i wouldn't use any of it for gritty.

tapla says to use "pine or fir bark" for gritty mix.

Several of the products on the above site are "fir bark".

If none are appropriate, where can I find (in So. Calif) the correct product?

it's just that that stuff is all really big or has a lot of sap wood. I use seedling orchid bark that I get in Gardena but that would be a major schlep for you. The composted bark (1/4") would be perfect for the 5-1-1, 3-1-1, etc though.

i don't know suppliers in Riverside, but what you want are the big bags of seedling orchid bark. The orchid society people will definitely be able to help you. http://www.rsbcos.org/

The Riverside orchid society people don't have an email address.

What brand and type of the big bags of seedling orchid bark do you buy and where do you buy it in Gardena?

pet med reptibark is good, but pricey … if you are doing a smaller batch

I need 14 cu. ft. of bark for gritty mix

The stuff I get is Gardner's Professional Orchid Bark Seedling size. It comes in 2cuft bags.

they also have coconut husk chunks (chc) in graded sizes and in a more variable size in a compressed brick. They have coir bricks. Graded perlite. They carry Orchiata bark which is awesome but pricey. They have nutricote 180 in 50# bags and iirc 25# bags of grow more water soluble ferts.

Nil13, thanks for the hot tip on Yamada!!! One of these days... not sure when... I want to try gritty too. Mine will be modified to be lighter and maybe more moist... I guess mostly turface and pumice... and finding a good supplier is so key.

Hi Gary - Good luck in finding what you need. Several folks have reported difficulties in locating the bark - at the right size and price. I've bought several kinds, from pricey repti-bark to cheap Home Depot substitutes. They all needed to be sifted and I found that much of the repti-bark did not make it through my 1/4" screen (3/8" screen impossible to find unless you want to use those small sifters which will take a lot of time.).

I also need a large quantity of bark and I'm stumped (pardon the pun.) Please let me know of your success. I might be willing to drive six hours for the stuff considering how much time I've spent calling landscape suppliers, nurseries, etc., and visiting several sites to look at their bulk supply. I gave up. I have at least twenty cubic feet of bagged bark sitting around here - it all needs a considerable amount of time to get the ideal 1/8-3/8" chips.

Having had problems finding size-appropriate pine bark, I purchased a x-shredder blower … make sure it has a metal impeller … made my life easier, except for the sifting/screening. I just slap a screen over the wheelbarrow and sift out the fines. then i will rough screen it for my size, and the bigger chunks get re-shredded. Pick out the sapwood EARLY.

Note: x: the shredder/blower was al's suggestion in this thread awhile back

I've been looking at shredder/chipper - I really want to have a large quantity of gritty mix ready for transplanting season. Can anyone recommend a specific one for under $200? I'm out of my league in this department!