Abstract: A trash plant stem shredder having vertically stacked pairs of parallel, frictionally engaged contra-rotating uprooting rollers are carried by a frame and towed behind a vehicle. The uprooting rollers are tilted forward such that, when a trash plant stem which remains in the ground after harvesting an agricultural product from the plant, enters the nips of the rollers, the stem is uprooted and moved rearwardly along the frame. A contra-rotating feed roller is disposed rearwardly of the uprooting rollers and in abutting relationship thereto, and feeds the stem to a shredder which includes a plurality of vertically stacked cutter units that longitudinally shear or shred the stem into small sections which are scattered and allowed to biodegrade in the field and fertilize the soil.

Abstract: A machine for gathering and disintegrating standing, row-planted, trash stems of crops such as cotton, pineapples etc., comprises a frame adapted to be travelled along a row of trash stems and direct them into the nip of rotating resilient rollers in mutual contact. The rollers are mounted on parallel shafts which are tilted so that the upper ends of the shafts are further ahead in the direction of machine travel than are their lower ends; thus, trash stems caught up between the rollers are uprooted and then presented to an array of scissoring blades whereby the stems are cut into short easily-disposable fragments.