The bag was white with orange writing and was labeled as "pine bark mulch" and the pine bark look very finely shredded. Nothing over 1" in size, most of it much smaller. Certainly you'd have to sift through the bark and remove a lot of fine material but you might be able to use at least some of the material.

The bark was not composted at all. They also had a bag of large pine bark, the kind you'd use in garden beds in a blue and silver bag, right next to the shredded pine bark.

I didn't have my truck or else I would have grabbed some. I hope to go there again this weekend and will grab a bag. Even if I can't use it in containers I could use it somewhere in the garden.

So if you are near a Home Depot you might want to look into this as at least a possibility.

Dave

Kyle

Yes this seems to be a good example of the "regional effect", where each region of the country has different suppliers of gardening materials, including barks and mulches. So a Lowe's or HD in Louisiana for example won't sell the same products as they do here in Michigan. Depends on what is available locally.

I noticed on the HD website that they list only six (6) types of mulch, however at the actual store they have many more types. Again, probably the region influences what each store carries so the website has to be fairly generic.

One thing is for sure, there's no shortage of Miracle Gro products at any of the big box stores! The HD I was at yesterday had pallet after pallet of different MG products, but absolutely nothing called a "soil conditioner".

I did find a nice crushed granite grit at Rural King, a large farm store in the area. It's sold for poultry under the name Manna Pro Poultry Grit, in small yellow and blue bags. 5 pound bags are about $3.

Since you are fairly close to west Michigan the Home Depot closest to you *might* carry the same pine bark fines that I saw yesterday in Grand Rapids. I don't know whether these will work or not for Al's gritty mix but I've not seen such finely shredded pine bark anywhere else so far.

As you say, at least some of this material would be unusable due to size but I think at least some of it would work.

I will try to get to Home Depot this weekend and grab a bag and perhaps post a few photos.

HTH,

Dave

So if you are looking for pine bark fines for the gritty soil mix and happen to live in or near Michigan, I'd suggest looking at your local Home Depot. The pine bark I saw was available in two grades, but the finer grade was in a white plastic bag with orange writing.

I'll try to upload a photo of the actual bag if I get to HD this weekend.

HTH

Dave

Alice

I was at the Home Depot in Kalamazoo, MI today to get some pine bark mulch (big chunks) for our garden beds. While there, thought I'd see if this store had any pine bark fines similar to the ones I saw at the Grand Rapids, MI store a couple of weeks ago. Those fines looked ideal for containers and Al's gritty mix.

Believe it or not, the HD in Kalamazoo had NO pine bark mulch of ANY kind, big chunks, mini nuggets, fines, you name it. Nada. None. They weren't sold out, they just didnt have any. I looked in each rack of the garden center but found none. I did see every concievable size and color of cypress mulch, but no pine bark at all.

They had pallets of pine bark at the HD in Grand Rapids, about 1 hour away, so I have no idea why our local HD had none at all. I had assumed (dangerous thing to do) that HD stores in the same area would have the same products, but this is not the case. So no wonder that list members in other states have access to different supplies and brands of pine mulch.

On the positive side, the fir bark I found recently seems to be doing quite nicely as a pine bark fines substitite. This fir bark comes in 4, 8 and 24 quart bags and is used as reptile bedding. The particle size is about 1/4" to 1/2" and has very few fines or dust in the bag. For sure it is more expensive than pine bark, but you *should* be able to find this, or something similar, at your local pet stores or via mail order. I've attached a link below.

For example the reptile bedding might have large labeling on the front saying 'ABC Reptile Co.', but look for the small print, probably on the back and it will likely say 'XYZ forestry Co.' That's who you want to call.

The producers of pine bark don't just make high priced stuff like reptile bedding, but instead they produce pine bark of all sizes and sell it to other suppliers. Some put it in tiny packages at huge markups, others don't.

They (the producers) will know who they sell to and can point you in the right direction. This is how I initially found a suitable product which no longer is being sold, but I still know the place where the trees are processed so I have a lead should I need it in the future.

How much is in a bag ?

Since I only need to mix small batches of medium, the reptile bedding I found works perfectly. It is more expensive than the larger bags of soil conditioner available elsewhere in the nation, but beggars can't be choosers... and on the plus side, I don't have to screen it for dust or to remove larger pieces. ReptiBark reptile bedding is perfect right out of the bag.

I'm sure if I called the company, they could let me know where to find larger bags, should I need them.

Apparently, the retail gardening industry is not the least bit interested in selling customers what would be healthy for their potted plants. It's all about profit margins.

I check Lowe's and Home Depot and Menard's for large bags of pine bark pieces every time we go there... but so far, nothing is jumping out at me as a good product.

Don't have Menards or Meijer's...small town.

You can buy it at pet stores like Petco, and they usually have it in larger bags. Not as big as regular pine bark bags, but still decent size bags. I buy it when it's on sale and save a few $$$ whenever possible.

You can also order it online and save even more per bag, but shipping costs might eat up your savings.

So I'd call your local pet stores first and see if they have it or can order it.

There are other brands of fir bark besides ReptiBark but I like that one best.

I wonder who actually manufactures/bags the reptile bark for retail sale? If we could find the company that bags it, we might be able to get it cheaper, or at least find out who carries it in large bags for lower prices. I'm thinking I should do a little bit of research...

I do like that it's perfect right out of the bag, though... saves a lot of extra work!

Now if only I can find the granite grit in bags bigger than 5#, but at least I have the coarse Silica sand to use instead.

Puglvr, the ReptiBark comes in a few different size bags that I know of. I've seen it in 4qt, 8qt, and 24qt bags. Cost depends on where you buy it but usually a 24 qt bag costs about $15-20. IT's expensive for sure but affordable to me since I only need small quantities.

You can search online for it if your local pet stores don't have it. Here's one place that has it, but I've never ordered from them so I'm not endorsing them at all:

http://www.pets-warehouse.com/Vpasp/shopexd.asp?id=125253

Anyway, it's good fir bark, the only issue is the cost. It works great in my containers.

thanks

John

Thanks for the link...I hate paying shipping whenever its avoidable,lol. I went down to Petco and bought the 10 qt bark of Reptibark for $7.99, they also had the 24 qts for $17.49. More expensive that I'd like to pay but at least its available when I need it and its close to home and best of all NO shipping!! The small bag I bought, the size looks great and right now it will do me just fine. I don't have a lot of things to pot up.

Thanks again!

As you said the good news is that you can find ReptiBark at any time of year, the size is uniform and its prescreened. Also most people have a pet store of some kind in their town so the ReptiBark or similar brand should be easy to find.

the bad news is the price. Its expensive compared to pine bark in big bags but not too bad if you only need small quantities. A couple of big bags lasts me a very long time.

This summer I looked all over for 'pine bark fines' but couldnt find any. None of the big box stores or landscaping places had it or knew what it was. I could buy a big bag of pine bark at Walmart or Home Depot for about $5 a bag but then Id have to screen it myself and use maybe half the bag for containers and the rest would go in my garden beds.

So really for me the ReptiBark makes sense but for others it may not. If you have lots of containers or have lots of time for screening then the pine bark at the local big box store might be better.

No, I dont work for ReptiBark lol.

I should mention that the poultry grit is kind of dusty... it may require rinsing and screening... or at least rinsing. As for large quantities... again, I'm wondering where large poultry farms get their granite grit... or if they even use it. The poultry industry isn't what it once was. (Check out a movie called FOOD, Inc. for an eye-opening look at today's food production.)

ReptiBark is sold through a company called Zoo Med Laboratories, located in California. The link below is their website, the page containing ReptiBark. They have a store locator, so you can find a place that sells it near you.

I hope this helps anyone looking for it...