How to process the bark of a dead willow tree so it can be used to grow clivia
After the bark has been fermented, it is excellent for growing clivia, orchids and other plants with relatively thick roots. Their roots are all those big white roots, and they have strict requirements for moisture; if the soil is waterlogged, root rot easily occurs, so most flower growers choose to plant with bark. Bark has very good water permeability and also contains nutrients, and the effect of using it to grow orchids, clivia and the like is very obvious. It is both loose and airy, and nutritious.
We can peel the bark off dead trees outside, then process it a bit and use it to plant clivia and orchids. Whether it is willow bark or pine bark, as long as it is bark, it can be used directly. The first thing we need to do with the bark we take off is break it into small pieces one by one. According to the size of your pot, just cut it into pieces of about 1 cm each. After cutting, find a container, put the bark in it and soak it for one or two days; once soaked, take it out, put it into a sealed container, and then put it in the sun to ferment. Generally, after three or four months of fermentation it will be more or less done, and then it can be used directly to plant plants. When fermenting, we can also spray on some bacterial culture or fermentation agent and the like with a spray bottle, which can speed up its fermentation.
When using bark to plant clivia and orchids, the bark must be thoroughly fermented; at the very least, ferment it until the outer layer can be scraped off with a hand to reveal a layer of black material. That basically means it is well fermented, and this way it is less likely to burn the roots after planting. This is because after the bark is used to plant plants, if it ferments in the pot, it easily burns the roots and causes root damage.
When planting orchids and clivia, it is best to add some other growing media. For example, kiryuzuna, expanded clay pellets and the like can be mixed and used together for even better results. This kind of bark is both nutritious and good at draining water, and is very good for growing orchids and the like. If you are a beginner, you can go outside and look for some, then bring it back and ferment it yourself to plant clivia; root rot will not occur, and any kind of orchid can also grow very well.