wet verses dry - chipping christmas trees

[Jen57]

wet verses dry - when do we chip christmas trees - when green, or wait till needles drop?

We are a brand new community composting scheme, and our first task is taking the communities christmas trees.  I  googled for advice on whether we need to chip the christmas trees immediately, or whether to stack them until the needles drop and then do it BUT I am getting confusing stuff back, with 50% saying chip immediately and 50% saying wait till wood is dry.  HELP please!

 

Advice on what chipper / shredder to hire would also be really helpful. 

 

We are a bunch of amateur volunteers, and this is our very first task - so we really wanna get it right!   Thanks.

[william127]

I've done it with a couple of fellow scout leader friends for a few years, 3 vehicles out for collection, we pick up 200 ish trees on a Saturday, then chip them on a Sunday. Gets my details seen by 200 households and thousands of views on Facebook as people share it like mad. 

Normally raise about a grand a time minimum, less a couple of Chinese takeaways for us volunteers- one while route planning, one while counting up the money 💰 

[Jen57]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  Our community composting site is in MARLDON, near Paignton, South Devon.   If anyone reads this who has a chipper/shredder to 'lend' or 'hire' or 'offer' we'd be soooo pleased to hear from you!

[benedmonds]

We have been chipping trees for the council for the last few years, I also did it with my kids for charity one year. 

 

When I did it with the kids we drove around and collected them chipping as we went. For the council we take a big chipper.. I would say you would want at least a 6 inch chipper if you are doing 50-100. But the bigger the better if you have a lot....

 

 

[daveatdave]

think the video might be a bit of PR as the power stations burn pellets made from clean wood at best it would be composted 

[monkeybusiness]

8 minutes ago, daveatdave said:

think the video might be a bit of PR as the power stations burn pellets made from clean wood at best it would be composted 

You clearly don’t know what you are talking about!

[daveatdave]

that is what they use at Drax imported from north America.

[monkeybusiness]

8 hours ago, daveatdave said:

that is what they use at Drax imported from north America.

The only power station in the whole of the uk, silly me. 

[daveatdave]

there is not many that do wood pellets or biomass in the Uk and Drax is the biggest.