Harvesting Ginkgo

[Len B]

I have 2 ginkgo trees that I started from seeds years ago. One has really taken off and is getting tall. Not knowing if it's male or female I decided to cut it way back this year. I don't want to leave a very large female ginkgo tree for someone to have to deal with after I'm gone. I've been cutting some limbs off and bagging the leaves for future tortoise food. This is what I have so far and a lot more to bag. I usually just crumble dried leaves by hand but I would like to grind these down a little more to sprinkle on other foods during the winter months. Any suggestions on what to use to grind them down? I've never done large volumes before, usually just small amounts and used a coffee bean grinder.

 

[Maro2Bear]

I have 2 ginkgo trees that I started from seeds years ago. One has really taken off and is getting tall. Not knowing if it's male or female I decided to cut it way back this year. I don't want to leave a very large female ginkgo tree for someone to have to deal with after I'm gone. I've been cutting some limbs off and bagging the leaves for future tortoise food. View attachment 351242View attachment 351243View attachment 351244View attachment 351245This is what I have so far and a lot more to bag. I usually just crumble dried leaves by hand but I would like to grind these down a little more to sprinkle on other foods during the winter months. Any suggestions on what to use to grind them down? I've never done large volumes before, usually just small amounts and used a coffee bean grinder.

Maybe @Kapidolo Farms will have some good ideas.

 

[wellington]

What if you run a lawn mower with a bag on it over them.

 

[jcase]

What if you run a lawn mower with a bag on it over them.

Considering the amount of petroleum products coating most lawn mowers ... Even my electric mower isnt clean enough to make me willign to do that.

I might be willing to put it in a barrel and take a weedeater to it

 

[wellington]

Do you have a stringless weed eater? Otherwise you will have a bunch of string broken off in it. Otherwise that would work too.
As for the lawn mower, was told years ago when I joined, it was safe to feed mowed grass.

 

[jcase]

Do you have a stringless weed eater? Otherwise you will have a bunch of string broken off in it. Otherwise that would work too.
As for the lawn mower, was told years ago when I joined, it was safe to feed mowed grass.

... yes? You dont want to use string on brush or anything thick, you want to use a wire or chain or blade head.

To each their own, but properly maintained equipment is generally greased frequently, I know the manual on mine calls for the grease gun every 10 hours of operation. I wouldn't feed red and tacky in any quantity to my tortoises.

Maybe the cheap little mowers dont call for it, I'm not sure, never bothered to maintain mine as I dont use it for more than a strip around the pool, but they still come from the factory with a nice grease coat.

 

[wellington]

... yes? You dont want to use string on brush or anything thick, you want to use a wire or chain or blade head.

To each their own, but properly maintained equipment is generally greased frequently, I know the manual on mine calls for the grease gun every 10 hours of operation. I wouldn't feed red and tacky in any quantity to my tortoises.

Maybe the cheap little mowers dont call for it, I'm not sure, never bothered to maintain mine as I dont use it for more than a strip around the pool, but they still come from the factory with a nice grease coat.

Brand new I probably wouldn't use mowed cut grass. But it doesn't take long for that newness to be gone and covered with dirt and grass. If you smell it, it should smell like cut grass possibly some dirt smell depending on your yard. Never smelled like anything other than grass. Now my machine was so old, we had to tape the deck as grass was being blown out of it instead of going only in the bag, which was also taped lol.
Our new one we finally gave in and bought, I wouldn't use the cut grass from that right away.

 

[jcase]

Brand new I probably wouldn't use mowed cut grass. But it doesn't take long for that newness to be gone and covered with dirt and grass. If you smell it, it should smell like cut grass possibly some dirt smell depending on your yard. Never smelled like anything other than grass. Now my machine was so old, we had to tape the deck as grass was being blown out of it instead of going only in the bag, which was also taped lol.
Our new one we finally gave in and bought, I wouldn't use the cut grass from that right away.

Maybe we need a "Grown up toys" sub forum, we can expand into tractor talk next!

I wouldnt use mine to chop feed, joints get greased and it gets serviced regularly, I also have a lot of area to mow so I have to keep it in shape or it wont last.

 

[Len B]

What if you run a lawn mower with a bag on it over them.

I do that but it doesn't chop them as fine as I'm trying to get. I use this SunJo electric mower to collect clippings for food. It's plastic except the blade the axels and the push bar. So I feel it's very safe to use since no oil or grease is needed to be used on it.

 

[jcase]

I do that but it doesn't chop them as fine as I'm trying to get. I use this SunJo electric mower to collect clippings for food. It's plastic except the blade the axels and the push bar. So I feel it's very safe to use since no oil or grease is needed to be used on it.

Almost certainly comes pre greased, but its probably no big deal if you dont regrease since its been used so much.

How fine do you want them? Either a barrel and weed eater with a chain or blade on it, or a blender would be my next go tos.

 

[wellington]

Almost certainly comes pre greased, but its probably no big deal if you dont regrease since its been used so much.

How fine do you want them? Either a barrel and weed eater with a chain or blade on it, or a blender would be my next go tos.

Yep blender or food processor if you don't mind doing smaller batches at a time.

 

[jaizei]

Maybe a leaf vacuum/mulcher to get a rough cut and a grain grinder if you want something smaller?

 

[Len B]

I actually knew the answer to my question and didn't realize it until this evening. It's called the Magic Bullet. A friend grinds pot for me to make brownies using one and it's ground to size that's perfect to sprinkle on other tortoise foods. I bought some more Betty Crocker brownie mix today too. I'll run out to Walmart and pickup a Magic Bullet.

 

[COmtnLady]

I realize they walk around on all sorts of stuff and even eat their own poo, but - I would grind the gingko in a food processor. I tend to feed my tort the same quality as I would eat myself, and I'm fairly sure I wouldn't eat anything chopped by a lawn mower...

 

[Cathie G]

I have 2 ginkgo trees that I started from seeds years ago. One has really taken off and is getting tall. Not knowing if it's male or female I decided to cut it way back this year. I don't want to leave a very large female ginkgo tree for someone to have to deal with after I'm gone. I've been cutting some limbs off and bagging the leaves for future tortoise food. View attachment 351242View attachment 351243View attachment 351244View attachment 351245This is what I have so far and a lot more to bag. I usually just crumble dried leaves by hand but I would like to grind these down a little more to sprinkle on other foods during the winter months. Any suggestions on what to use to grind them down? I've never done large volumes before, usually just small amounts and used a coffee bean grinder.

Why can't you just bag the dried leaves for storage and grind a batch when you need to?

 

[Cathie G]

I actually knew the answer to my question and didn't realize it until this evening. It's called the Magic Bullet. A friend grinds pot for me to make brownies using one and it's ground to size that's perfect to sprinkle on other tortoise foods. I bought some more Betty Crocker brownie mix today too. I'll run out to Walmart and pickup a Magic Bullet.

Ur nuts