I recently removed all the catts from this aeroponic setup and put them on a wall of a completely different design. They grew well on the aeroponic wall - too well, in fact. It became very apparent that most of them would outgrow their 3" holes within a year. Some had started attaching new roots to the outside of the wall. I could have left them and let them take over the outside of the wall, but then it would become just another mount, needing constant spraying on the surface. Too much maintenance for what I wanted to accomplish.
The new wall is a completely different design. It is a true mount, in the sense that all the plants grow on the exterior of the wall, and there is no air space inside.
The back of each wall is my regular, dense ECC, about 10 mm thick. Over that is a much looser mix of watered-down ECC mixed with chopped hemp stems and sisal fibres. Lots of small air spaces and crevices, and generally much more porous material.
I stuck several wood branches into the top surface (a white willow that was cut down about 5 years ago and has been 'aging' ever since) to create a bit of interest and make it easier to mount the catts, at least initially.
At the top of each wall section is a cast-in water reservoir, with ends of sisal fibres that lead into the wall and act as water conduits.
Prior to mounting the catts, I planted some stone crop and irish moss on the wall, just to see if anything would grow on it. The stonecrop is doing very well; the irish moss did not survive. I washed all the soil off the roots, so I guess irish moss is a true terrestrial plant, while stonecrop can be an epiphyte. This is what it looked like before the catts went on it. I also spread "Moss Milkshake" on the surfaces, to no effect whatsoever. The moss is still not growing.
The self-irrigating design is working very well. One wall (the first I made) takes 2-3 days to discharge all the water in the 2L reservoir, and the plant roots stay moist without getting soggy. The other wall discharges much more quickly, and I've been trying to figure out how to slow it down. I'll probably have to mix up some more ECC material and pour it into the sisal fibre ends inside the reservoir.
The planter at the bottom is filled with lava rock. It catches all the drips, and currently holds a few of the catts that didn't make it onto the walls. Some are in a very poor condition (they must have been shielded from the spray nozzles in the aeroponic setup), so I'm hoping that being in a constantly moist environment will help them recover. The planter has a hose fitting embedded into the bottom, and the 1/4" vinyl hose leads into a bucket. Then the water is dumped into my non-orchid houseplants or the tomatoes outside.
The light fixture is also self-made. I put in two lightbulb sockets that hold Ray's LED lightbulbs (not fluorescent replacement tubes). Not quite enough for the height of these walls (about 110 cm), and I can't figure out what else I can add that won't block the view of the plants. This is something I need to resolve quickly, as my goal is to make this setup suitable for even the darkest indoor locations.
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