Hi Mike! Thanks, :-) That's Goober. Worlds biggest pain in the butt, spoiled brat, love bug. lol... My process? I guess you could say I'm a organized mess. lol.. I have been sifting a bag of bark twice to make sure to get all that I can use out of it. I make different mixes for the different types of plants and where they are. Inside or out.. I'm mainly using pine bark, and because it's more flat in nature, 3/8" to 1/8" is O.K. for the gritty mix, and 3/8" to dust is O.K. for the 5-1-1. (1/2" to dust can be used for the 5-1-1 too, but I don't like the bigger pieces of bark) If using fir bark, 1/4" would be used for both mixes. The left over bark that does NOT go through becomes mulch. As you know, I tired to break it down for use in the mix in my blender, but that did NOT work so well. lol! I have 3 garden beds, and I like to mulch containers too. We do get hot here. ;-) So none goes to waste. A few pieces have also been thrown in the grill to help get it started, sap wood too ;-). lol. What DOES go through the 3/8" will be sifted over 1/8" to remove all the smallest particles. That is set aside and used in various ways. It's great for seed cover in the garden beds, or added back to the bark for the 5-1-1 instead of peat. After the very small has been removed like mentioned above I will have clean bark ready for different needs. If it's a very small container, like for a succulent, I like to sift it over 1/4"(and use 1/4-1/8")I don't like or want large pieces of bark in a 3" pot, and my plants do fine with it. If it's to be used for the 5-1-1 It will be ready to use, and I would add back in the less than 1/8" pieces, to powder, in place of peat. O.K. , so does this make sense? I haven't had my coffee yet. ;-) I'm glad to hear this has been of some help to some of your friends! JoJocolor>

Enterotoxigenic00~~ hi, My momma spider plant is ok, she is getting new leaves in, on top. Still no new shoots tho. But she has been thru a lot these past few months and I think she may need a bit more time to get better. I was looking at some pic of her when I first got her, she was so pretty then. I am hoping to get her back there. Thanks for asking :) I do have a question tho, will the new growth "push" out the old leaves? there are so many cut off brown leaves ends. I was just wondering if the new would get rid of the old~~ in time of course. Will she get back to where she was? or will the old burned leaves always be there... I love this plant, I love them all. But this Spider is my first baby. She's kinda my "special" plant. But you couldn't tell.. could you.. ;) Marjie~~ hopeful

Thanks so much for the complients. Wow, two things I do not have - goo be gone and never have peanut butter; don't eat it, never will, won't have it in the house. I will try the soaking them in water with dawn or something like that. Thanks.

I think it MAY be made of rubberwood, as lots of furniture from that area is. Here is some info I found online about it - "DEFINITION OF RUBBERWOOD What is rubberwood? Rubberwood is a hardwood belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family Rubberwood has very little tendency to warp or crack Rubberwood-Eco Friendly! Rubberwood is often the most misunderstood species of wood in the furniture industry. The name rubberwood invokes a variety of misconceptions as to it’s features and to it’s durability. Rubberwood (also called Parawood in Thailand) is the standard common name for the timber of Hevea brasiliensis. In fact, rubberwood is one of the more durable lumbers used in the manufacturing of today’s home furnishings. Rubberwood has a dense grain character that is easily controlled in the kiln drying process. Rubberwood has very little shrinkage making it one of the more stable construction materials available for furniture manufacturing. Like maple, rubberwood is a sap producing species. In the case of maple, it is sap; in the case of rubberwood, it is latex. Rubberwood produces all the latex used in the world for all rubber based products. There is one more important feature of rubberwood that is very important in today’s world. Rubberwood is the most ecologically “friendly” lumber used in today’s furniture industry. After the economic life of the rubber tree, which is generally 26-30 years, the latex yields become extremely low and the planters then fell the rubber trees and plant new ones. So, unlike other woods that are cut down for the sole purpose of producing furniture, rubberwood is used only after it completes it’s latex producing cycle and dies. This wood is therefore eco-friendly in the sense that we are now using what was going as waste. Do not mistake the name rubberwood when it comes to its quality features."