Hi, Dean! I'm going to link you to one of the many threads about potting mixes in this very forum. (As you can imagine, the topic as come up before, lol.) You can read what other forum folks think about the ingredients you've mentioned, and why. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here!

Not that I'm a big blueberry expert or anything, but Dave Wilson has a recipe for blueberry potting mix, and it's 1/3 bark, so I would think your chips should be fine as mulch. You could also use it under rhododendrons or azaleas (not that those are fruit trees...:) http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/promotion/blueberries.html Carla in Sac

I doubt that it would. In my experience, gravel or lava rock is about the only thing that stops them probably because it's sharp. The lava rock works really well for me with my potted plants. I guess the same principle as the gravel. I've always used blood meal for newly planted areas. It seems if I can just keep the critters away for the first week or so, they rarely go back and cause serious damage. It is amazing what happens if I don't use it. They will dig out every single plant I put in the ground. It's almost like they watch me and follow right behind with those little claws. A bunch of us are being severely chastised right now on the Orchid Forum for our hatred of these demon spawn. The Squirrel Rights People just never give up. Kevin

THanks for providing the link with the soil recipes and taking time to post on my thread. Well the mulch I would be using as I said is double shredded. It basically looks like a fine powder; the bits of mulch don't look anything like normal mulch does, that is they're not in lg. chunks. Also the recipe I use calls for 2-3 cubic feet per 30 gallon batch. When I mix up my soil less mix, I measure eveything into a container, and measure everything in the soil recipe in gallons. Converted to gallons, how much is 2-3 cubic feet in gallons? They're very small in size with the double shredded stuff. Sorry for not clarifying this. Would this suffice?