Hello - can someone tell me the best way to compost small pine bark nuggets to use in soil mixes for containers? (I live in zone 6-7) Does composting raise the PH of the pine bark? This is mostly for maples, btw - they like a slightly acidic PH. Finally: I can buy composted spruce bark. Does it differ from pine bark, and in what way? Thanks for any input. I realize this might have been answered elsewhere, but I when searching I couldn't find a direct answer to this question.
schush--pine, and indeed most or all softwood barks, don't really need composting. The reason to compost is to stabilize the item, so it doesn't decompose very much in the container. Since softwood barks including pine are quite slow to decompose, they are just as often used fresh as composted. The fir/hemlock barks common around here are used both fresh and composted, for e.g. The fresh is a bit more porous, so is sometimes preferred. If you want to compost, there is nothing special to do. Just leave the pile, moist but not saturated, best with a cover to prevent weed seeds from finding there way onto the pile. Glen
an interesting article on bark, mostly about mulches, but some of it might prove useful http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3304.html
