Wood chipper for viney stuff?

I have a lot of bittersweet that is just an endless chore and just as bad as cutting it all down, is getting the giant pile of viney things to the burn pile, and then they take forever to dry enough to burn.

Can a wood chipper/shredder handle these or would it just bind up? Is it a matter of getting a quality machine - DR vs whatever Tractor Supply has on sale?

I also do have non-viney brush that I would chip up but it’s the bittersweet that’s the biggest hassle.

Any advice welcome.

I am sure you know this, and that my post is redundant, but I would be very careful that the “viney things” do not include poison ivy. I would be afraid that the wood chipper might create an aerosol of the oils. Similarly with burning–a friend accidentally burned poison ivy, apparently inhaled the smoke and ended up in the ER.

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Absolutely!!! Yes,these are bittersweet vines. I have PI as well but that’s a different project. And this PSA is worth repeating every time. :slight_smile:

Yeah, I’ve run quite a lot of bittersweet through a chipper and it does fine. Best to do it in small batches between bigger woody stuff. And make sure the knives are sharp–the only time I had issues with binding and clogging was when the knives had gotten quite dull.

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