The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate
Living walls are fast becoming a ubiquitous feature of modern living and are widely implemented in commercial buildings in both internal and external environments. However, there are several challenges associated with maintaining healthy plant growth on these water sensitive urban design systems. Th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Environments |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/10/2/26 |
| _version_ | 1797621080250122240 |
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| author | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward |
| author_facet | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward |
| author_sort | Rosmina A. Bustami |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Living walls are fast becoming a ubiquitous feature of modern living and are widely implemented in commercial buildings in both internal and external environments. However, there are several challenges associated with maintaining healthy plant growth on these water sensitive urban design systems. This experimental study of an instrumented prototype-scale living wall has found that there is a close relationship between the plants, substrates and adopted irrigation regimes. In this study, plant selection was found to be more critical than either substrate or irrigation regime selection. This research also found that both the location of the plants on the wall and irrigation volume significantly affected the plants’ ultimate total dry weight. In particular, plants were found to grow taller on the upper section of the living wall compared to the middle and lower sections. It is recommended that particular attention should be given to plant location and the amount of irrigation water supplied at different positions on the living wall. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:51:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ecfaf14d59c4df98a9dd61874fc72fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3298 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:51:36Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environments |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ecfaf14d59c4df98a9dd61874fc72fa2023-11-16T20:25:01ZengMDPI AGEnvironments2076-32982023-02-011022610.3390/environments10020026The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid ClimateRosmina A. Bustami0Simon Beecham1James Hopeward2UNIMAS Water Centre (UWC), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan 94300, MalaysiaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management, University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, AustraliaSustainable Infrastructure and Resource Management, University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, AustraliaLiving walls are fast becoming a ubiquitous feature of modern living and are widely implemented in commercial buildings in both internal and external environments. However, there are several challenges associated with maintaining healthy plant growth on these water sensitive urban design systems. This experimental study of an instrumented prototype-scale living wall has found that there is a close relationship between the plants, substrates and adopted irrigation regimes. In this study, plant selection was found to be more critical than either substrate or irrigation regime selection. This research also found that both the location of the plants on the wall and irrigation volume significantly affected the plants’ ultimate total dry weight. In particular, plants were found to grow taller on the upper section of the living wall compared to the middle and lower sections. It is recommended that particular attention should be given to plant location and the amount of irrigation water supplied at different positions on the living wall.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/10/2/26water sensitive urban designvertical gardengreen wallgreen infrastructurelow impact developmentsustainable drainage systems |
| spellingShingle | Rosmina A. Bustami Simon Beecham James Hopeward The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate Environments water sensitive urban design vertical garden green wall green infrastructure low impact development sustainable drainage systems |
| title | The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate |
| title_full | The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate |
| title_fullStr | The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate |
| title_short | The Influence of Plant Type, Substrate and Irrigation Regime on Living Wall Performance in a Semi-Arid Climate |
| title_sort | influence of plant type substrate and irrigation regime on living wall performance in a semi arid climate |
| topic | water sensitive urban design vertical garden green wall green infrastructure low impact development sustainable drainage systems |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/10/2/26 |
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