It costs $9 for a bag, so I hope there isn't much waste.

Josh

Josh

E.B. Stone "fine" Orchid Bark is a nice product, but it is not cost-effective for mixing large batches of 5-1-1 (or Gritty Mix). I recommend the Greenall Micro Bark, which is the same fir bark, but in twice the volume and for the same price. Greenall is just a different packaging for E.B. Stone.

That said, for the 5-1-1, most of the material will pass through a 1/2 inch screen. However, a lot of these pieces are narrow but long, and so you'll need to manually remove the pieces that "spear" through the screen longwise. Also, I notice a good deal of sapwood ("matchsticks"), and that, too, must be sorted out by hand. The sapwood is well under 10 percent, but I find it visually jarring in a nice planting.

The product under review:

A piece of 1/2-inch hardware cloth over a large pond-basket for collecting screened material. My plastic nursery plant-carrier with 1/4-inch grid sitting to the left.

A couple handfuls of bark on the 1/4-inch screen:

And the pieces that did not pass the 1/4-inch screen:

Josh