the other hand would be a massive over investment just for hedge clippings.
I reckon the previous two suggestions are your answer. Or a combination of the two, lawn mower then compost, to avoid any tip trips.

[Jack.P]

If there are 30 loads then the stuff is just full of air and not jumped down much or squashed.green bin would be an idea . Also when it’s on  floor piled up it’s easy to mince stuff with  a hedge cutter and just turn it over a few times .

[Mark Bolam]

I would cut the hedges leading up to November 5th.

 

Invite the neighbours round for drinks, buy a few fireworks, and apply match….

[Stere]

Horses etc like to eat it...

 

EDIT Google says its poisonous for horses, but as have often seen ponies munching on it   thought it was used as a general animal fodder historically...

 

Quote

However, my main interest is using it as animal fodder. Its leaves have one of the highest calorific contents of any tree browsed by animals and are rich in nutrients. Feeding the leaves (never berries) to stock, especially sheep, during the winter is an ancient practice that doubtless goes back into prehistory. The leaves were said to induce a cow into milk, increase butter milk and nourish pregnant ewes. Today holly is still cut for fodder occasionally in Dumfries, Derbyshire, Cumbria and the New Forest, but in most of the country it's a practice that's long died out.

 

Holly – Returning To An Ancient Tradition On The Farm | Permaculture magazine

WWW.PERMACULTURE.CO.UK

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This week Rebecca and Tim experiment with unusual animal feed for the 'hungry gap'.

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Stere

[Patrick goulding]

Get a skip in you cut it your self so cheaper than paying a tree surgeon. Sounds like hard work if your cutting it once a year still be cheaper to get a skip than one of us tree men 😂 👍 

[doobin]

You don’t need a tree man to cut a hedge…

[sime42]

Horses etc like to eat it...

 

EDIT Google says its poisonous for horses, but as have often seen ponies munching on it   thought it was used as a general animal fodder historically...

 

However, my main interest is using it as animal fodder. Its leaves have one of the highest calorific contents of any tree browsed by animals and are rich in nutrients. Feeding the leaves (never berries) to stock, especially sheep, during the winter is an ancient practice that doubtless goes back into prehistory. The leaves were said to induce a cow into milk, increase butter milk and nourish pregnant ewes. Today holly is still cut for fodder occasionally in Dumfries, Derbyshire, Cumbria and the New Forest, but in most of the country it's a practice that's long died out.

 

Holly – Returning To An Ancient Tradition On The Farm | Permaculture magazine

WWW.PERMACULTURE.CO.UK

---

This week Rebecca and Tim experiment with unusual animal feed for the 'hungry gap'.

 

 

Shows how little Google knows sometimes. Makes me wonder how soon it will be before some traditional knowledge of our natural environment will be lost completely. Wearing my pessimistic hat!

 

Did you know that Holly trees are virtually prickle-less at the top, and most prickly at the bottom? As a defence against animal browsing. What's more, the more they're nibbled, (or hedge trimmed), the pricklier they get. Hence why frequency trimmed hedges are the worst to handle.

 

 

[Macpherson]

2 hours ago, sime42 said:

Shows how little Google knows sometimes.

Exactly, although I'd change sometimes to often 👍