Bark mulch: secrets of making and using. The best way to get your own pine bark is to take a walk in the forest,…: mettiss

Good day!

According to many orchid lovers, the best soil for orchids it is pine bark. It is possible in flower shop buy ready-made soil from the bark for transplanting orchids, it comes in different fractions (pieces of bark different sizes). But it is not so cheap, so you can make soil for an orchid from the bark with your own hands, and today I will tell you how to prepare the bark for orchids.

Pine bark is great for planting orchids - everyone's favorite phalaenopsis, more rare, different types and others. From the bark, the substrate for orchids is breathable, and this is one of the most important conditions for the successful cultivation of these flowers. For orchids, it is important that the roots have the ability to breathe, therefore, the soil should dry out between waterings.

Where can I get orchid bark? Yes, in any pine forest. It is worth walking through the forest, you can definitely find thick pieces of bark or a felled tree, or pine with thick bark, from which pieces fall off.

I put the rest of the soil into a bag, after flowering I will transplant the orchid that I bought at. You can also prepare the bark in advance, and you can use it for planting later.

I want to give a few more tips if you need to transplant an adult orchid. Usually, a couple of years after the purchase, the bark in the pot decomposes, the soil becomes denser, it is difficult for the roots to breathe in it. Then you need to transplant the flower.

When transplanting, check the substrate under the bottom of the flower. Very often there is some kind of moisture-absorbing material such as foam rubber. Apparently, children are originally raised in it. This lump must be removed. Otherwise, this constantly damp place can cause rotting. If you suspect that something is wrong with the orchid, feel free to remove it from the pot and check the horse system.

I wrote about the foam rubber, now about the roots themselves. In a healthy orchid, the roots are dense, and if they are rotten, they are soft, when pressed, liquid is released. Everything rotten roots must be removed. If you have cut something, it is best to sprinkle the slices with crushed charcoal (you can take a piece of charcoal for frying a kebab and crush or grind a couple of tablets of pharmacy activated charcoal).

Let the roots dry for a couple of hours and plant in slightly damp soil. Not wet, but only slightly shit! The first few days you do not need to water the orchid; it is enough to spray the leaves. Then proceed as appropriate. If the plant was healthy - take care of it as usual, if there were many diseased roots - be very careful with watering. It is better to spray the leaves more often.

Orchids by popularity in last years managed to overtake many houseplants familiar to our latitudes. Not only experienced flower growers are involved in the cultivation of orchids, but also beginner amateur florists.

Often, for a number of reasons, flower growers do not have the opportunity to purchase a ready-made planting substrate if it is necessary to reproduce orchids or transplant an already adult plant. In this case, you can always find a way out of this situation and do the preparation of the planting substrate with your own hands.

General information

This feature of the substrate is explained by the origin of this wondrous plant, as well as natural conditions growth of all types herbaceous plants related to orchids.

The most affordable planting soil for indoor orchids is represented by ordinary sos new bark... But the indicators of such a substrate may be different, and the main composition of such a mixture largely depends on several nuances, including the type of plant, as well as natural and climatic conditions in places of natural or natural growth. At all stages self-made planting substrate based on the bark, you must follow the instructions, as well as take into account some important nuances and points:

• Soil for indoor orchids of the type "Phalaenopsis" must necessarily contain high-quality deciduous or fresh pine bark.
• Indoor orchids grow beautifully on pine, as well as spruce, birch and oak bark.
• The bark is very important in mixing the planting substrate, not only for growing an orchid, but also for laying out the top surface of a flowerpot for decorative purposes.

For indoor orchids, which largely require the use of the bark of the coarse fraction, it is advisable to collect it yourself or acquire a dense bark. This material will then be cut into cubes of the required size.

• If a decision is made to purchase a ready-made planting soil in the form of a substrate for growing indoor orchids, then it qualitative composition it is required to study as closely as possible even in a flower shop.
• For indoor orchid plants that require enhanced nutrition, mixtures that necessarily include coal, peat and pine bark with the addition of high-quality leafy earth are best suited.
• For indoor orchids, bark from deciduous trees is not used, which is mainly due to its inaccessibility and insufficiently high quality characteristics.

Preparing the bark for planting orchids (video)

It is imperative that the bark, which was already in the old flower pot, namely, the best, cleanest and largest pieces of it were combined with the new bark, which will allow fungi to be transferred to a new planting substrate. To such non-toxic microorganisms indoor orchid already got used to it.

Bark for growing "Phalaenopsis"

As already mentioned above, planting substrates for Phalaenopsis orchids should be entirely bark, and it is advisable to use exclusively high-quality pine bark. The basic rules that allow you to use high-quality material in the form of a planting substrate for the cultivation of Phalaenopsis are presented below:

• Experts are unanimous in their opinion and consider standard pieces of pine bark, the sizes of which vary from 2 cm to 5 cm, to be the best substrate for growing Phalaenopsis orchids.
• If it is necessary to plant a small orchid seedling of this type, it is advisable to use finely crushed bark with dimensions from 5 mm to 1.5 cm.

• Before replanting or planting, it is imperative to remove part of the tree bark and look at the state of the root system. In the presence of an unpleasant putrefactive odor, one can suspect the beginning of the process of decay of the roots of a houseplant.
• High-quality and almost ready-to-use bark is sold through flower departments... This helps to facilitate the processes of growing orchids in indoor conditions.
• If it is necessary to plant a Phalaenopsis seedling, you can plant the plant in a mixture of very fine bark and sphagnum.

Not all growers know that there is a method of growing indoor "Phalaenopsis" without using soil at all, but on special blocks. With this method, the plant should simply be tied to a wooden block made from a piece of bark or fixed on a beautiful driftwood. The cultivation of "Phalaenopsis" and other orchids on special blocks of cork bark is also practiced.

Bark processing and preparation

When preparing the bark for the substrate, it is convenient to use a special instruction that provides all the requirements:

• take a large and suitable piece of tree bark, cleaned of dust;
• scrape off some layer with inside tree bark;
• using a pruner, cut the bark into pieces of the required size according to the technology;
• take off upper layer, which is easily separated, and then cut off the rotten areas of the bark with a pruner;
• carefully examine the bark and clean up all places affected by tree eaters;
• cut the bark into cubes up to 2 cm, which, if necessary, can then be easily chopped.

In the process of cutting the bark, it is not always possible to get even and sufficiently neat cubes, however, this is a feature of the growth and development of the plant. natural material has no negative value. The slicing is completed by sorting and then filling into paper bags. When storing in a plastic bag, do not close it tightly, as this can impair ventilation.

Self-preparation of the substrate

Before preparing the planting substrate, it is extremely important to thoroughly disinfect the tree bark or boil it for a long time in a water bath, and then completely dry it. Currently, self-preparation of the following substrates is widely used:

• on the basis of tree bark with excellent drainage properties, represented by mixtures of bark with different fractions, ranging from fine to very coarse, with the addition of peat and perlite;
• substrate mixtures for orchids without perlite or peat admixtures with the use of exceptionally pure crushed tree bark.

Planting pots for some types of orchids are filled with a special mixture. For substrates for variegated precious orchids, a mixture is prepared independently based on broken brick or expanded clay, as well as with the addition of coarse sand and pieces of pine bark. The mixture is complemented by leafy soil and chopped sphagnum moss.

Choosing bark for orchids (video)

It is important to remember that the “ideal” planting substrate for growing orchids at home should be durable, structured, given or controlled moisture capacity, chemical and biological inertness, and availability. Not only the abundance of flowering, but also the life expectancy, as well as the health of the room orchid, will depend on the quality indicators of the planting substrate.

The best way to collect the pine bark yourself, this is a walk in the forest, park. Of course, it is advisable to look for fallen pines, but sometimes you can collect bark from growing pines. To do this, the pine must have a thick layer of dead bark (10-15 cm), in which case it is possible to collect the bark without resin, and without harm to the pine.

In general, pine bark is best picked from fallen trees. You need to choose thick layers, at least 4-5 thick, then when cleaning the bark, there will be sufficient thickness to cut the desired bark size.

If you collect the bark from a living growing pine tree, then it is optimal to collect it from an old and thick pine tree so that there are thick layers.
Mostly thick pieces in live pines are in the lower part of the trunk, closer to the roots.

When harvesting the bark, pick up dense pieces, those that are loose and crumbling, suitable for growing orchids that love more moisture-intensive substrates and for others indoor plants... For orchids that require a coarse bark, it is necessary to collect a dense bark that can be cut into cubes.

When removing a piece of bark, inspect it for traces of resin, if the piece is resinous, then do not use it. Also, do not take a piece of bark eaten by bark beetles.

Once you have collected the bark, sort it into large, thick and thin pieces.

How to properly process and cut the bark.

In order to process the bark before cutting into cubes, it will need to be cleaned of all excess. To do this, you will need gloves, and it is better to have rubber bumps on them, they help to better hold the bark while cleaning and cutting. Plus, gloves will protect your hands from blisters. Convenient, wide and not long knife, like a penknife. We use pruning shears to cut the bark.

Step-by-step instruction.

We take a large suitable piece, and clean off the dust from it.

After that, some layer is scraped off from the inner side of the bark.

We cut the bark into pieces of 4-6 cm with a pruning shears, if you cut into smaller pieces at once, the bark breaks, and this size is optimal, after that you can always cut the bark into cubes from 2 to 1.5 cm or less.
It is better to start cutting from both sides, that is, we make an incision in the bark, and then opposite this incision, with opposite side, we also cut, after the piece can be easily broken, or finally cut.

Then remove the top layer, which peels off easily. And then, we cut off the rotten edges of the bark with a pruner.

After the bark is carefully examined, if there are holes from the work of bark beetles, we clean these places. Moreover, they can be cleaned with a knife, simply twisted in the hole with a knife to scrape off part of the bark from the hole. Also, if there are places with resin, then such places are cut off with a pruner to a clean cut. As a result, we get a clean, prepared piece of bark for slicing.

And then we cut the bark into the pieces we need. If the thickness of the pieces is good, then it is better to cut the bark into cubes up to 2 cm, that is, 2 by 2 cubes. Subsequently, such cubes can always be crushed into smaller pieces.
A number of flower growers cuts the bark after wetting it, since the pruner crushes the bark when cutting.

When cutting the bark, even and neat cubes are not always obtained, something breaks. From the resulting bark, you select suitable pieces by size. The cuttings and small pieces obtained by cutting the bark can be used for orchids that need a fine fraction of bark, or for planting very small orchids, as well as for other plants that can be added to the substrate bark.

After slicing and sorting, we have these cubes. The bark can be stored in a paper bag. If you choose to store in plastic, do not seal it tightly to allow ventilation.

It is very important to harvest and cut the bark in advance, especially if a large number of orchids are to be transplanted. For example, if you cut the bark of more than 1.5-2 liters in one day (the prepared bark is measured in liters, and not by weight), then the corns are provided, while neither gloves nor the miracle of secateurs save you.

If you cut the bark in the bathroom, be sure to cover the drain with a special mesh so that the drain does not get clogged with dust and scraps of bark.

Bark processing.

Novice flower growers often ask the question: "Do I need to disinfect the collected or purchased bark?"

The bark is disinfected by simple cooking in boiling water, sometimes the bark is soaked in an insecticide solution, but, as a rule, this does not make sense, but we do not recommend soaking the bark in fungicides, the fungicide will saturate the bark, and the roots of orchids live in symbiosis with fungi, and once the bark is impregnated with a fungicide, then root growth can be suppressed. Also, resin is removed during cooking.

Many experienced orchid growers do not process the bark, although beginners are advised to boil it. As for us, we strongly recommend that you carry out the cooking procedure! So, if you decide to process the bark, then keep in mind that you will need to cook the bark not for 15-20 minutes, but for several hours (3-4), changing the water every hour, by the way, the smell in the apartment during cooking is awesome.
Note: after boiling, be sure to wash and wipe the container (in which the bark was boiled) immediately, while it is warm! Otherwise, then it will be extremely difficult to wash it from the resin.

Then the bark must be dried well. To do this, you can use the oven, but the bark, with this method of drying, must be stirred frequently. IN natural conditions it takes about three to four weeks to dry. The dryness of the bark can be checked by breaking it. If it is already dry inside, let it lie down for one more, control, day in a well-ventilated place.

That's it! Now, you know all about preparing the bark for orchids. Good luck!

Often, the bark of trees such as larch, oak, pine, spruce is used to create mulching material.

When you set out to harvest bark, you don't need to cut it off from living trees. There are many resinous substances in it, and this is very harmful to the plant. You should also avoid picking bark from old tree stumps. Usually, it is already severely torn apart by insects, and becomes practically unusable. The best material freshly sawed or recently blown trees (six months) will be collected for collection. With such trees, the bark already begins to lag behind, but not to rot. And this perfect option!

For use, the bark is crushed to required sizes using a secateurs. After it is thermally treated. If you do not carry out this procedure, then you may have harmless and not very neighbors. When processing the bark, you need to boil or process for 10-15 minutes. You can leave the bark in the oven for 15 minutes at 70 degrees Celsius. Steam treatment is not recommended.

Which mulch is more suitable: softwood or hardwood? Here the main role plays a goal, as well as the availability of material for mulching. If you have a pine forest nearby, then, of course, you can use the bark of these trees. If the garden contains a lot of heather, rhododendrons and conifers, then it is better to use the latter, since it contains a large number of mushroom mycorrhiza. Oak bark lasts a little longer than coniferous - about twice. But it releases tannins, which have a rather negative effect on some types of plants. Therefore, before using it, you need to study whether it is suitable or not.

Mulching allows you to create favorable conditions for the development of crops, as well as to increase the aesthetic appeal of the site. Today, many gardeners and gardeners use this technique. And it is the use of bark mulch that has certain advantages in comparison with the use of other materials.

What is soil mulching

Mulching not only protects the plant from drought and pests, but also serves as a decorative function.

Mulching is an agricultural technique that involves covering the soil with a layer of organic or inorganic material. This procedure is carried out both in greenhouses and outdoors.

Mulching allows you to solve the following tasks:

• keep moisture in the soil;
• prevent hypothermia of plants;
• to protect root system overheating;
• prevent washout nutrients from the ground;
• prevent the growth of weeds;
• to protect fertile layer soil from erosion;
• decorate the site.

Variants of using mulch in landscape design - photo gallery

Mulch is suitable for a rock garden and a flower garden Designing a garden zone Mulch protects crops from frost Mulch will give the garden originality Designing a flower garden with mulch

Used as mulch various materials both natural and artificial. These include the bark, which has the following advantages:

1. In the process of decay, it increases the fertility of the soil, saturates it nutrients.
2. For the cultivation of blueberries, bilberries, cranberries, heathers, rhododendrons and conifers a slightly acidic soil pH is required. It is this mulch that will help to achieve the required indicator.
3. The material filters water and prevents harmful components from penetrating the root system.
4. The bark mulch prevents the outer soil layer from hardening and eliminates the need for frequent weeding. This is especially true when growing plants with a shallow root system, which can be damaged by systematic loosening.
5. The bark contains phytoncidal elements that prevent the development of diseases such as gray rot, fungal infections, and root decay.
6. The bark is distinguished by non-motacid qualities, that is, it prevents the appearance of soil nematodes. These are pests from which no means of protection have been developed to date.
7. The bark layer creates favorable microclimatic conditions for the emergence of earthworms. They improve the structure of the soil, increase its air permeability and fertility.
8. The bark protects the soil from pest infestation.

However, it should be noted that this material is used for perennial plants, but for annual crops it is not suitable.

Features of mulching - video

Step-by-step instructions for making mulch with your own hands

Material selection and procurement

Bark mulch

For mulching, the bark of any tree, for example, pine or larch, is suitable. But at the same time, some nuances should be taken into account:

1. Oak bark contains a large amount of tannins. For this reason, it is not recommended to use it when growing whimsical plants.
2. The pine bark will last about 3 times longer on the site.
3. Birch material has the highest decorative properties.

Mulch harvesting starts with choosing a tree. To do this, you need to take into account some features:

1. Do not remove the bark from living plants, this will lead to their death.
2. Also, do not use old and decayed trees. Their bark has no nutritional value, it lacks the necessary substances. In addition, many pests grow in old trees, and they are also often affected by fungal diseases. Using their bark, you run the risk of infecting the crops growing on your site.
3. To check if the material is suitable for making mulch, remove a small part. If the bark is easily detached from the trunk and does not disintegrate into small pieces, it can be used.

Important! The best option for harvesting are trees felled no more than six months ago.

Processing and grinding

The crushing of the bark is carried out both manually and automatically

You can grind the bark with any tools. Usually, shears or scissors are used for this. Also use garden shredder... You need to do some simple manipulations:

1. First, simply cut the dry bark so that its pieces do not exceed 1–5 cm in size.
2. Then the material must be sterilized. This will eliminate the risk of infection of plants with diseases and pests. Place the bark in a container, cover with water and boil for 10 minutes.
3. There is another way to sterilize. Heat the bark in the oven for 15–20 minutes at 70 ° C. Do not exceed this temperature level. At higher values, the pieces of bark will ignite.

Important! Some gardeners use steaming, but this method is not suitable for the bark, since the structure of the wood is destroyed under the influence of steam.

How to grind bark - video

Application of the bark

Mulching takes place on fertilized soil

The soil is mulched in spring and autumn. The procedure is recommended to be performed when the earth warms up well. The most suitable time is May - it is not recommended to mulch earlier, as the layer of bark will prevent the soil from warming up. If the soil is damp, the procedure should be postponed until it dries. Otherwise, the soil will become too dense.

In autumn, mulching is carried out at the very beginning of the season - in September. This period is most suitable for the preservation of beneficial microorganisms in the soil. In some cases, the soil is mulched and in winter time to protect crops from severe frost.

The process is performed in the following sequence:

1. First you need to clear the area of ​​debris, weeds and fallen leaves. If the surface of the soil is dry, sprinkle it with water.
2. Then apply fertilizer. Nutrient mixtures are introduced into the ground to a depth of 15–20 cm. It is this level that corresponds to the vigorous activity of the roots. With superficial application of top dressing (1–2 cm), plants will not be able to absorb nutrients. Most effective organic fertilizer rotted horse or cow dung is considered. It is applied at the rate of 3-4 kg and 5-8 kg ha of 1 m² of soil, respectively. You can also use peat or compost (2.5 kg and 5 kg per 1 m²).
3. Mineral fertilizers are also used before mulching. On 10 m², 300 g of nitrogen compounds (urea, carbamide or ammonium nitrate), 250 g of phosphorus and 200 g of potassium substances are applied.
4. Then the bark is poured in a layer of 2–8 cm. Its thickness depends on the density of the soil. The coverage on heavy loamy soils should not exceed 2 cm.On light, loose soil, a layer of 5 to 8 cm can be poured.
5. A certain distance must be kept between plants and mulch. For shrubs it is 40-50 cm, for trees - 70-80 cm. The soil is mulched with bark every 2-3 years.

Master class on the use of mulch - video

Common mistakes

Mulching errors can negatively affect plant development. One of them is the covering of unheated soil. It is not recommended to start mulching before May. Otherwise, the bark layer will prevent the heating of the soil near the roots.

The second mistake is mulching dry soil. As a result, the roots of the plants will not be able to get the moisture they need. Also, errors include the location of the mulch layer directly next to the stems and trunks of plants. This will lead to rotting crops.

Mulching will help protect plant roots from hypothermia, overheating, the development of diseases and pests. It will also provide and maintain an optimal moisture level. Using the bark will enrich the soil with nutrients that are necessary for the development of vegetable and horticultural crops... But in order to get the most effective result, you need to take into account the rules for the procurement and processing of the material.