Hey, Robin, welcome to tri.gardens!

I read through other responses to your post (as usual, to avoid restating
the obvious or making a total fool out of myself), but they did not address
a few issues that came to mind immediately for me:

Do you have to hold the branches to feed them into the chipper?

The reason I say this is because I have a Yardvark
(mini-chipper/shredder/vacuum) -- and I found that it was simply *too
painful* for me to deal with the vibration that a dead branch over 3/4"
causes as it's fed into the chipper, i.e., the branch will not be pulled
into the chipper unless you push it -- during which time, the motion of
the chipper will be transferred back through your wrist into your arm in a
*most unpleasant* way. Fortunately, in VT, I could spend my time chipping
branches from my 2 weeping willows, especially after I gave them
haircuts" -- so I could happily feed into the Yardvark 15' of pliant willow
with no effort!

What do the neighbors do?

Believe me, I am quite serious -- they may have dealt with this before
& "know somebody," or they have cousins who haul stuff away, or......

Have you considered a burn pile?

I have to admit that I'm not an advocate of burn piles.
But,........sometimes, it's the only way to go (unless you plan to give up
everything else you ever hoped to accomplish outdoors!). I did come around
eventually to the idea of "burning," in general, after moving from suburban
NJ to VT after realizing two things: A) 4 acres in northern VT is *vastly*
different from a 50' x 150' lot in NJ; and b) Wow! The high school football
field that was burned last fall really is the greenest thing around each
spring......and every spring, hmmm.....

My point: Keep an open mind. Ask the neighbors what they do. And check
triangle.gardens newsgroup on a regular basis, 'cause it's a great group, in
my not-so-humble opinion!

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh





"rac" wrote in message
om...
i'm a nc newbie and have just started reading this newsgroup. here's my
dilema. i just built a house and i've got a little piece of woods that
i've
been clearing. i've got about 5 piles of brush, each about 4 feet tall.
i
don't have a chipper but would like to chip it all into mulch to keep
weeds
down in the woodsy part. i haven't been able to find a chipper to rent.
how big a chipper do i need and where might i find one to rent? the
biggest
branch might be 3 inches around. would it be less expensive to have it
hauled away? all opinions welcome and thanks.

robin in east durham