Hi acg85 ...Welcome !

I am also a newbie when it comes to container growing. Because I am planning to do some container/pots planting , I have been educating myself in this forum.

ABOUT COLORANTS:
I think you are talking about colored mulch which may or may not be mad of pine. I have used them as landscaping mulch. If it is made of pine, it is shredded and made from pine branches and trunk that probably was not suitable for making lumber. Or can be made from the next layer under the bark. It can also be made similarly from cedar or other wood. They usually come in red and black color.

Pine or fir BARKS are mostly bagged and sold uncolored. That is what they are using in 5: 1:1:and orchid potting mix ; ALL NATURAL PINE BARK (NUGGETS,)

Yes, indeed, as Seysonn says, the colored mulch is often sapwood or other parts of the tree. This is unacceptable for our purposes. You want natural pine or fir bark - the fine-grade kind that Orchid growers use.

Josh

Thanks for the info.

Everything pine so far seen around here is labeled mulch. At HD, Lowes, WalMart, KMart, etc. even those products "certified" by the Mulch and Soil Council as pine bark, were made red or black or other non-original color.

Guess I'll keep looking. (Ranging from Central NJ, through Staten Island and Brooklyn, even got "we don't carry that since it's too expensive to ship up from NC" from a couple of nursery/garden centers.)

I think a lot of folks in your neck of the woods by their bark fines from Agway stores.

'''Everything pine so far seen around here is labeled mulch. At HD, Lowes, WalMart, ""

That is right. MULCH can be many things, hey, straw, grass clippings, ... including BARK. An that is what it is mostly used for. Here is what I bought which is also labeled MULCH.

Nice lookin' bark there in the photo.

Ironically it was an Agway which said they don't order Agway pine bark.

Next I'm going to try the few - but more local - nurseries and hydroponics shops. Orchid (or even Repti) bark may wind up costing less than pine, because of the travel. Not very economical to try Ag product dealers (none local), unless in the area for another reason. (That no-bark Agway was only 30 mi distant, but a round-trip that cost near $40 including tolls.)

acg85 ... This is the time that most garden stores are almost shut down. Especially up north. I am sure they will sell pine bark next spring when they start selling seeds and seedlings.
40 buck for a bag of bark is way too much. You can buy the stuff for orchids maybe for less. Even those can be expensive in small fancy packages. But that is how I bought some vermiculite and perlite.
I have an idea. Check with tree service guys. They might have some rotten old pines with bark on. You can strip them and run thru a shredder. You know pine wood is no good for fireplace. That is why nobody wants them.
In GA I could collect tones of them from the dead fallen pines everywhere.