As part of the Saturday6 team of bloggers I have the pleasure of getting to test and keep some very cool products. Last year if you recall I tested the RZT (0-Turn mower) which has greatly diminished my mowing time and a 4-cycle trimmer with cultivator attachments. I’m still enjoying both of those products in the garden. This year I selected the Troy-Bilt CS4325 Chipper/Shredder to test in my garden. I had a big Bradford pear tree that I took down and needed a powerful tool to take care of all the branch debris.
The CS4325 Chipper is capable of chipping branches up to 3 inches in size. It has a powerful engine that easily started on the second pull. It’s loud by necessity as it takes power to chip these branches into fine little bits of mulch. Ear protection is a necessity. Being able to hear is nice isn’t it? Eye protection too as debris can and will fly through the air. I can’t tell you how many times when just messing with branches in the garden I’ve nearly poked my eyes out. That is why I’ve taken to wearing some sunglasses/safety glasses whenever I do pruning or branch work.
It’s also a great idea to wear gloves while using the chipper and/or working with branches. When prepping for using the chipper trim your branches as much as possible. You will want to remove any curves or branching sections. I found that if I did not trim the branches back far enough I would get the branch stuck in the feeder. That was easy to take care of since the feeder shaft was removable. Long straight branches work best in the chipper.
The chipper shaft is long enough that I can’t reach the blades when I put my arm in which makes me feel comfortable using it. Who wants to lose a finger or arm doing yard work? Nobody! The shredder works nice and easy as well. Just dump smaller yard waste into the large hopper on top and watch the compost come out the side.
I’ve used the chipper twice since it came. The first time I noticed the powerful engine blew a hole in the ground where the wood chips come out. The second time I put a plastic container lid underneath that area to prevent damage to the lawn. It comes with a bag so you can gather the chips for easy collection which I recommend using the chipper bag as it is much easier to collect the wood chips in a bag then dump them as you go rather than make a huge pile of woodchips, rake, collect, and then dump them. The bag lets you skip the raking and collecting part. I didn’t attach the bag and wish I had – hindsight is 20/20!
I really liked the quality of wood chip that came out of the chipper. The chips were small, fine, and while it did leave smaller twigs unchipped the bulk of what came out they weren’t big enough to worry about. You can use the woodchips for a mulch, for pathways, or even for compost. After my chipping experience I ended up with 6 large nursery pots full of woodchips which I used to mulch some outlying garden areas.
You need space to store it as it is quite large. If your garden is large or you live in a place with a lot of trees that drop branches this chipper will help you out. It also works great if you want to remove a Bradford pear tree and well, who wouldn’t want to do that? 😉
You can see how well it works in this video I put together:
We have several raised beds this year. We are growing tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil and zucchini. We've been getting good weather so it's coming along well.
kellywcu8888ATgmailDOTcom
Hey Dave, great giveaway! We are utilizing the heavy mulching method after we watched Back To Eden. We are growing all the great summer veggies: tomatoes, zucchini, cucs, and more. Along with perennials like blueberries and raspberries. We're hoping for our best harvest yet 🙂
We have grown a big vegetable garden since 1975 except for a couple of years when we lived out of the country. We plant early crops in spring like radishes, lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, beets, kale, etc. and we plant these again in the fall. We plant peppers, tomatoes, corn, beans, cucumbers, melons, etc. for our summer crops. We eat out of our garden almost year round, except for years when we have really cold winters like last winter. However, I preserve a lot of our veggies by canning, freezing and drying so we always have veggies from the garden.
I'm expanding my garden again and am putting in several large raised beds. I've used my Troy-Bilt Horse Tiller to do the groundbreaking and it's made the job so much easier! I could really use a chipper/shredder now that the trees and shrubs in my landscaping are finally getting some size on them. I'd love to be able to make more compost for my garden instead of having to dispose of the larger branches! Troy-Bilt makes high quality, durable tillers and I'm sure their chipper/shredders are built to last as well. Dave, thanks for entering me in the giveaway! Dan
I've been needing a sturdy wood chipper for years. I have two small bamboo groves (30 x 30 ft) and each spring and fall it takes forever to clean up dead canes in the spring and excess growth in the fall. A good chipper could make this a days work or less, not a week or more.
And to add insult, the only trees planted when I bought the acre lot are Silver Maples. They can rain branches all year long. I can't burn in my area, but chipped these would make all my garden paths more easily wandered through.
Finally wood chippings and shred dings can add to mulch and compost piles which end up enriching and beautifying the whole garden. In short, I could sure put this chipper to work much of the year.
Hello! thanks for entering me in the giveaway! Every year I like to expand my gardens; add new specimen trees or bushes, some rare flowers, and get my veggie garden all planted and ready. A shredder/chipper could really help!
I would love an opportunity to win the chipper. We have two BIG veggie gardens, and several trees on our place. The chipper would help quite a bit in getting rid of the smaller branches that fall during storms and over the winter.
Too many branchs throw away every season after pruning and normal fall. This chipper will help to make a good pile of mulch to add on the flower and veggies
I love wood chippers. I need to recycle more organic matter into my garden.
I would love to win this. I have a small kitchen garden with mainly herbs, tomatos. peppers, mint and some cucumbers. But we do wildlife management on our small ranch and part of our job is brush control and cutting down cedars for the grasses and oaks to grow. I could use them to make mulch from them for my flower beds and veggie garden.
Hey Dave. We have a 1.5 ac garden, I call a lawn.Any and all power tools are welcome. A Troybilt chipper would look great next to my Troybilt tiller.
Dave, I have 6 raised beds for vegetables and greatly benefited from your tips on raised beds. I also have lots of flower beds which keep my home (and my neighbor's homes) looking beautiful all summer. I would so love a good chipper to make my own mulch. That's what gardening is all about for me – doing it myself! Love your blog.
I would love to win a wood chipper. We have many trees around my small garden area now. They are in great need of a trim and chips would be a good source for mulch or composting. I'm growing tomatoes peppers cucumbers and squash this year. Thanks Dave for the giveaway.
Awesome giveaway guys!! My wife and I like to grow peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. And this wood chipper would be a life saver (or a 'back' saver)!! Thank you so much!
Living on an island that is only accessible by ferry poses some unique challenges. For one, the natural forces are constantly trying to reclaim my lawn for wilderness! This requires a lot of pruning. Since everything has to leave the island by boat, we are charged a good bit to dispose of brush at the transfer station.Secondly, I have to put my truck on the ferry, go to the mainland, buy mulch, then head home. This chore is not cheap after paying $30 for the car to go on the ferry! With a chipper shredder both of these logistical problems would be solved. Hope things are going great Dave! This year we will be planting some tomatoes, peppers, squash, egg plant, butternut squash, and pumpkins in our sandy soil of a garden. I will be working in building some raised beds for next year after school is out!
I'm always looking for free mulch on freecycle because I cannot afford to buy it. Living on acre with a forest behind me, this would surely help out
My garden includes several flower beds with annuals and perennials (and some tropicals that have been put in the ground knowing they have to come up come winter) and also a veggie garden with tomatoes, brussels sprouts, peas, and several types of peppers. I also have an abundant planting of italian herbs and another with several varieties of mint for tea and drinks.
I'm working on putting in a veggie garden now and also have a lot of work to do in the flower beds.
Looks like a great machine. I'm in Arizona, so we're planting heat tolerant things right now. I've got zinnias, sunflowers, peppers, eggplant, the last of the tomatoes, and zukes producing right now. Waiting for okra, more peppers, and beans. I have an urban garden on the south wall of my house, protected from our Phoenix sun with shade cloth in the summer.
Hi Dave, it surprised me how small this machine is, given that it will take 3 inch branches. In my shade gardens I'm finding that hostas (not surprising) and old fashioned shrubs are doing the best so far. One of my biggest annual challenges is keeping the underbrush in the woods down. A Chipper shredder would go a long way in cleaning up, and keeping the underbrush under control.
We're going to be buying an acreage this year or next, and owning that land will likely mean destroying many invasive woody plants to prep it for prairie seeding.
My spouse and I have 1500 square feet of herbaceous peripherals that get cut back each spring. Having a Troy Bilt wood chipper would make turning everything we cut down into mulch much easier!
We just relocated to the Midwest and this will be our first year with a garden. The home we bought had a huge garden area so we planted watermelons and cantaloupes(my son and I chose these) and we planted tomatoes, corn and numerous herbs for my wife. Also, we have several large trees on our property and a major storm a few weeks back caused several limbs to fall. No damage, but the wood chipper would come in handy.
asotv@aol.com
We are planting flowers and herbs with our children this year!
Hi Dave, thank you and Troy-Bilt for this giveaway. I grow the typical veggie garden with tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, squash, herbs, lettuces and other greens. I also have a flower bed for my collection of daylily cultivars. I like trying to grow native plants from seed, and also have a large shade garden with ferns, trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit. I would love the chipper for my parents' place. They have over 10 acres of woods. Needless to say the chipper would get quite a workout, and I could put the mulch to good use on the flower beds I've helped make for my mom. Hope you have a great gardening season!
I grow both flowers and vegetables – Hosta, Day Lilies, Iris, Phlox, Roses and Rhododendron for flowers and Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Squash and Peas for vegetables. Nothing too exciting but I and the husband like them. )
I grow flowers mostly but i have a tomato plant also! i am planning to expand and grow herbs.
achadwick22 at yahoo dot com
We always have to (daily) pick up branches. In our garden we have peas and beans, greens, squash and zucchini, grape vines, fig tree, and much more. Our garden is 15x 25 smaller this year, to accommodate the chickens. We also have 2 dogs, a goldfish pond and some rabbits 🙂
Living among many pines and hardwoods in the northeast, a chipper would come in handy. I try tomatoes, not successful, deer ate the apple trees during the winter, moles ate the bulbs, azaleas are doing great, for about a week, then damaging rains occur.
In previous years we've had a pretty large herb and vegetable garden (we stick to containers) but since we moved a few months ago, we haven't started a garden yet.
demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com
Great giveaway Dave! I have my first raised garden beds this year. Everything is coming along very well. The potatoes are doing the best with this cooler weather we have been having.
Just getting back into gardening – have 2 4X8 raised beds planted w/zucchini, squash and tomatoes.
I have some ferns and flowers in my yard.
My mother has a small garden with beans, tomatoes, strawberries and few other things.
What a wonderful give away. We just took down a Bradford pear tree and have some Leyland Cypress trees that need major pruning.
We have a good size garden, about 35' X 85', with 30 tomatoes, lots of peppers, eggplants, kale, cabbage, beans, summer and winter squash, strawberries, cucumbers, & asparagus. We also have a separate raised bed for herbs and a patch with some blueberry bushes.
We have a double retaining wall that has a huge flower bed in it. We also use this area to plant herbs and tomato plants.
That CS4325 looks like a little workhorse. We have 40 oak trees on our property.This chipper would make clean up much easier. We cull smaller trees every year for our mushroom logs.
Our garden consists of an aquaponic greenhouse in which we grow tomatoes, squash, kale, lettuce, beans, peppers, shrimp, and crawdads.
Me and my sons planted pumpkins the year before last we were really new to gardening. We also had some squash and tomatoes too that year unknowingly we put them very close together well the pumpkin vines took over every thing. The boys really enjoyed the garden but it was a lot of work .This year we have things a little more organized
It looks great.
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