Plant performance in living wall systems in the Scandinavian climate

Abstract

Vertical greening has attracted increasing interest during recent years as a way of maintaining areas of vegetation despite increased urban densification. Living wall systems are a novel form of vertical greening in the Scandinavian climate and there is a lack of scientific knowledge on their functioning. We have performed a full-scale field experiment in an industrial area in Malmö, south-western Sweden, to compare the qualityquality and coverage of 16 plant species in two systems used for vertical greening. We hypothesized and found that: (1) living wall systems with perennial plants are feasible in the Scandinavian climate, (2) the qualityquality of plants was better and (2) the area covered was greater in the Rockwool system than in the pumice-filled pocket system. Individual plant species responded differently in the two systems. For example, Antennaria dioica seemed to perform well -in terms of qualityvisual quality -in the Rockwool system, but this was not reflected in the area covered. Achillea millefolia, on the other hand, showed better performance in the pumice-filled pocket system in terms of qualityquality, but this was not reflected in the area covered by the plants. Other species, such as Armeria maritima, did not perform better in either system in terms of qualityquality, but the area covered was higher in

Assessing growth performance and deficiency of climber species on tropical greenwalls

“…Assessment throughout the monitoring period by one researcher could improve consistence and data quality. Similar plant-growth assessment methods were employed by Zollinger et al (2006) and Mårtensson et al (2014) using two attributes each with four ordinal classes, namely for visual quality and coverage. (b) Lower foliage loss.…”

“…With limited soil moisture supply, they found in the 18-month study that Parthenocissus tricuspidata and Euonymus fortunei had better growth and survival rates than Hedera helix. Mårtensson, Wuolo, Fransson, and Emilsson (2014) conducted an experiment in the Scandinavian climate by planting 16 perennial herb species on two greenwalls using, respectively, rockwool panel and pumice-filled pockets as substrate. In the 14-month study, visual quality and coverage of the species were assessed five times and found to vary notably by species and substrate type.…”

Machine Learning for Estimating Leaf Dust Retention Based on Hyperspectral Measurements

“…Haze has been an increasing air pollution issue with the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China [1,2]. Urban green plants play a significant role in improving the urban atmospheric environment by retaining dust [3][4][5]. Measurement of the dust retention capacity of green plants is helpful for monitoring and controlling urban air pollution [6,7].…”

The potential for combining living wall and vertical farming systems with aquaponics with special emphasis on substrates

“…The pH of the water was consistently at 8.4–8.5 which is the pH of tap water in South East London. Hydroponic solution (‘Canna Coco Daily visual checks were carried out to identify any operational issues; Plant growth measurements, growth performance and visual quality data were taken every week according to the methods described by Zollinger, Kjelgren, Cerney‐Koenig, Kopp and Koenig () and Martensson, Wuolo, Fransson and Emilsson (); and Visual characteristics were monitored and light metre readings were taken once it was realized that light intensity could be playing a significant part in the growth parameters of the plants.…”

“…• Plant growth measurements, growth performance and visual quality data were taken every week according to the methods described by Zollinger, Kjelgren, Cerney-Koenig, Kopp and Koenig (2006) and Martensson, Wuolo, Fransson and Emilsson (2014); and…”