Hi everyone! I am a high school student and my friends and I are trying to build a green wall in our school's library for our graduation project. We are looking for advice, suggestions, feedback, and opinions!
The conditions of our library are, not very humid and there is no direct sunlight, however, there is plenty of light. We don't want to do a hydroponic system but we do want to do something similar with felt pockets and dirt. Basically, we want to recreate florafelt and adapt it to our own needs. The felt pockets will be secured to a treated plywood base with plastic sheeting for protection. Each plant will go in a pocket with a little bit of dirt. I have included a bunch of sketches that I've drawn up. We plan on building 4 modules (4 ft x 4 ft) and mounting them side by side.
For irrigation, we will have an irrigation tube at the top of each module to drip water down the felt. Would we need to put another tube half way down each module? These plants have to be picked so that they can handle the water.
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED THE MOST HELP! Plants! We don't want any flowering plants, while they are beautiful, they do worsen allergies. We are considering golden pothos, Boston ferns and Philodendron. We do not know what specific type of Boston fern or Philodendron but we'd love to hear suggestions!
We understand that humidity is crucial for Boston ferns to thrive. Our library isn't very humid but we are working with limited resources. We are not going to run a humidifier and placing pools of water and pebbles to increase humidity is too complex for the green wall that is mounted pretty high up. Misting is too much maintenance (especially for the summer) and given that we plan on planting the green wall high up, constantly misting is too logistically difficult. I have read that grouping plants together is a good way to increase humidity, and all of these plants would be pretty close to each other on the wall! We were thinking of placing the pothos at the top and scattering the philodendron throughout with the Boston fern filling in the rest.
With proper watering, would that be enough to maintain optimal humidity levels so that the fern doesn't wilt?
Additionally, we don't want a bug problem as that would be terrible to put bugs in the school. Any ideas to prevent/mitigate that or avoid plant species that attract bugs?
Do you have any alternative plant suggestions that would fit in these parameters? It has to be really hardy, fill the space, not flower and share the same conditions as our other plants.
If there are any better plants, please let us know!
Thank you for any feedback!
The conditions of our library are, not very humid and there is no direct sunlight, however, there is plenty of light. We don't want to do a hydroponic system but we do want to do something similar with felt pockets and dirt. Basically, we want to recreate florafelt and adapt it to our own needs. The felt pockets will be secured to a treated plywood base with plastic sheeting for protection. Each plant will go in a pocket with a little bit of dirt. I have included a bunch of sketches that I've drawn up. We plan on building 4 modules (4 ft x 4 ft) and mounting them side by side.
For irrigation, we will have an irrigation tube at the top of each module to drip water down the felt. Would we need to put another tube half way down each module? These plants have to be picked so that they can handle the water.
THIS IS WHERE WE NEED THE MOST HELP! Plants! We don't want any flowering plants, while they are beautiful, they do worsen allergies. We are considering golden pothos, Boston ferns and Philodendron. We do not know what specific type of Boston fern or Philodendron but we'd love to hear suggestions!
We understand that humidity is crucial for Boston ferns to thrive. Our library isn't very humid but we are working with limited resources. We are not going to run a humidifier and placing pools of water and pebbles to increase humidity is too complex for the green wall that is mounted pretty high up. Misting is too much maintenance (especially for the summer) and given that we plan on planting the green wall high up, constantly misting is too logistically difficult. I have read that grouping plants together is a good way to increase humidity, and all of these plants would be pretty close to each other on the wall! We were thinking of placing the pothos at the top and scattering the philodendron throughout with the Boston fern filling in the rest.
With proper watering, would that be enough to maintain optimal humidity levels so that the fern doesn't wilt?
Additionally, we don't want a bug problem as that would be terrible to put bugs in the school. Any ideas to prevent/mitigate that or avoid plant species that attract bugs?
Do you have any alternative plant suggestions that would fit in these parameters? It has to be really hardy, fill the space, not flower and share the same conditions as our other plants.
If there are any better plants, please let us know!
Thank you for any feedback!
You've thought of things that would never have occurred to me. I haven't had time to read your nematodes link, so I've slapped my wrists and will do that shortly.