I would have to say that it took time but well worth the effort. Chopping that up took a lot out of me but it was a work out. I am kind of in shape but have ankle, knee and hip problems from an old highschool injury many years ago so I have to sit down to do a lot of the work. I am approaching 40 now and trying to get back in shape and by doing that and how good my body felt after the sorness went away I would do it again next year. However there may not be a need to because I bought the Agway Pine Bark which is near perfect. The price is also excellent I think they have a deal where you can buy 3 to for 4 (3 cubic ft bags) for around $20. The price keeps lowering the more bags you buy. Also I love the cheap cost of Peatmoss. $10 for 3-4 Cubic ft. The perlite is the problem with expense though. Now I would use a commercial mix but the cost would be far too high. I had to fill 9 (20) gallon containers and 15 (5-7) Gallon containers. So as a safe estimate I filled about 250+ gallons which would work out to about 16 (2 Cubic ft ) bags of a commercial mix. If I did my math right I estimate that 15 gallons is about equal to 2 cubic Ft. I estimate that I have spent $20 for about 6-7 Cubic Ft of Peat moss, $50-$60 for Perlite, $10 for 40lbs of Garden Lime, and about $50 in Pine bark. So Let's say I spent around $140 for 16 bags (2 cubic Ft) of mix then the total price per 2 cubic Ft would be about $8-9. This is also not to mention that I have plenty of Peat moss (about 2 cu ft) and a bunch of lime along with more perlite left over. So technically I saved over $100 if I were to buy a commercial 2 CU Ft. Mix bag at about $15. Now if only had to make a small amount I would totally buy commercial and I almost did but the cost was way to high. I also forgot to mention that I did not use control release Ferts, instead I used MG liquid soluable tomato food. This was because it was cheap at the time and I was on a limited budget, but next year I will do it after this crazy weather. Here in Philly area we just got about 7+ inches of rain in one day a few days back and another inch yesterday. It has been very tricky to plan the fertilization days. Edit: I forgot that I had 4 (5) gallon Bell peppers in the front growing and my Yellow Kellogs in 2 (16 Gal) containers so that would make it 300 Gallons of Mix I made which would bring the price down to about $7 per (2 Cu Ft). Also the production is doing great. This post was edited by thebutcher on Fri, Aug 2, 13 at 14:19

Hello, Ezhilmalini - I think Jane means fir bark, which there should be an abundance of in your neighborhood. Also, fir bark DOESN'T work as well as pine bark for the 5:1:1 mix because the prescreened particles would have a tendency to allow the peat fraction to end up on the bottom of the pot as the sludge you're trying to avoid. Shasta Forest Products in Yreka, CA near Oregon's southern border is a huge producer of fir bark, so it should be widely available near you. The gritty mix might be easier for you than the 5:1:1 mix, if pine bark is unavailable. If you have questions about that, just ask. Al

I thought I'd hit the jackpot when I found stuff that was specifically sold as "pine bark fines" from a landscape supply co. It just looks different from what I've seen other people post so I'm not sure if it's right. I'm pretty sure there's an orchid club around here so I'll try that. Thank you so much for the suggestions! I definitely saw a couple people comment that they had used a thrift store food processor for bark. I think they said they didn't use the kitchen one because of contamination or something. There was also someone who suggested repeatedly driving over a bag of the larger pine bark nuggets to break the pieces up. I'll probably try this if the one I have isn't good. I tried to take some better mix of the stuff I found. These are 2 different handfuls with a quarter for size reference. I'm picking out the sapwood slowly :) Does it look any more suitable for the 5-1-1 mix now?

My PBF (Agway Pine Bark Mulch) has very little dust, and is prescreened to 3/8, so I generally use it straight from the bag without screening for 5-1-1. I only sift (to 1/8" to 1/4") for gritty mix. If I use partially composted pine bark (like your pile) I omit some or all of the peat, depending how much fine particles are in the mix. I suggest making a small batch (a gallon or so) of 5-1-1 "by the book". Sift and measure everything precisely so you know what 5-1-1 should look like. Perhaps sift the first few years. Once you get used to what it should look like you can mix by eye and adjust on the fly for different plants preferences.