For pine bark fines I use what they call "soil conditioner" at Home Depot which is nothing more than pine bark which is in small shredded pieces. I usually get it at 2 dollars for 2 cubic feet. Not bad.

Arigato:
What name brand is this "soil conditioner" called?
Just curious. Thanks, Leon

I can't find fine pine bark, but here's what I do.
I buy the pine bark mini nugget bags, open and pour them in my drive way. I take my law mower with the bag attached, and I run over them a few times. The end results, you got pine bark that are less than 1/4" inch.
It might be a crazy way to get them, but it works.

Bass

I used pine bark mulch (not pine mulch) bought at home depot. It is a mix of fines and larger pieces that can be screened or used as is. Since it is the end of the season, some bags have been sitting around so they are partially composted. But I really like that lawnmower idea.

At this home depot there called pine nuggets , i have not seen the mini nuggets but like i said these are hugh piece with very little small ,im not sure if my mulcher with bag can bust those up.Im glad i saw these open bags as i would have though nuggets would have been just that and not big thick chunks llike i saw
Arigato also yes i would like the name if you remember it if not no big deal im going to go to another home depot , i was at several nursey's also today but no luck there seems like all of a sudden the cedar and cypress are more popular now for landscaping. But i will keep trying, heck i traveled 29 miles today to farm and fleet store for the grit, but is worth it if i dont get any little bugs flying around with this soiless mixture for the little plants 10 to 14 inches tall. Thanks to all for replying.
Martin

The products in The Home Depot carry different brand names from one location to the next. If you do find something called "soil conditioner" tear a small hole in a bag and make sure there is not a bunch of fillers mixed in with the pine bark. There are four similarly described products:

Pine Bark Nuggets: Large bark pieces which as bagged is not suitable for a growing mix.
Pine Bark Mulch: Smaller pieces of pine bark which could be screened and used for a growing mix. Probably half of it would be screened away though.
Soil Conditioner (Pine Bark Fines): Finer pieces of pine bark. It may contain some pieces as large as found in the pine bark mulch, but not nearly so many.
Pine Mulch: Made from the entire tree.

What I found at most of the garden centers in the Princeton, NJ area was pine mulch. It was not quite what I wanted. To make matters worse, the wood looked like bark because there was so much powder in the bags it coated all the pieces. Once the hose was put on it, the powder washed away. Most of what was left was the woody part of the tree.

I think Bass' idea is a great one. Since the mulch is being shot into the bag (I'm assuming it is a cloth bag like mine) much of the powder will pass through the bag.

I've not had any experience with Cypress or Cedar mulches to give any thoughts on them.

~james

Martin,

I buy the large Pine Nuggets bags for about $4.00 and run it through my chipper shredder. It reduces the nuggets 14:1 and to the granular level recommended by Al. If you don't have a chipper shredder and can't borrow one from a friend I would follow Bass' advice.

Vinnie

When referring to Pine Nuggets, are you referring to the pellets that people burn in their pellet stoves for the winter? or are these Pine Nuggets large pieces of bark mulch used for topping around shrubs and trees? Are we allowed to talk about the names of these products on our forum? It would make it easier since most of these items can be found at any Lowes or Home Depot nationwide.

Leon,

My reference is to the Pine Nuggets that are large pieces of bark mulch used around shrubs. My post is an attempt to share what I found as a solution to the same problem Martin posed. There probably is a better ready made product but this is a low cost solution if you can find a chipper shredder. I went into my garage and copied the following information off the bag.
"Forest Pine Nuggets" Contains Southern Pine Bark.
www.mulchmfg.com 614-864-4004
Reynoldsburg, OH

Here is a link that might be useful: Mulch

Vinnie thanks for that i did go there and do a search 20 mile radius but just cedar or was it cypress muclh and the colored mulch, i'm sure i'll be able to find it with some more effort.
Leon i went to the terms of service and was well kinda surprised about asking for cuttings and trades on forum, according to what i read its only thru email or your breaking the terms, for the talking about the names of these products on our forums i can't understand what they mean as for me some of its like lawyer talk for me and i cannot get it.Hopefully none of us well meaning folks here did anything wrong.
Martin

I went to another store and found the orange and white bags of premium pine bark mulch at 2.99 each 2 cu ft bag that tapla had mentioned. I posted on another thread pictures of the repotted plants i did today. Again thanks for all the comments.
Martin

The brand if I remember correctly is timberland or something to that effect. Its a clear bag with orange/black/white writing. I have some at home and when I get back, ill post the name up here.

The brand name is called timberline