I also have 1/4 inch hardware cloth to screen out the large pieces of bark.

Is that all the screening I need to do?

What do you all use to screen your mixes? What other sizes do I need? The hardware store only had 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch hardware cloth.

I'll be using the bark dust as a peat substitute in some of my containers this summer. The Turface fines are getting sprinkled in the wintersown jugs. The large pieces of bark are going in the garden as mulch. But what do I do with the granite dust and tiny pieces of Perlite?

I also use a 1/4 inch plastic grid (a nursery flat for transporting plants) for the bark.

My latest tools are large pond-baskets that have 1/8 and 1/16 perforations around the outside
and bottom. I shake and rinse ingredients like bark and Perlite to remove dust and fines.

Josh

I have 2 'sets' of screens in sizes 1/2, 3/8, 1/4, 1/8, and aluminum insect screen.

Al

In the meantime, I use whatever is handy and workable to sieve the ingredients. For example, I use a piece of hardware cloth with holes about the size of Al's screen with the larger looking holes to sift bark for my outdoor 511 mix, and I have some other oddities from kitchen and crafting that have decent holes for getting rid of dust and tiny particles, or whatever else I need.

I would love to get my hands on a set of those really nice bonsai screens, but they're expensive. But I think the pond baskets will work great!