Wall gardens/waterfall>?

[healthyfruit]

i was watching youtube recently, i really like the idea of growing verticaly , plus theres so many DIY setups u can make,

anyways i thought id start this off,

take a look at this cool wall garden , i would LOVE to have it i just don't get how he does this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4Ii5FPh9M

its sorta like a waterfallish garden, seemd like the best place to post this,

he shows you parts and things, info at side i still don't get what the heck the stuff is they sit in, and how they stay up there like that..seems different..

thanks for reading have a good one

[a0c8c]

They used garden felt to hold everyhting up, and just kept the dirt in the root ball to have the plant grow in. Looks cool, but with the little dirt the plants can't be that happy. They're obviously low light plants that grow really slow, otherwise it wouldn't work.

[applestar]

Patric Blanc's Green Walls are hydroponic. The felt he uses is similar to or *is* heavy carpet underlayment, but he also uses a hardware cloth-type wire support and the whole thing is stapled onto a lightweight but strong -- oh what was it called? -- expanded? -- plastic. There are a number of youtube videos available, and one of them showed a massive pumping room that supply a large building wall. He's designed them for exterior as well as interior atrium-type walls.

First time I came across a discussion was here: http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... php?t=6956

I also touched on it in this thread:
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... 3710#53710

To my critical eye, the people in the video you posted didn't fully incorporate the basic design precepts utilized by Patric Blanc. His plant selection uses a well thought-out concept of plant communities, with base of the wall reserved for moisture-loving plants. I didn't see a recirculating hydroponic system. And they went for the immediate gratification of planting way too densely from the beginning. Hopefully they have a full lighting set up as it's important for the plants to remain compact and sturdy with no light-starved elongation or weakened stems.

**ETA** OK sorry, I failed to read the description attached to the video and I guess they did their homework. It does say that they have the watering system, etc. If they DID manage it, that's pretty neat. I still think that the planting is too dense and this wall would require constant trimming and maintenance, not to mention overgrowth requiring re-planting rather too soon. PB's design is patented though, and the video description includes a sales pitch....**

I'm glad you brought this up. I'm still intrigued by the concept, although it's more complicated (and cost/supply intensive) than I first thought.

[healthyfruit]

yeah im a veggie guy so i don't think that wouldwork for me
i thought about that also, theres just NO room for roots , thats why i was asking about it, that looks really cool i would like to have that in my front room, probly ona smaller scale tho that is crazy big.

[applestar]

I'm still eye'ing that one side of the patio where we have a 6' privacy fence. I'd LOVE to replace that with one of these. I was thinking of using a solar powered pump (would only run on sunny daytime hours, but that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?). My partial plant list: snow peas, day-neutral strawberries, mesclun-type cut-and-grow-again salad greens, cucumber (a string trellis to let grow up and root at will), herbs along the top of the wall where it will dry out the most.... I would *like* to use a roll sheets of coir mat instead of synthetic felt, and something other than the expanded PVC base -- I believe the purpose of the PVC is to provide (1) LIGHTWEIGHT rigid base that is stapler-able AND keeps the staples from pulling out (2) moisture barrier for the actual building wall -- there's actually something like a 12" gap in between for ventilation to prevent moisture-related problems like mold (3) keep moisture from evaporating too quickly. So I'm not sure if a material that is NOT waterproof would be too drying. His massive PUBLIC designs require material that doesn't deteriorate easily, but for my smaller-scale projects, I'm not sure that anything more than several years is absolutely necessary.

I would like to make mine double-sided, with the edibles on the SW patio side, and part-shade ornamentals (thinking ferns on the bottom) on the NE side.

What you said about "no room for roots" -- I believe the entire moisture retentive FELT structure is going to hold the roots. So yes, the people in the video overplanted and in that sense, there's not enough room, but it you plant with enough space for future growth in mind, it would work. For indoor structure, long-lived plants would be preferable. For my outdoor structure, nothing's going to survive the winter so exposed, so everything will be grown as an annual. I would cut the spent plants at the roots, leaving the older generation roots in the mat medium to add to the structure.

That corner of the house has a downspout with a rain barrel, so I'm thinking I could rig some way to use the rain barrel as the supply reservoir....

Oh, I wish I (or anyone in this household) was handy I have most of the basic ideas thought out -- I just don't know if (1) if my ideas are structurally feasible, (2) if I can *find* all the components, and (3) if I could build it.

[healthyfruit]

i was at home depot today looking around, man i wish i worked there lol,

i wanted to buy a plant from there so i could try out my homemade aerocloner
i seem to have it setup right now pressure coming out of misters are great, i realized nasa did it so i thought whats good for them is good enough for me ,

but sad part is theres no more plants at either of the HD i guess cause of the season , ill have to plant my own seeds inside!.

i don't get what kinda medium that is? how come iv never seen it,

maybe i could get some strawberrys and plant them inside if i gotta.

strawberrys would be great thats a good idea.

[healthyfruit]

moisture retentive FELT structure

i guess thats holding roots, what is that stuff? and how can it be used for medium iv never heard of that stuff?...thats a serious diy mission hehe

i think you could find all the parts u might have to order some tho

you gotta beleive in yourself when building DIY , i didnt think i could make this cloner, yes i did mess up and waste a couple bucks but you can fit it to your needs, i messed up makin my cloner & made 2, 1 not that goood, 2nd one AWESOME.

id love to get some strawberrys maybe i should go to a plant store see if they got any, if i can find one in my town.....

p.s the water trickling makes my body feel good, so damn relaxing i tell ya..

[a0c8c]

I'd rather just have vine growing, more natural to the type of plant, and theres plenty of low light vines you can use. You'd just need a small flower box at the bottom and a trellis and you're good to go. Just don't do somethin too invasive, I could see Kudzu destroying your house from the inside.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Patrick Blanc's initial structures used pockets with soil, alhough a water garden/bonsai type soil, for root establishment. Like any gardening structure that relies on man-made accoutrement for continued function, it's goiing to be complex and fraught with peril, but welcome to water gardening. This is not a beginners project, but we'll help where we can...

Pretty simple concept; water tight sump at bottom, pump rated for lift height to move water to spray bar at top where cohesion, surface tension, and gravity all do their thing. Lot of plants need less than they are moving around, and I think this concept could be done with drip irrigation even easier. But think of the oxygen being pumped into the room from all those plants (and carbon, plus many pollutants, removed). How wonderful!

The underlayment felt for water gardens is probably perfect...

HG

[cmudo1]

I'm hoping somebody might be able to help me. I have a dilemma, I built a custom flower box for an indoor waterfall, the flower box borders the waterfall, to the right of the waterfall are windows which allow for plenty of natural light but not shinning directly on the plants, the problem I have is that I planted peace lily's which look great but unfortunately certain parts of the flower box are getting constantly sprinkled upon by water coming down the waterfall and as a result the peace lily's are getting too much water and browning, what I'm trying to ascertain is if there are any other indoor plants that are fairly tall but not too tall to fit in a 5" tall flower box and can also withstand constant water sprinkles from the waterfall, I will greatly appreciate any suggestions to help solve my dilemma, thank you.

[applestar]

Ferns? Also, I think some bog plants, especially if you want flowers.

[lorax]

Cmudo, some orchids would love those conditions - particularly the Ladyslippers from genus Paphiopedalum, which grow as riparians in nature.

The Spathyphyllums are likely only having that problem because they're sitting in swamped soil. If you could change their medium so that the water simply flows through without a whole lot of retention (I use 100% bark chips in this kind of situation), then they'll perk right back up. When I find them in the wild here, Peace Lilies grow right in the edges of streams, often at the sides of waterfalls....

I'll second ferns as a good choice, as are other semiaquatic aroids like Anubias. You might also want to look into epiphytes, like the showier bromeliads from Guzmania, Tillandsia, or Neoregelia - these fit both the water profile and your size requirements.

However, you're definitely going to have to modify your soils if you want anything to thrive there. In nature, the plants would be growing right out of the rock and soil (epiphytes and hemiepiphytes), which basically allows the water to pass right through it. The fact that the Peace Lily is browning tells me that your current soils are too retentive.

Compare - these are natural waterfalls in Ecuador. I can tell you from personal experience that those plants only see the water rush by, it's not retained around their roots at all.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Wow Lorax; killer pix!

And good advice; I have seen Spaths grown in pure water, no soil at all, so the soiless mix makes sense...

HG