Where do folks get pine bark for their gritty mixes?

No. That is not universally true for plant refuse or other materials.

Oh Richard, few things are ‘universally true’, so you work with the best rule-of-thumb or approximation that your observations offer.

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… and many readers here do not have pine bark as an available commodity.

LOL, hard to imagine here. I just had 18 tons of pines removed from my side yard and I’m looking at a huge stand of them behind my house. Too bad I don’t have the means to recycle them, LOL.

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So while you work to have pine bark ground into fines, we pursue local green waste chipped into 1 inch diameter pieces. :slight_smile:

When I started using 5-1-1 I just checked nursery stores for pine bark mulch that seems mostly the right size. The mulch produce, as opposed to nuggets or mini-nuggets, seemed close enough. I know Strange’s sells an actual pine bark fines product, though.

I’m generally much more worried about overwatering than underwatering, so the relative lack of retention is a plus for me.

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ok, using compost seems like a much better idea; they give it away free periodically and even bags of it come pretty cheap…

I have found really nice fine pine bark sold as “soil conditioner”.

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I think it might be useful to elaborate on this statement, because, as I recall, humus has similar water holding capacity as clay as they are both colloidal (consisting of very fine particles), but has much more available water for plants then clay because clay holds a lot of water so tightly plants can’t draw on it. Available water, as I’m sure your realize, is all that matters to the plants and the stewards of plants. Go compost- rich and becoming richer in humus.

Anne what are you using Al’s Gritty mix for? Citrus?

As far as big box stores go pine bark mulch from HD is completely different than pine bark mulch from Lowes. The stuff from lowes looks identical to hardwood bark mulch and is dark and shredded. The stuff from HD looks like what most people like in gritty mix. small pea to dime sized chips of lighter colored pine bark. I’ve used them both in mixes. the HD stuff no doubt has better drainage potential while the stuff from Lowes breaks down easily into a good looking dark compost.

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Sorry about the typo I meant fines. I’ve always used pine bark mulch and it works really well. The rest of the supplies for Al’s gritty mix, I buy at Pet. Co.

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Very fortunate here in southeast GA, Walmart sells a “soil conditioner” that, with a little sifting, is just about perfect.

First time using Al’s mix last year. Definitely a learning experience. To cut a long story short, I ended up buying an auomatic watering device hooked up to 5 gallon bucket to feed my PawPaw trees growing in Root Trappers. I was way over my head on this one lol. I’m glad they are still alive, i did the scratch test after overwintering them in my basement. I shoud of planted them in the ground which I plan to do soon. Bought mine from Agways.

I find Al’s mix way to dry for my needs. I use a 3-1-1 mix, like most commercial products use.I don’t use perlite either ( I use DE instead), and I add compost too. In England all commercial bagged potting mixes have compost. It is now being added to ours too, all the bagged organic mixes have compost. It is essential to prevent root rot in my opinion. Besides adding food, and bacteria. Containers can have low bacterial counts, and so adding more is always a good idea. Bacteria in containers is essential if you ask me.
You can ask these 6 month old figs what they think of compost

This one is 2nd leaf. So most above are now 2nd leaf this year. I’m going to be swimming in figs this year. Well at least fill a swimming pool with them!

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You probably know that commercial mixes usually contain a wetting agent. One nice thing about compost is that it it works like a sponge in the mix. I used to use a wetting agent, but I now rely on partially composted wood and compost.

Al’s GM is for citrus that is potted.

Yes I agree, but the OP is commenting about 5-1-1 See first post, subject should be 5-1-1 not GM.
I use a similar mix for cacti, a mineral mix, as it used to be called before Al came along.

Far too much pine bark for my mix. Pro potting mixes use 30% aged pine bark. I buy it loose by the truckload at various supply places. Ground screened ,called pine fines. It actually is pieces 1/8 to over 1/2 inch. Very light stuff, far to light to use over 50%

Depends on what you are mixing it with. I can purchase 3/8 sieve pine bark for about $15/yard from https://www.simsbark.com/ Mixed with 15% chicken manure, it makes a passably good mix for growing trees.

  1. Use a maximum of 15% chicken manure.

  2. Add 10% hardwood sawdust (hardwood breaks down faster than pine)

  3. Add 70% pine bark

  4. Add 4% sand and 1% gray wood ash

  5. Use micronutrients and fertilizers

  6. Add supplements such as rice hulls, peat moss, and perlite to lighten up the mix if needed for specific plants