It's hard to tell because there's nothing for perspective, but it appears to be very large at first glance. ;-(

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Al

I'll take some out tonight and take a photo with a quarter. I think it looks more like the 9:00 one in that photo.

usually when the bag says "nuggets" it is the outer most part of the bark which is way too big. If the place you got this has a bag that says pine "mulch" you will be closer to the right size, just need to sift it.

mike

Julia....Sunrise Mulch (407-381-3811) on Hwy 50 just East of 436 has the Pine Bark Fines I showed you......$3.50 / 2 cuft

Thanks Doug. That's not very close to me! I was hoping to find something close.

Here is what mine looks like

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Way too big, unfortunately.

Josh

Dang it! Is there any way to maybe chop this up to make it smaller? I don't have anywhere close to me that carries it.

Hi Julia,
Your going to want pieces about the size of a dime.
Some have mentioned a lawnmower to make smaller, and a hammer works, but time consuming. We put some in an old rag and used hammer.

JoJo

Try looking at some of the "soil amendment" bags, just read the ingredients first.

What I did, was email ALL the garden centers and greenhouses in my area, asking about pine bark fines. I also asked what the particle size was, and the cost. I had my answers the next day, and needless to say, I found a greenhouse that sold "pine bark mulch", that had 1/4 to 1/2" particle size with about 50% of it being what yo'd call composted. It's perfect! Anywho, from what I found out, whatever it is labeled as, means nothing. The word mulch can mean whatever the manufacturer wants it to, from large chunks, shredded, or, in my case, fines. I did find, as mentioned, that when it says nuggets, keep walking.

As for grinding it, personally, I'd first try harder to find the right stuff, but worst case, the ideas people gave could work. I dunno about using a mower, considering you use it to mow the lawn, and you'll risk mixing in stuff you don't want, like weed seed. Another option is a leaf blower/vac. I have a toro one that you can flip the attachment around, attach a bag, and vac things up, which sends it through a mulcher. I've sucked a few pieces of my cedar mulch in the yard up a few times, and it made mince meat out of it.

I'd ask where you live, buy I see it's zone 9, so lord knows that's nowhere near me, in my zone 4. Good luck!

Joe

That's puttin' the old noodle to work! ;o)

Al

I wonder if would be cost effective to rent a chipper/shredder for a day? A person could get a bulk amount of shredding done in an afternoon, I would guess. And while you had access, you could also use it to get branches mulched for the compost pile or garden beds... killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

In the past, we've found it very cost efficient to rent various tools and machinery that are too expensive to buy outright, and we wouldn't use them enough for a purchase to pay... but renting gives us access to those tools when we need them.

Just a thought...

The other negative to chipping up pine nuggets would be the lack of the "composted" part. I was under the impression that partially composted was big for the 511 mix, and uncomposted was for the gritty mix. I suppose you could start composting it for later use though.

Well I think what I'm going to do is use that in the front garden and search for the right stuff! Doug told me where to go, not too close to me, but it's do-able so I want to get the right stuff to start out. I will have to try to keep my tomatoes alive until I can get the right stuff. I did check walmart but they didn't have anything.

Will this work well?

--Organic spruce and pine bark mulch 3/8" and smaller--

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That looks too fine in particle size, adam_ms, and I'd say it would require screening to remove the finer particles.

What size of screening would you recommend? I see Pine and Fir on the list of acceptable bark to use - I am guessing that Spruce [being a conifer] would be no different?

I can buy full truck loads of this stuff for the price that some of you guys are paying for small bags.. so it would be nice if I could get it to work.

Thanks for the help!

I did check walmart but they didn't have anything.

Well, if you're pressed for time (tomatoes need to be potted NOW) bite the bullet and buy Wal-Mart's "Expert Growers Mix". It's $9-10 for 2CF but beats the $15 for a bag of MG, and it's predominately pine fines so it does drain well.

Tom