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Knowledge center Mechanical equipment How to choose the right Bio Chopper?How to choose the right Bio Chopper crop shredder?
Written by Michael Visser | Last update: 19-11-2020
The Bio Chopper is one of the most widely used machines in greenhouse horticulture for shredding various crops. An indispensable machine during the crop rotation to work as efficiently as possible. There are four variants available, but which crop shredder suits your greenhouse horticulture company best? That depends on a number of factors, including the size of the crop, your budget and the size of your company.
Which Bio Choppers are there?
There are different types of Bio Choppers:
- Bio Chopper Compact: The Bio Chopper Compact is, as the name suggests, the most compact of the three. This shredder is suitable for situations where there is not too much space. This Chopper has a capacity of 2.500 to 5.000 m2 per hour. The Bio Chopper Compact has a relatively low capacity. It can handle heavy crops, but this takes more time compared to the more powerful Bio Choppers. Using transport mats, which are automatically rolled up by the machine, the crop is transported to the machine.
- Bio Chopper PTO: The Bio Chopper PTO is a cheaper alternative to the Bio Chopper Compact. Unlike the other Bio Choppers, the Bio Chopper PTO does not have its own engine, but is connected to a tractor. With a tractor with 100 HP a capacity of 2.500 - 5.000 m2 per hour can be achieved.
- Super Chopper Compact: The Super Chopper Compact has a capacity of approximately 2.500 to 6.500 m2 per hour. In addition, the Super Chopper has 50% more power than the Bio Chopper Compact. This extra power ensures that the clearance time is reduced. Just like the Bio Chopper, the crop is transported to the shredder by means of a transport mat.
- Mega Bio Chopper: The Mega Bio Chopper shreds or chops up to 13.000 m2 per hour, making it the most powerful Chopper. A big advantage compared to the above mentioned Bio Choppers is that the Mega Bio Chopper allows you to load crops on two sides at the same time. Do you want to be able to work continuously? Then it pays to use two forklifts with a 3800 ltr tipping container on both sides. This is also the reason that many contractors choose this machine.
The differences between the Bio Choppers
| | Crop
| Capacity
| Own engine | Budget | Continuously active |
| Bio Chopper PTO | All | 2.500 to 5.000 m2 per hour | No | €
| No |
| Bio Chopper Compact | All | 2.500 to 5.000 m2 per hour
| Yes | €€
| No |
| Super Chopper Compact | All | 2.500 to 6.500 m2 per hour | Yes | €€€
| No |
| Mega Chopper | All | Up to 13.000 m2 per hour | Yes | €€€€
| Yes |
| | | | | |
Factors when choosing a Bio Chopper
The right choice for a Bio Chopper depends on a number of factors:
- Capacity and power of the crop shredders
It is important that you think about what capacity the machine should have. As you can read above, all machines have a different capacity. This is due to the size of the engine. The capacity then says something about the speed at which the crop is shredded or chopped. Is speed an important factor for you? Then both the Super Chopper Compact and Mega Chopper are a suitable choice.
- Crop size
Regardless of how heavy the crop is, any Bio Chopper can handle heavy crops. However, a powerful Chopper will process this crop many times faster, because of its higher capacity. That is why it is good to see how many hectares of crop are cleared or shredded. What type of crop is it? The bigger and heavier the crop, the more logical the choice is to go for a powerful Bio Chopper.
- Size of the company
It is also important to look at the size of the company (number of greenhouses). It's not that a larger company needs a larger Chopper. More important is to look at how many greenhouses you have where you need to clear at the same time. If you have more than one greenhouse where you want to clear at the same time, go for two or more Bio Choppers Compact or PTO. This way you'll be a lot more agile and flexible than one big Mega Chopper.
- The budget
Budget is an important factor in making your choice. This is different for every greenhouse horticulture company. The Bio Chopper PTO and the Bio Chopper Compact are the most budget-friendly variants, with the Bio Chopper PTO being the cheapest due to the lack of a engine. The Super Chopper Compact, on the other hand, is a more expensive variant, followed by the Mega Bio Chopper.