I believe Al's recipe is 3-5 parts bark fines, 1 part turface or perlite and 1 part peat (would have to go look to be certain). What I am using this year is 2 parts bark fines, 1 part turface or perlite and 1 part peat. I do like this mix (certainly more than the mostly peat mixes from the store) and it retains water quite well (drying too quickly was my main concern since I grow a lot of water hungry plants), but overall I think the next time I make a mix I will reduce the peat as I can already see how the peat is mucking up the drainage. The bark fines actually hold a lot more water than I thought they would and the Turface is also quite good at retaining water. The peat is as well, of course, but it breaks down to muck inside one season whereas the Turface (or perlite) never will and the bark will take a couple/few years to do so. I do like the current ratio in self watering containers though. Probably would keep the mix the same with those.

Sphagnum peat and coir have nearly identical water retention curves. They both retain about 90-95% of their volume in water at saturation and release it over approximately the same curve until they both lock water up so tightly it's unavailable for plant uptake at about 30-33% saturation. Coir actually has less loft than sphagnum peat, and therefore, less aeration. Because of this propensity, coir should be used in mixes at lower %s than peat. Because of the tendency to compact, in the greenhouse industry, coir is primarily used in containers in sub-irrigation (bottom-watering) situations. Many sources produce coir that is high in soluble salts, so this can also be an issue. Using coir as the primary component of container media virtually eliminates lime or dolomitic lime as a possible Ca source because of coir's high pH (6+). Gypsum should be used as a Ca source, which eliminates coir's low S content. All coir products are very high in K, very low in Ca, and have a potentially high Mn content, which can interfere with the uptake of Fe. I haven't tested coir thoroughly, but I have done some testing of CHCs (coconut husk chips) with some loose controls in place. After very thoroughly leaching and rinsing the chips, I made a 5:1:1 soil of pine bark:peat:perlite (which I know to be very productive) and a 5:1:1 mix of CHCs:peat:perlite. I planted 6 cuttings of snapdragon and 6 cuttings of Coleus (each from the same plant to help reduce genetic influences) in containers (same size/shape) of the different soils. I added dolomitic lime to the bark soil and gypsum to the CHC soil. After the cuttings struck, I eliminated all but the three strongest in each of the 4 containers. I watered each container with a weak solution of MG 12-4-8 with STEM added at each watering, and watered on an 'as needed basis', not on a schedule. The only difference in the fertilizer regimen was the fact that I included a small amount of MgSO4 (Epsom salts) to provide MG (the dolomitic lime in the bark soil contained the MG, while the gypsum (CaSO4) in the CHC soil did not. This difference was necessary because or the high pH of CHCs and coir.) for the CHC soil. The results were startling. In both cases, the cuttings grown in the CHC's exhibited only about 1/2 the biomass at summers end as the plants in the bark mix. I just find it very difficult for a solid case to be made (besides "It works for me") for the use of coir or CHC's. They're more expensive and more difficult to use effectively. The fact that some believe peat is in short supply (no where near true, btw) is easily offset by the effect of the carbon footprint of coir in its trek to the US from Sri Lanka or other exotic locales. That's the view from here. YMMV Al

esox07: Just went on the computer and read your posting. I hope that you found what you need. Please let us know if this bark product can be used to make the quick-draining, gritty-planting medium....the '"bark-fines" part. I guess the price is not that high considering the Repti-Bark is $20.00 a bag... and you can always use the leftovers in the future if you make too much potting mix. Just a bit more information....There's a product called: "Micro Bark" made by GreenAll but it's mainly found only on the West-Coast, and a few other states. This might help others who live in these locations. No distributors/retailers in NYC area! Why???? Who knows? Bruce,...Good luck with the peppers. I hope I helped you and others. In addition: Some posters on this thread chose to misquote and misrepresent some of the information which I posted ... especially about the subject regarding the gritty-mix, potting mediums. The purpose of these forums is to openly exchange opinions, information, and ideas... and to do so without invective, and snide recommendations, if you happen to disagree with that posted information.

Great post. I tried this method this past weekend. Relative to the lawn mower method of chopping up large pine bark chunks, I found this method to be cleaner (it doesn't shoot pine chunks out the sides like a mower will), a bit slower than the mower, and produced a lot more fine particles. I have a high speed Toro leaf blower/mulcher with a metal impeller. A large percentage of the particles coming out felt like fine compost, and a large number of chunks went through looking unscathed, so I didn't get the mix of particle sizes that I was hoping for. I suppose if I had a 1/8" screen, I could have sifted out some of the fine stuff. As it was, I got about 3 gallons of material, and made a side batch of 5-1-1 to try with some peppers, but I didn't mix it in with the rest of my 5-1-1.