Crazy, crazy crazy idea or is it?
 

Ok I'm moving my collection of orchids into a little lean-to/attached plant shed for the winter, as I'm hoping to build a proper GH in the spring.

It is attached to an open carport and the back wall is solid
galvanised [or something] metal which is roughly 4 x 2 metres.

I have read alot and been very inspired by vivs and epiphyte/wet walls and am thinking what if I turned that whole wall into such a thing- covered in plants, possibly with water seeping through or a water fall, possibly with water plants at the very bottom sitting in a sealed plastic rain gutter, a misting system hooked up to mains water maybe on a timer..

I could not only grow some orchids on there but other miscellanous plants like echindorus etc of which I have heaps of babies on flowers in my fishtanks currently growing now.

I wouldn't plan on introducing any animals but I already frogs in my little hobby GH that invited themselves in and I bet they would love it!

So is it a crazy idea :shock: that I need to squash immediately or is it something you would do- that maybe I could/should do?! :scratchhead:

I think it is a great idea. I don't know if it works in practice, but it will definitely look amazing!

Thanks Shadow for the encouragment, now it's a toss up between the whole wall 'viv' or making a 3ft vertical viv of my 3ft fishtank.. I suppose I could do both.. or I could put the fishtank at the bottom of the wall as the water reserve for a waterfall with a pump.

I just recently came across a page talking about having big fish ponds inside greenhouses which act as a thermal heat bank, absorbing heat during the day and giving it off at night yet they keep the GH cooler in winter :cheer: not quite sure how that works :scratchhead: :lol:

I vote for whole wall 'viv' with waterfall. :cheer: Hope, when I move I will have place to build something similar.

I have tried the water wall idea and while it seems to work OK I have had a hard time regulating water through the fabric. I have Begonias, Pileas and a few orchids growing on mine but it's not fantastic looking like I had hoped. I plan to get it out of the greenhouse this spring and do some adjustments, Can't do much now with the greenhouse packed with plants. I'm also sort of confused. Is this a plan for next winter?

Water wall?? Did you mean water fall?

Please, post photos of your construction.

The instructions for creating the wall are now off the web for some reason. I did not create any myself but here is a short description of how I did it.

1. First you need a container to collect water which will be the catch basin for the wall. I used a small plastic pond liner 24" diameter
2. Next you will need some capillary mat. There are many places to get this but I don't have a source off the top of my head
3. You will also need a sheet of clear plastic. Needs to be still.
4. You will need a recirculating pump and a means to hold the wall vertical. I used copper pipe and attached the pump to the bottom and made a tee at the top to hold the fabric. I drilled the tee to allow the pumped water to escape.
5. You cut the fabric and the plastic sheet to the desired wall size, mine is 2' x 3'. Leave extra length on the fabric so that you can create a way to attach the wall to the tee or whatever you have constructed to hold the wall up. The plastic sheet should cover the entire back of the wall so water will be directed through the fabric.
6. You attach the plants using whatever works for you. I used velcro to hold the cuttings to the wall until they developed roots to attach themselves.
7. Now just allow the water to recirculate through the wall. You apply fertilizer in weak strength to the container of water.

Sorry, I don't have pictures and this is probably not real clear. I keep a copy of the original instructions but cannot post them since they are not mine and I never was able to get permission to post them.

I did find the original post but it is not in english.
Mur a epiphytes / epiphyte Wall

Thanks, Harry. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure about this fabric.... I thought about water fall going down the wall, not the water going through all wall. Does this fabric idea substitute the automatic watering with tubes?

The water runs through the capillary mat. It absorbs water and plants root to it very easily. You pump the water to the top and apply it to the mat and it trickles down to the reservoir to be recycled. Sort of like a swamp cooler does.

Hi Harry,
yup that was one thing I was trying figure out-if I had water seeping through the whole wall [constantly wet/moist] then some plants- orchids in particular might not appreciate that.

The other option is to build it like a viv background, Great Stuff foam, covered in a flevopol like mixture with a distinct water fall and misters at the top..

To the confusion- all my orchids are currently outside on a table, or in my little hobby GHs and I plan on putting them into the lean-to for the winter [more space/light etc] and building a big proper GH in the spring.
I did intend to use that wall just to hang mounts on but why just hang mounts on there when I could build a slice of tropical jungle? :hmm :biggrin: .

I don't know whether I would do it now [we're in Autum here in Australia] or leave it and see how hot it gets in Summer and whether or not I can sufficiently cool it- I would hate to make the wall and have most of the plants
dieing off from excess heat :( .

If I could keep it cool enough in Summer I would probably use it to grow lots of Masdevallias, Pleurothallis, Dracula etc. :cheer:

Hi Harry yep that was one of the pages I came across which gave me the idea to do it :)

I actually downloaded the page I originally looked at but it does have some english in it.. maybe there are two versions of that page?

That's what I was also wondering about- using the wall as a sort of natural swamp cooler with the constant evaporation of water. I'm unsure if I'll be using the lean-to still in Summer but I was considering an exhaust fan in the ceiling and putting in an actual swamp cooler bringing in only dry outside air from it- that gets cooled and replaces the hot air which is continually sucked out from the top..

So many questions, considerations and decisions to make :scratchhead: :lol:

Damian, I have actually also seen some pictures of someone that grew orchids on a swamp cooler. It was done for the very reason you are doing it, to grow cool growing orchids.
I didn't realize you were in AU. A little Northern Hemisphere bigotry I guess. Sorry.
You may have come across an English translation I attempted for the instructions on how to build this thing. Looks like the original instructions are now gone. I won;t post a link to it since I don;t have permission to post it but I am still trying to get in touch with the author. There is a fellow Patrick Blanc who inspired this construction who does it on a grand scale.
Living Walls | EcoGeek | Green, Building, Some, System, Wall

Although I have no direct experiece, I have heard of "water walls" being used in greenhouses to cool and add humidity to the greenhouse. In this application, orchds aren't grown directly on the water wall, the wall is on one end/side of the greenhouse to regulate the intenal conditions. I don't think many if any orchids could handle the constant water flow of the wall, but I may be wrong. The water wall functions as a swamp cooler in the greenhouse.

Actually, the water is only ccled during the day but I have Bulbos that seem to love this setup.

Yes that was my concern too, I don't know that other orchids would tolerate the moisture level mounted on such a wall that masdevallias etc do.. :scratchhead:

I wonder if they can be grown semi-hydro style but on a wall?

What I want to do though is more than just a wall- I want the look of the full on viv, the kind that Tindo and others have so masterfully created to resemble a slice of ephipytic nature; ie branches coming out, other complementary plants like tilandsias, broms etc..

I would also like possibly to use some 'terrestrials' like paphs and jewel orchids...

I guess it boils down to, plant selection, system design and function, asthetics and maybe in the end a little experimentation of trial and error.? :hmm

No problem Harry thanks for your reply :) Thanks for the link too, amazing stuff!! :nod: and very inspiring :cheer:

That would seem to be good for plants that don't want continuous water, but to dry out some to just moist.. I'll have to check out the poisonfrog viv again- he has an embedded drip line but I can't remember if it's on all the time or on a timer to come on at set times.

Any chance of a photo? ;) I love bulbos!