Need pine or fir bark fines supplier in/to Denver, CO

10 months ago

Hi friends, does anyone know of an uncomposted pine or fir bark fines supplier in the Denver area, or one elsewhere that will ship to Colorado?

I’ve been gearing up to transplant several young trees into bigger pots using @tapla Al’s gritty mix. I’ve been able to locate everything except for uncomposted pine or fir bark fines. Jensen’s, Pioneer, and Ewing don’t have any. The best I have found in halfway decent quantities is Repti Bark from Petco, but the average particle size is probably 1/2”, which exceeds the 3/8” limit and the 1/4” recommendation. This means a lot of it would be screened out and wasted or have to be blended or something to try to reduce the size. There are also orchid suppliers but they are selling by the quart…not feasible at tree scale. I need to buy by the gallon if not cubic foot/yard.

Any help would be so appreciated!! I’m trying to do this before it gets too hot!!

Comments (5)

Marie Tulin
10 months ago
when I needed them for a potting soil mix I got them from an orchid seller. They did mail order. Then I saw some in the orchid area at a very big nursery,
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
10 months ago
You can use Soil Pep.

https://www.mountainwestbark.com/products/fresh-soil-pep/

It's available at better garden centers, including Southwest Gardens, Echter's, Tagawa and Murdoch's apparently. This is what the bag looks like.

https://www.murdochs.com/products/garden-center/soil/yard-care-soil-pep/
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Here in Michigan most of the big box retailers are just now getting in some of their garden supplies. I took a quick look for pine bark fines or "soil conditioners" at Lowe's, Meijers, and Home Depot. So far no luck, however it is still very early in the season. As mentioned, most of the retailers here are just getting started. I'll keep looking in the next few weeks to see if I can find some pine bark fines. The catch is that most big box retailers sell different brands or types of mulch products depending on location. So, for example, a Home Depot or WalMart in Virginia or Arizona will probably have a different supplier of mulch products than the same stores here in Michigan. I know some members of the forum use fir bark in their gritty mix, but I've never seen any local stores or garden centers in Michigan that carry fir bark. They might sell small bags of orchid or cactus mix that contain some fir bark, but that's it. However, in California fir bark seems to be readily available. It's all about location. Several times last year I read posts from gardners in other states saying that they found pine bark fines at Home Depot or Lowe's under a specific brand name but when I inquired at my local Home Depot or Lowe's the sales people never heard of that particular brand or product. About the only way to do this is to keep a close eye on local garden centers and stock up on pine bark fines when you do locate some! Thanks Dave
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One tip in finding a suitable PBF is do not get hung up on the term "Fines" I asked everywhere and all said no, a few looked at me as if I sprouted an eyestalk out of the top of my head! even when I described what I was using it for! I actually found suitable material at all most every one of those places (except the big box stores) that said they didn't have it or know any place to get it! Get to know what you are looking for, and look for it yourself instead of asking the store or garden center! Look for "Pine Bark Mulch" (NOT nuggets or mini muggets) flip the bag over and read the small print on the back or side of the bag. If it says "can be used as a soil conditioner" or particle size "1/2 inch to dust" or "100% pine bark" it is probably at least 65% useable product. My current source, AGWAY Pine Bark Mulch, is approaches 90% usable material, and nowhere on the bag will you find the term "fines"
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Follow up to my earlier post. I was at the Home Depot in Kalamazoo, MI today to get some pine bark mulch (big chunks) for our garden beds. While there, thought I'd see if this store had any pine bark fines similar to the ones I saw at the Grand Rapids, MI store a couple of weeks ago. Those fines looked ideal for containers and Al's gritty mix. Believe it or not, the HD in Kalamazoo had NO pine bark mulch of ANY kind, big chunks, mini nuggets, fines, you name it. Nada. None. They weren't sold out, they just didnt have any. I looked in each rack of the garden center but found none. I did see every concievable size and color of cypress mulch, but no pine bark at all. They had pallets of pine bark at the HD in Grand Rapids, about 1 hour away, so I have no idea why our local HD had none at all. I had assumed (dangerous thing to do) that HD stores in the same area would have the same products, but this is not the case. So no wonder that list members in other states have access to different supplies and brands of pine mulch. On the positive side, the fir bark I found recently seems to be doing quite nicely as a pine bark fines substitite. This fir bark comes in 4, 8 and 24 quart bags and is used as reptile bedding. The particle size is about 1/4" to 1/2" and has very few fines or dust in the bag. For sure it is more expensive than pine bark, but you *should* be able to find this, or something similar, at your local pet stores or via mail order. I've attached a link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Fir bark
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@meyermike, yes its repti-bark. LOL. So yeah, its good to use? While at the pet store I looked at the aquarium rocks. I wonder if I could use the gravel in place of the Granite-i-grit (though the aquarium rocks did not list what kind of rocks they were.) What do you think? They also had some crushed coral - wonder if that would work in place of gypsum... Like I said, I'm doing this because I don't need 50lb bags of turface or granite grit. I'm pretty sure I can buy both of those at Agway but what am I gonna do with it all??? I've learned that Schultz Aquatic Soil is the same thing as Turface - love that it comes in a smaller bag - but cannot find it for the life of me! HD nor Lowes sells it (anymore!)
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Ben (Colorado, USDA Z5)
Original Author
10 months ago
Thank you for the recommendations. I have looked specifically for the Fresh Soil Pep from MWP, but all the varieties I’ve found available for purchase appear to be composted soil pep variety. Is this not the case with the one available at Murdoch’s? I even contacted Mountain West Products to try to get their fresh soil pep but they said they only do wholesale and the only client of theirs that takes it fresh is located in Idaho. I think the gritty mix calls for uncomposted bark fines because they will take longer to break down. But if the aged/composted versions will work fine for the gritty mix I’m willing to try it.
davidrt28 (zone 7)
10 months ago
I use Repti Bark as is in my mixes for rare rhododendrons and conifers. Seems to work well.

It's obviously not ideal - but I'm going to suppose that any one of the various 'super blenders' (I have a blendtec) could, if used judiciously, reduce the particle size with basically no damage to the unit. You'd have to do it in small batches of course, but I think it would only take a few seconds per batch.
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
10 months ago
Sorry Ben. I really don't understand the difference. I use soil pep to make 5-1-1 mix for outdoor plants.

If you want larger particles, you could buy the mini-nuggets bag which is the next size up and screen it.

For indoor plants, I usually purchase fir bark from rePotme or Bonsai Jack. But that's only for smaller plants because it's kinda pricey.

Looks like repti-bark is your best bet for reasonable priced bark to your specifications. And rather than buying it in a big bag and having it shipped, just go to a local reptile shop.

Need pine or fir bark fines supplier in/to Denver, CO

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Marie Tulin

popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)

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Need pine or fir bark fines supplier in/to Denver, CO

Comments (5)

Marie Tulin

popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)

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Ben (Colorado, USDA Z5)Original Author

davidrt28 (zone 7)

popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)

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GET HELP

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Ben (Colorado, USDA Z5)
Original Author