Small/chopped pine bark source?

[Mitty]

I forgot to mention the reason for the aquarium pebbles. They are for a covering the top to dissuade weeds. I was recommended their use. Being disabled I don't have a lot of time to weed and it seems to work. The pebbles are about 2mm wide.

 

[Joe Dupre']

I use Hapi-Gro from Lowes....... 100% organic compost. It yields about 60-70% of the particle size that I find works for me.

 

[coh]

Hey, a Poink thread sighting! Good times.

If you want properly sized, clean bark, bonsaijack sells it at a decent price. The soil conditioner stuff sounds nice, but isn't available in all parts of the country. I can't get it up here, I've looked everywhere.

 

[M. Frary]

Hey, a Poink thread sighting! Good times

I was just going to say something of the same.
I actually kind of miss him.

 

[jeanluc83]

Orchid bark which is sold for reptile beds

I tried using Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark this year. It is fir bark that has been sifted to remove the fines. The particle size is about 1/4" to 1/2". It looks like it is good stuff but this was the first year trying it and I didn't repot too many trees this season.

It is easy to get. I got mine at Petco but it looks like it is available at most pet stores.

 

[just.wing.it]

I was just going to say something of the same.
I actually kind of miss him.

What happened to him?

 

[M. Frary]

What happened to him?

He started some facebook bonsai group or something like that.

 

[J.J.]

I tried using Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark this year. It is fir bark that has been sifted to remove the fines. The particle size is about 1/4" to 1/2". It looks like it is good stuff but this was the first year trying it and I didn't repot too many trees this season.

It is easy to get. I got mine at Petco but it looks like it is available at most pet stores.

Feedback?

 

[augustine]

Here in mid-Atlantic I can get pretty good bark sold as soil conditioner or pine fines cheap. However it needs to be sifted which is no big deal but the bags are always wet. So you have to dry it and sift. Drying it is time consuming in the winter, it blows around outside and takes a while to dry inside.

Choice is spending money or time. It sure is a pleasure to have clean soil components at repotting time.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I buy the 3$ bag frol lowes and use this to crush it to small bits. Works great when the bark is totally dried out.

 

[jevanlewis]

I buy the 3$ bag frol lowes and use this to crush it to small bits. Works great when the bark is totally dried out.

View attachment 293423

View attachment 293424

Forgive my ignorance...is that a meat grinder?

 

[Shima]

Orchid seedling bark is perfect size.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Forgive my ignorance...is that a meat grinder?

Yeah. I reversed the secondary grind wheel on the outlet to allow larger sizes to pass through. Works great for me, since I dont have a huge number of trees requiring bark as a component.

$15 on craigslist for the grinder.