I'll remember this post as the problem of 'bark too large' comes up soo very often on the threads I frequent. Thanks for posting.

Al

I'll will be using this technique to mulch the pine CONES that fall from my trees....should work OK under a mulching blade. Thanks for the tip.

Dan

Dan
Are pine cones good for adding to potting soil like the pine bark?

Yes, it works for me. However, I don't intend to keep my fig trees in pots for more than a year or two. I like to run the pine cones through the compost bin for partial degradation before using. My thoughts now are to mulch them with the lawnmower in the fall and take them out of the composter in the spring for use when I will be potting up some of my new starts....should reduce my costs.

Dan

I'm glad you find this post helpful. A few tips, this can be a bit messy, so remember to set the lawn mower really low so it can pick up all the pine bark. Otherwise it will be flying all over when it's high. And obviously don't forget to place the bag on.
I tried this with Pine bark mulch and it didn't work. Make sure you use the pine bark mini nuggets.
If you have a chipper that might be even easier, but not sure. I figured most people will have a lawn mower.

Bass

Although I haven't checked in the last year or so, the last place I found that reliably carried "pine fines" was Lowes, who carried it in 2-cu. ft. bags as "landscaper's mix". I'm not sure that Lowe's in other parts of the U.S. would stock it. Home Depot used to carry a similar product, but stopped stocking it several years ago. Good idea about the lawnmower!

Lowes and Home Depot and others regularly carry finer ground pine bark in big bags, at least in this part of the country (SEUS). They label it "soil conditioner." I have used scores of bags of this in different brands over the years in making potting soil for use in big pots.

Do you have to filter out pine bark "dust"? I've been using landscape mix from Lowe's but the filtering part is tiresome. I'll try mowing over pine bark nuggets next time I make a mix. I just finished all of 6 bags of landscape mix this week but that was a lot of pine bark dust to be thrown away on the lawn.

Me too, I had NO success in finding them MINI pine bark
nuggets. In the past, I had used them in my soil mix.
What I did find, was the BIGGER ones that I tend to
use at the bottom of large pot (drainage). I had heard
of the idea of using the lawn-mover before; next year
I'll do it.

lou_midlothian_tx,
I would not worry about "filtering" any bark dust
at all; I think that it should make a good
addition to the overall soil mix...

I just successfully re-chopped fir bark that was larger than1/4" by putting a handfull at a time into my old kitchen blender and put on the 'chop' setting for about 6-10 seconds to avoid chopping it all down to dust. Re-sift with a 1/4" screen and repeat until all the large pieces are broken down. I did this with some pre-packaged orchid bark that was WAY too large (about 1" pieces) and the large pieces of repti-bark from petco. Both were labeled as 'fir bark.' A little time consuming, depending on volume, but well worth it, if you ask me! I did lose about 1/5 of product that was reduced to dust, which was sifted out using a 1/8" screen. Much better than throwing it ALL out! :)