It doesn't sound stupid to me.

I have advised to my friend to collect pine bark from the sawmill to prepare 5:1:1 :)

Caelian

Well throw that idea out the window...

I just went to a local garden center to buy some mulch for my flower beds. After asking if he had pure pine bark, he happily said yes. Attached is a picture of a hand full he let me have. It is pure pine bark with no additives or foreign material. I was surprised at the cost, $36 a yard (A pick-up truck bed full).

It looks like the right sizes needed, minimal sifting I believe. Thoughts?

Also, he has the same pine park but it is 60% bark and 40% horse manure that has been composted, thoughts on this one?

Thanks,
Bill

Another view

I recently went to my local garden center asking for bark. I was told that bark would steal nutrients and the guy had never heard of anyone using bark for chillies. I was kinda surprised, is this some kind of experimental technique?

Bill, it wouldn't be worth your time. Like you found out, its cheap. Kmart sells 2 cf bags for less than 3 bucks if you need a smaller quanity. As for the manure mulch, i don't know, 40 % sounds pretty high to me. But how fresh the manure is would make a big difference. You might want to experiment with a couple plants and see what happens. That type of manure will probally smell. They sell odorless manure in bags. Did you get the replacement dorset and douglah seeds i sent? John

John,

I did receive the replacement seeds today in the mail. What a surprise, I did not expect that nor did you need to do it. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity!! They will be sowed this weekend.

I also think 40% manure is high but the guy said it is atleast a year old. I took a smell and could hardly smell it. I will stick for now, with the pure bark but may try and experiment with the compost.

Again John, thank you so much for your gift.

Bill

"Pure pine bark" my butt! That (first pic) is mostly sapwood. Sapwood has grain and sticks out like a sore thumb in real bark.

I have to agree with DMForcier here. It looks like a lot of sapwood.
Bruce

It6's pretty easy to tell if you have a lot of bark or a lot of sapwood --- the bark will be little nuggets or shards and the sapwood looks like little "sticks" (almost like large rough splinters) amongst the bark.

Kevin

Thank you all. Bruce, thanks for the visual.

Well, toss both those ideas out the window.... Now to try and find some real pine bark. I have the perlite, lime and peat moss. Damn bark lol.

I am trying to find bark with minimal work do to very bad back and long work hours, no real time for sifting. I have to do something soon as the temps are great and my babies are ready for bigger pots.

Thanks all,

Bill

Bill_Missy, I have the exact same issues as you. I have been on a hunt for the stuff for two years. I found what I think will be the solution at a local K-mart. I found it after the season was underway last spring so I didn't use it. I should have bought it anyway because now I have to wait until they reopen the garden centers here in Wisconsin and then hope they stock it again this year and it proves to be the right consistency.
It is looking like I will have to do an interim repotting before the final potting for the summer and I wish I had a couple bags right now.
I used some stuff that I thought was good last year to start my seeds but it proved to be a lot like that stuff you picture above and it almost killed my whole seed growing operation before I finally repotted everything. I have spent a lot of gas and time in search of a suitable supply of pine bark fines. It just isn't something real popular in my area evidently. I go to a garden center, nursery or landscaping outfit and mention pine bark fines and they look at me like I am an alien. Then, when I say I want to use it to grow peppers in, they start looking up the nut house phone number in the phone book.
Give your nearest K-Mart a look see.
Bruce

Bill and Bruce:

This stuff is worth the extra money. I found it at a couple regional nursery chains for $10/2cf. I know.. it sounds pricy, but it's 98% usable material, except for a few large pieces and a few pieces of sapwood. I'm actually gonna try it right out of the bag this year-- no screening except the sapwood. I asked for it by MicroBark when I called around. It's Fir fines.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: E.B. Stone/GreenAll Micro Bark

Micro Bark is great stuff...texture, smell, color, average particle size.
The only possible issue with the product itself is that it isn't very composted. That might mean more regular fertilization, or inclusion of a slow-release to allow for some nutrient overlap. For my pepper plants, I take the extra step of screening; but Kevin is right, most of the material is usable. I have many times made "rough" 5-1-1 mixes for plants like Osage, Maple, Fig, Willow. I've even used bark and perlite alone for Maple and Fig, with the intention of re-potting the plants the following year.

For most of the nation, availability will be the barrier. But it's worth it to pester your local stores/nurseries to order E.B. Stone's product (packaged as Greenall, but same stuff). More and more nurseries are using bark in their mixes, you'll be glad to know. This will lead to greater availability and quality control, but could also result in regional shortages and varying cost.

Micro Bark, straight from the bag, about to be screened over a plastic nursery flat with 1/4-inch squares. While there is sapwood in this pic, most of the blond material is actually just highlit by the westering sun.

Yah, it is an availability thing. I will have to look into it though.

BTW Kevin: 2 cf is quite a bit. I believe it is about 16 gallons which would fill three 5 gallon buckets if it was almost all usuable. $10 for three containers filled is a good deal IMO.
Bruce

Bruce: That's exactly what i got. I used home depot 5 gal buckets, and after screening the dust and the maybe 4 handfuls of large pieces and sapwood, I filled three buckets a couple inches from the top with the finished 5-1-1 along with another 3-4 gal container. Used sphagnum and coarse perlite for the other components.

Josh: How do I compost it and for how long? Obvioulsly, you're not suggesting adding green waste to it and composting for 6 months. So what do you mean composted?

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 23:38

Yeah, I'm glad to pay $8.99 for a bag of Micro Bark....

Hey, Kevin, by composted I really just mean "aged." Buying a couple extra bags and keeping them over the Winter should do it. Sometimes I poke a few extra holes for rainwater to get into the bag. But that's only if I've thought far enough ahead ;-)

I think it's more common for folks to have issues with overly composted bark/mulch than to have issues with uncomposted bark. Most of the mixes I make are intended to last several years for conifers, maples, citrus, and houseplants, and so this is the bark I use for those "Gritty" mixes. Being lazy, I've never sought out actual composted bark...and this works so well, I have no reason to keep multiple grades of bark stocked.

Josh

Great info guys, Keep it coming...

I am with Bruce, hard as hell to find what we all are looking for. I thought I had found what I needed today, but not after what I am seeing and hearing. I dont have the time to sift through alot to get alittle.

Bill

Bill, you're in good company....
even Al himself is having a hard time finding the right bark this year.

Josh

Bruce, the orange bag from Kmart i used last year is gardener's choice. John

Scorpion john: Thanks. Is this the stuff. I am sorry I didn't take a photo with the name on the bag.

I use the MicroBark from EB Stone too, good stuff. There is a screening job to do, but I thought fir bark didn't need composting??
Anyway, I had screened a batch last year and left it out in a big plastic toat, and obviously rained during winter. There wer worms galore, and appeared really nice & composted.

Also found some new mfg @ home depot, and grabed a bag for testing. I'll have to check it out this weekend, If anything , at least I can use it for ground coverage mulch ;)