How to Use a Chipper to Make Mulch Smaller

Set the chipper on a level area of ground. Lock the wheel brakes. Spread a large tarp on the ground under the discharge unit of the chipper to catch the cut-up chips of mulch. Set cinder blocks or large rocks on each corner of the tarp to hold it in place.

Lift the mulch chunks into a wheelbarrow, using a long-handled garden fork. This allows any stray, heavier rocks and debris to fall to the ground. Avoid using mulch chunks that have already been spread on the ground. Instead, chip chunks that are still in a delivery pile.

Place the full wheelbarrow next to the chipper at an angle that allows you to scoop the mulch chunks up with a shovel and toss them into the chipper's feed chute.

Turn the chipper equipment on. Toss one shovelful of mulch chunks at a time into the feed chute. Allow the cut-up bark mulch to come out the discharge chute onto the tarp before putting another shovelful into the feed chute.

Turn the chipper off when the wheelbarrow is empty. Repeat filling the wheelbarrow, turning the chipper on, inputting chunks, then turning the chipper off again until all the large chunks are all processed. Whenever the pile of chipped chunks becomes large enough to impede the output chute, scoop the chips into the wheelbarrow and remove to a new pile or spread immediately in the garden.