A shredder is great for coarse, woody material and slender branches. If you have a large garden and a lot of this type of material a petrol driven shredder is a wonderful asset, but they're not much use in a small garden. I know a bloke who feeds a stem at a time through an electric one. It takes HOURS where sheers or secateurs would do a much faster job.
You just lay the stuff on the lawn and run the mower back and forth. I have a bosch quiet shredder and an alko noisy impact shredder. I prefer the alko, the bosch is OK for straight sticks or long branbles, but it chunks rather than shreds. Have a look on ebay for second hand ones. I bought the last one for £35 , it had only been used once.
I find that when I use the mower, it doesn't vacuum up all the material so I end up with a lawn that kind of looks like hundreds and thousands have been sprinkled all over it. I use a scabby bit of ground now so it doesn't matter how much mess is left behind.
I have a lot of tree branches so I got a £70 shredder. Only goes up to 45mm, and the thicker branches are better - thinner bits end up stripping the bark off and then winding round the mechanism or clogging up the chute. As does green leafy material. Probably would be ok if you left the branches to dry out first. Overall I'm pleased I got it, but it really wouldn't be worth it IMO unless you had lots of branches or got a much more expensive model that could cope with all types of plant material.
As fidgetbones says just run the mower over it, I usually go over it on a high setting then lower it down until you get it all done. Any big chunks go into into the heap to begin cooking and they break down partly then chuck them out when I'm turning the heap and mow again.
@delski you can make a mess with a mower, I just rake it over after and it's ok. I've borrowed a couple of different shredders and each seems so compromised, good at leaf but not branch and vice versa most do seem to bing up. I have customer who spent nearly a £1000 on a petrol beast it as bungs up as fast as he curse at it. Mower for me 😀
Thanks for all the advice! I would never have thought about using a mower! Sounds like a great at way of doing things. I’ll give it a go when I get a chance 😀
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And a posh cordless leaf sucker / blower that has an incorporated shredding blade. £250 plus batteries.
But then I have no lawn or mower.