Process bark chunks into smaller bonsai substrate

[Cruiser]

I ended up trying both. Ponderosa bark from the forest, and I found a bag of Fir mulch. The fir bark was $15 a bag and ended up yielding around 7 gallons of chips between 1/4-1/8” in my opinion it was well worth it, and it’s working great in my soil. I do prefer the fir bark since it appears to hold a bit more moisture than the pine. But, I think over time as the pine bark ages a bit more it’ll be the same or similar. I did have to process the larger chips a few times to get them to the size I wanted but it didn’t take much time. Also, I bought the Vivosun chipper if anyone was curious. Additionally, if anyone tries this I strongly suggest wearing a respirator. The dust had my sinuses soo irritated the first day. I learned quick!

Glad to hear it’s working out. I second the respirator on dry days especially.
The dust isn’t as bad on rainy/misty days, but the chipper can get gunked up easier.