Hello all,

In getting ready to start my container garden this year, I had no idea I would have this much difficulty in finding pine bark fines. Especially given that I grew up in the Pine Tree Capital. I have been searching and researching and I hope to have come up with a list that may help some like myself out.

It seems that what some are using is not labeled as Pine bark fines and it becomes even more difficult to distinguish what is the proper mulch/compost/fines to get.

1. Local mulch center. You can google your local area for mulch centers and call them to see if they have pine bark mulch or pine bark fines. Some may refer to them as Pine mulch, groundcover or even soil conditioner.

2. Local nurseries. Again the advice given in number 1.

Available at retail centers:

3. Earthgro Ground Cover Bark. This product is what raybo recommends. It can be found at a variety of stores. I called Scotts (makers of this product) and they said it usually is shipped to stores in the spring.

4. Timberline Pine Mulch. There are a few post on gardenweb which say that this is the same as Pine Bark Fines. IMO, these can vary greatly from store to store and batch to batch. Please refer to the links at the end of this post for what is acceptable.

5. Timberline Soil Conditioner. Some report that is pine bark fines, but it also has lime and gypsum added.

6. Farbar Soil Conditioner. Some report that is pine bark fines, but it also has lime and gypsum added.

7. Various reptile beddings. These can be used, but make certain to read the label. They must be fir or pine BARK.

Pine Bark Nuggets in larger format can be screened to size, but I did not include those brands into the list.

I think it would be helpful if people could add to this list. Please post your experiences as well if you would.

Here are some helpful links with images of various pine bark fines:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flgard/msg0209194730585.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg100304253671.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0312464027693.html

If there is already a thread like this somewhere, I did not find it through my searching and I apologize.