They are much smaller than pine-bark-mulch anywhere else. Home Depot pine mulch is quite large. Walmart's pine-mulch is also large shredded pieces, but Ace Hardware's is pine-fines, looks like it's been stored for a long time, I saw lots of pine-powder, and the largest piece is about 1/2 inch. max. If I jump on the bag I can easily crush them more. The bag is huge, but much lighter than normal-pine-mulch, so I suspected it's half-decomposed. This is the 1st time I see it at Ace-Hardware in Oct. The last time I saw such pine-fines at Walmart it was sold out in 1 week .. that was 10 years ago, and I never see such again. I would call your Ace-Hardware in advance to ask for "pine-mulch" and ask them how big is the largest chip in the bag?

I think I have finally found a source for Aged Pine Bark! I called Fafard directly and they gave me the contact info for their PA distributor. I just got off the phone and they're going to order me a pallet of 36 2cf bags of Fafard Aged Pine Bark. They deliver in my area for $20 and price per bag is $3-something (I got so excited I forgot). It may take a couple of weeks for them to get it since they don't normally stock it: Griffin Greenhouse 200 Mountain View Road Morgantown, PA 610-286-0046 Looks like they have locations along the East Coast: http://www.griffins.com/locations/index.asp Also, I picked up some more Lowes Gardenscape Pine Mulch, but it's not at all composted this time (and still has lots of sapwood and big chunks). I wouldn't recommend it.

ZIPPELK, When you said you were comparing the size consistency of the different calcined clays products, do you mean particle size distribution or particle size stability? One of things I like about calcined clays products is their stability, since they don't break down over time into a dense muck, but I don't understand why consistency of the particle size distribution is so important. This summer I've used the WalMart Special Kitty Natural Kitty Litter on top of raised beds filled with course compost made from primarily leaves and lawn clippings. Because the compost is course and breaks down rapidly during the growing season, I had some problems last summer with large voids developing. I'm raising tomatoes, peppers, and herbs in these beds, and the large voids caused problems with the roots of plants drying out near these voids. When I started having the same problems this summer, I poured about an inch of the kitty litter on top the the beds. As I've watered the beds, the litter particles have settled down and mixed into the compost, and I've had much better water retention. For use in raised beds, I'm not concerned with the small dusty bits causing problems as I am with containers. In my beds, I'm growing tomato plants that transpire gallons of water per day during the summer, so maximum moisture retention is a major concern. The plants have tough, dense root systems than go down through a foot of compost and then dig into the heavy red clay beneath the beds. This spring I started growing several dwarf fruit trees in containers. They have grown much better and faster than I expected this first summer, so this winter I need to move some of them from 5 gallon buckets to larger containers. I'm trying to read and plan ahead because I want to give these fruit trees an optimum medium for healthy growth in the future. I also have a limited budget. The oil absorbents and Turface cost 10 times what the kitty litter costs. My experience has been that the particle size stability of the kitty litter is pretty good, even though the particle size distribution varies. Can someone explain to me why the consistency of the particle size distribution is important enough for 10 times the cost? I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm just trying to understand and find the best best solutions that are affordable for me. With containers, I understand sifting or rinsing the clay products to remove the small dusty bits to prevent the mix in the bottom from getting too dense, heavy, and wet. Other than the small dusty bits, why is the size consistency so important? As long as the particle size ranges somewhere between 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch, why do they all need to be the same size? If the particles are too small they compact, and if they're too large it reduces the surface area of soil particles. As long as they are in that "Goldilocks" range, does it matter if they're not the same? The link below is for a PDF file to download from the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. It has lots of information on the pros and cons of different container growing media. It has much of the same information that I've read on this forum from Al and others. It explains lots of stuff in very easy to understand language and provides lots of alternatives for growing media, since availability and costs can vary in different places. Thanks, Greg Here is a link that might be useful: Growth Media for Container Grown Ornamental Plants

To the OP: Apologies for diverting the topic but please do pipe in if are still in doubt. Westes: "I think when you talk about finer particles creating more space between particles, that is just a side effect of more surface area. Larger particles with less total surface area leave less space between those larger particles. This is just looking at the same issue from two different perspectives." It is the other way around. Capillary force depends on the space between surfaces. Consider a wick made of fine strands of fibers. If you loosely pack it then the spaces between strands are large and it will not wick as well. But if you tightly wind the same strands the spaces between strands decreases and it will wick up water much better. The surface area has not changed but the capillary force increases considerably. This is the principle that a mop uses to draw up the water from the floor. Another way to look at PWT is to think of a jigsaw puzzle vertically. The pieces themselves are big compared to the spaces in between them. Let us assume the pieces cannot absorb water. Let us say they are made of plastic and when they are put together there is still a tiny strand of space between them and is the same throughout. If the space is small enough water will wick up from the bottom through those spaces to quite a height. But the height achieved by wicking water is determined by the space between the pieces and not the size of the pieces themselves. And for this theoretical jigsaw puzzle, the height the water will reach be fairly fixed - no more no less. "If I take Turface fines and water them, I get a water-saturated mess that is very slow to dry. Are you saying that this means the perched water table actually goes the entire length of the container to the top of the soil? Let me try to grasp the physics of just that trivial case before we start to talk about 511 again." If you take your turface medium it will have a fixed PWT. Let us say that is 5 inches or 10 inches or whatever the medium supports. Below that height it will be 100% saturated. Above that height it will not be 100% saturated. And as you go higher it will be less so. When I say saturated, it means both the particles and the air spaces are filled with water. Above PWT the particles may be saturated but not the spaces in between. In fact, the spaces in between will be a mixture of air and water vapor making it very humid. The relative humidity in the spaces may be 100% but it is very different from saying that space is 100% water. Slow to dry does not mean there is a PWT. All it means is that turface is saturated with water. Does not mean that the spaces between them is. And turface is pretty reluctant to give up its water. The surface bond strength between water and the clay in turface is pretty strong. It takes a lot of energy to break that bond and it becomes increasingly (exponentially) harder as the turface becomes drier. Cactus like plants have an immense ability to exert phenomenal force to extract water. They have evolved to do that. Water loving plants lack that ability and need more freely available water not tightly bound to the medium. Without any roots to suck that water any medium will feel damp/wet for a long time. Temperature plays a role here too. Lower the temperature harder it is for the roots to extract water from a medium.