Howdy All,
  Does anyone know of a good source of pine bark fines around the South-Central New Jersey area (i.e. right in the center of the state, say along rt 195)??
  I've had the darndest time finding good quality pine bark fines at any nursery (from mom-and-pop to big-box stores).  I finally located one that consistently and reliably carried a good product -- actual shredded pine bark, not pine wood, partially composted.  I should have stocked up when I had the chance, because the supplier from North Carolina that was providing them has been banned from shipping to NJ due to some sort of tax dispute (e.g. he wasn't paying any)!!!!  I found one poor alternative, but it has lots of big bark chunks and some other pine wood mixed in.  All the other "Pine Bark Mulch" I come across is shredded pine wood.
  I've heard that some Agways might carry a good product, but the one closest to me does not seem to carry too much in that department -- lots of animal feed and such, but not much by way of landscaping supplies.

  ...I have tons of rooted cuttings I need to pot up, and of course I can't find anything good to make a 5-1-1 mix...

Thanks in advance,
Jim

My local Agway carries "Pine Bark Mulch" that I use for a 5-1-1 mix for figs (works great!). If they don't carry it they may be willing to order it in. Mine will look for products for me. It's worth noting that the stuff I purchase is Agway-branded so I imagine their distribution center carries it.  The stuff I get comes in 3 cu ft bags and it's important to get the "Pine Bark Mulch" rather than the other stuff (they also carry bags that have small and medium-sized chunks).

Tim

Ditto on the agway a the pine bark mulch is good stuff.my closest agway stopped carrying it and I found a good alternative true pine bark fines at ferris nursery in east Brunswick. http://www.ferrisfarms.org. Plus they are also an agway and can order agway pine bark mulch. The brand they carry is ground up finer, which isn't bad.

I'm using up what I have left to make up 5-1-1 mix, but when it's gone I'm going to just buy farfars 52 or promix hp and calling it a day. Mixing up and storing all the material may be cheaper, but it's a pain. Plus I had to call all over or drive way out to these places to find pine bark.

71GTO -- is that the one in Columbus?  I was going to try there, but you may have saved me the trouble.  Ferris Farms is a good lead, though it is a bit far for me too.  (If certain people in my house knew how much time I spend looking for tree bark, I think they might flip out ;-)
  I know how you feel about mixing.  I mixed up two big batches that just got caught in the rain yesterday, so they're a sopping mess.  I was going to switch to Promix HP out of desperation, since that's what I use in my 5-1-1(-1) mix.
Tim, I'll have to see if my "local" store can order for me.  Thanks for the tip.
Jim

I used to go to the agway in Englishtown/ Old Bridge. They would just stock it. Last year they said they stopped carrying it. I decided to see if any other just had it in stock and thats how I found Ferris. I figured one trek for the summer won't be to bad. The closest agway to me that would order it was New Egypt. 

I had to order an entire pallet of aged pine bark fines, so I have enough for years! I got mine at Agway in Somerville. The pine bark mulch is similar but I screened it and thought that was just too time consuming.

Have you checked at Tractor Supply ?

Walmart here carries them.  In a purple bag and just says pine mulch.  

Last load I picked up.....like $2.72 a bag?

Lowes has the same stuff as Walmart for $2.47 ($2.23 if active or retired military). It is a by product of the paper industry. For over 20 years that I know of  the paper mill in Cantonment Florida kept piles of it on a back road to the plant for the public and local nurseries to take what they wanted. Not anymore. It is burned as fuel at the plant and sold in bags at Lowes and Walmart. This is fresh bark with a small amount of wood. It, peat and lime is all I use for potting soil. Doesn't sound like much but believe me it is all that is needed besides fertilizer. Being fresh and not composted it will eat up nitrogen like crazy so use a high nitrogen ratio fertilizer early on.

Earlier this spring, when I checked out the "Pine Bark Mulch" at Lowes and Walmart (and Home Depot, for that matter), it looked to my eye to be mostly pine wood mixed with some very small bits of might once have been pine bark -- but there was nothing that jumped out at me as actual pine bark!  
  I don't know if this is true, but I have heard that Lowes and Home Depot actually have different suppliers in different parts of the country -- so maybe the product differs even though the packaging looks the same.
I've stopped by my local Tractor Supply store a couple of times, but they don't have a huge landscaping section and only carried "normal" mulch, if anything.

71GTO -- I stopped at the Englishtown Agway a couple of times last year.  They did not seem to be catering to the landscaping crowd. They had a couple of old fruit trees and strawberry plants and a pallet of composted manure, but not much else :-(

Yeah, I think they were getting away from that. When I drove out there last spring they jut said they won't carry it anymore since it doesn't sell.

Maybe a dumb question, but have you tried Wal-mart?  I tried all over near me, home despot, nurseries, etc.  Couldn't find what I wanted.  Then I was at walmart the other day and there they were.  They have stuff in 1.5 cu. ft bags for $3 ish.  Says soil conditioner, also says aged pine bark fines on the bag.  Just the right size, very little dust, very little wood.  I live in Maryland, so maybe it's different by you, but it's worth checking it out if you haven't already. 

And yes, the product could be different in different areas.  Or even from year to year.  I bought a product called "claybreaker" at home despot last year, and it was pine bark fines.  This year, I went back to get it, bought a few bags, got it home, and it was mostly leaves and twigs, partially composted.  A vastly different product.  Probably works the same as a soil amendment, but much different if you're using it as the primary media in pots. 

At least here in W. PA the Agway 'Pine Bark Mulch' is available and a great product, just have to remove a few bigger chunks per bag.

Wal-Mart locally does not carry the same 'Pine Bark Mulch' as shown by WillsC here, and the type they do carry is not as good - lot more pine wood, lot of larger chunks.  They also carry a 'Pine Bark Mini-Nuggets' which has a lot of large chunks of wood and bark, but I used it by removing as much large stuff as possible until the Agway got their shipment in. 

The 'Pine Bark Mini Nuggets' does make a nice looking mulch on top of my 5g pots.

Rob,
  Tried Walmart, but only enough to see that the "Pine Bark Mulch" they had did not contain anything recognizable as pine bark.  I did not look for other products (e.g. soil conditioner), but I will have to stop by and take a look.  Alternately, when I visit the in-laws in Maryland this August I'll have to stock up on the way home ;-)

Ed -- I recall seeing pictures of your trees with the Mini Nugget mulch.  They do, indeed, look nice.  I may have to top-dress my pots in the same way, since my wife often comments about all the "buckets of dirt" in various places around the house!

Marcus -- Brock Farms in Freehold is where I was getting my pine bark fines for two years.  It was their supplier from NC that couldn't get the product to them, and their new source from Long Island doesn't carry that particular item.

Jim

Jim, just in case you want to stop there, the walmart I go to is in Ellicott City near the intersection of Rt 40 and Rt 29. 

I actually top dress my pots with the same pine bark fines.  That way when it's time to up-pot it's easy to just mix it in.

Not the best picture. This is what you get at Lowes in Pensacola. There is a small amount of wood. But only a very small percent. Where I live a good bunch of termites will convert that wood and be gone in a few days. Yes termites. I have been growing in containers(mostly tomatoes) for over 30 years and have always found termites early on when using pine bark. They will leave when the wood is gone, they do not eat the bark. If the idea bothers you just fill up a bunch of 20 gallon pots and wait for them to complete their job and check out. Then use the bark. Also they do not create the tunnels you find from a bunch of fire ants. 

Jake -- those are fine looking fines :-)  I stopped at my local Walmart today and they've got nothing that looks anything close to that.  The mulch is all shredded wood, and they don't have any alternate products that might be called soil conditioners.  Stopped by Home Depot for good measure for another look and the situation is the same.
Rob -- I'll be near that area (southwest of Columbia), but probably not close enough to stop by without incurring the wrath of the family ;-)  Maybe I can stop by another if I haven't found an alternate source by then.  It looks like 71GT0's lead is the most promising so far.
Jim

Jim,I checked your local Lowes on the internet and found this. It is higher in cost than what we have here but is described as the same.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_92118-66882-92118_4294612789__?productId=1112345&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

Rosedale Mills in Pennington carries/will order the Ag-way pine bark fines/mulch.  They had to special order (2 days) for me earlier this year, but that was before Spring finally hit.

Andrew

Jake -- I wish.  The description and packaging say one thing, but the contents are mostly shredded pine wood ;-(  That's what all the Lowes and Home Depot's in my area seem to have this year...)
Andrew -- Thanks for the tip.  Rosedale Mills seems to be another good option (though a bit out of the way), but it might be a closer alternative for some of the other posters...
Cheers,
Jim