Vertical Gardening.

Adaptation of Hydroponic Systems and Ornamental

Species
M.C. Salasa, M.M. Verdejo, J.L. Valenzuelab J.L. Monteroc
A. Sánchez and M. Guzmán Dpto. Biología Vegetal y Espacios y Paisajes. S.L.
Dpto. Producción Vegetal Ecología Almería
Universidad de Almería Universidad de Almería Spain
Spain Spain
Keywords: urban landscape, plant walls, facades plants, urban sustainability, fertigation,
nutrient solution, NGS

Abstract
Vertical gardens are another way of seeing gardens and of implanting them in
unexpected locations within the cities. The plants grow with or without substrate for
root growth, i.e., in hydroponic systems or are cultivated soilless. Unlike horticultural
crops such systems consist of many species with different requirements and are
subject to complex environmental conditions. The physical and physico-chemical
fertigation solution is characterized by EC, pH and oxygen content. Also oscillations of
temperature, light and humidity need to be considered. The design of the hydroponic
systems needs to become adapted to different constructions. Some hydroponic
recirculating systems for use in vertical gardening are suggested.

INTRODUCTION
With the advent of the modern industrial city, planners, designers and urban
advocates are once again turning to plants – green infrastructure – as a key strategy to
provide cleaner air and water and to improve living environments, human health and
mental well being. Hydroponics is a way of growing plants in a soilless environment with
the use of nutrient solutions. In this method, plants may be grown with their roots in the
mineral nutrient solution in an inert or organic medium. The most important benefits of
using hydroponics can be practiced even in places where ordinary gardening is
impossible; thanks to hydroponics, green façades (Salas et al., 2010), pergolas (Montero
et al., 2010), ecologic terraces, etc. can be used as soilless gardens at a relatively low cost.
Other advantages of using these methods include faster plant growth, lesser plant
infections and diseases, lighter cultivation media, and the possibility to recuperate
drainage to be recirculated (Bell and Marchant, 1998; Salas, 2008; Salas, 2009; Van Os,
1998). The direct delivery of fertilizers through drip irrigation demands the use of soluble
fertilizers and pumping and injection systems for introducing the fertilizers directly into
the irrigation system. The use of hydroponic techniques with recirculating nutrient
solution (Bell and Marchant, 1998; Montero et al., 2010; Salas, 2009) to design a new
model of gardens means a new way to enjoy the profits that traditional gardening offered,
as for example natural shade, vegetal covered surface or green urban landscape, with none
of its disadvantages, as they are the high water waste or the need of specifically prepared
soil.
The main purpose of the manuscript was to describe a new application for two
recirculating hydroponic systems to vertical gardening: NGS and Vertical garden design
by Espacios y Paisajes. Systems with minimum water consumption using compatible
ornamental plants with recirculating techniques, so the hydroponic system must collect
the leached solution and reuse it thus avoiding contamination and saving water.

a csalas@ual.es
b jvalenzu@ual.es
c jlmp@espaciosypaisajes.com

Proc. XXVIIIth IHC – IS on Adv. in Ornamentals, Landscape & Urban Hort.

Ed.: G. Groening 1153
Acta Hort. 937, ISHS 2012
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Hydroponics or soilless culture is a method of growing plants using mineral
nutrient solutions without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the
mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, mineral wool, or
organic substrate (peat, coconut husk). The term hydroponics originally meant nutrient
solution culture with no supporting medium. However, plant growing in solid media for
anchorage using nutrient solution is also included in hydroponics (Jones, 1983; Durany,
1984; Winsor and Schwarz, 1990). Current hydroponics systems can be classified
according to the techniques employed: Solution culture or hydroponics, Solid media
culture and Aeroponics. There are two fundamental types of soilless systems, mainly open
system when waste water is not recirculating; and closed hydroponic system when the
nutrient solution is recirculated.
The NGS® system (New Growing System) is a new type of hydroponic system
that is fully produced in Spain by NGS. The NGS works by recirculating the nutritive
solution through polythene bands with different layers (Duran and Nolasco, 2004). NGS’
main feature is the multilayer trough, it is an elongated plastic bag that gives support to
the plant and collects all excessive irrigation water thanks to its bottom layer. It is an
extremely light hydroponic system that operates on a closed circuit, therefore reducing
water and feed wastage. The water and nutrients that do not get absorbed by the plants is
collected at the end of each line and conducted by its own weight into a tank close to the
pumping station.
Espacios y Paisajes S.L. has designed an hydroponic system for vertical gardening.
The system works by recirculating the nutrient solution through a layer of rockwool as
growing substrate with 7.5 cm of thickness. The vertical garden is made up of several
trays hitched up one another, which contain the substrate with plants. The full size varies
from 1.5 to 2.5 m height and wideness is also variable in relation of the number of trays
that are included. The nutrient solution is injected by a submersible pump to the drippers
located on top of the system. The delivered water flows down through the substrate-plant
to the bottom of the green wall. This way, the water and nutrient that do not get absorbed
by the plants is collected in the horizontal recirculating tank.
A standard installation includes the elements needed for the recirculation of water
on a closed circuit: crop support elements (multilayer plastic bands-NGS- or rockwool
substrate-Espacios y Paisajes system); irrigation system (pump, watering automat and
fertilization rig, probes and control elements, pipes and drippers or other element that
delivers the water); and drainage system (Connection pipes and collectors for NGS
system and drainage-recirculation tank in both systems).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Both hydroponic systems have become hydroponic vertical gardens able to reuse
water continuously. The application of fertilizer is executed by compound solid fertilizer
mixtures manufactured for use in fertigation, with different ratios between the three major
elements and microelements in the form of chelates. The nutrient solution depends on the
type of plants. We compiled different balances of anions and cations and EC (Table 1) and
pH (Table 2) for each kind of ornamental plant.
The growth of plants in hydroponic gardens with inert substrate like rockwool
(Espacios y Paisajes system) or without substrates (NGS system), requires a special and
precise control of the nutrient solution (Guzman, 2004). The only source of nutrients is
through the fertigation system. It is very simple to operate, easy to install and to maintain,
suitable for very low injection rates, and for proportional and fertilization. Growing plants
in hydroponic system allows the collection of the leaching water and its comparison with
the original nutrient solution. Each drainage-recirculation tank could contain the “original
solution” that will be injected into a system following on the CE and pH parameters
given. The parameters will vary depending on the plant’s requirements. As the nutrient
solution runs through the lines or substrate the plants absorb water and nutrients, the

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solution needs to be readjusted. Both systems can work either with a manual or an
automated system.
The measurement of pH, EC and nutrients concentration in the leached solution
indicates if fertilizers are being applied in excess or deficiency, and therefore allows the
consecutive correction of the fertigation regime (Bugbee, 1996; De Kreij, 1995). It is
recommended to collect a sample of the solution from the drainage-recirculation tank, and
to compare it to the original solution. In order to control the higher value of EC in the
solution an EC control could be used, and to waste when the EC in solution is higher than
3 dS m-1 (depending on the tolerance salinity of the plants) to release the stored leaching.
This waste water could also be used for irrigation of plants which have an extreme
tolerance to salinity. Special attention should be given to the EC of available clean water
and to control de evolution of solution in relation to avoid salinity conditions in medium
of roots and pH (Raviv et al., 1995).
With the NGS system and Espacios y Paisajes system can be made walls of plants
on facades of buildings. The system to use will depend on the vertical garden design. For
NGS, this is because not having to withstand high static loads due to lack of substrate,
and is a lightweight system that can be positioned in vertical walls. The water runs
through the bands (Fig. 1), that can have varied lengths depending on the design, but to
ensure that the water flows back to the recirculation tanks, a slope of around 2% is
recommended. However, it must be considered that NGS can not store water for lack of
substrate.
Espacios y Paisajes designs a self-sufficient and modular system, since this is
made up of trays, it is possible to vary length and height of the panel covering different
size of surfaces (Fig. 1). And it has a minimum substrate volume to maintain some water
with a light weight system.
The applications to vertical garden of the recirculating hydroponic systems have a
significant potential for water and nutrient savings. For example: Since the ET0 in the
region where the system is located, is of 1276 mm year-1, and the chosen species mean a
kc of 0.5, the watering needs will mean near 650 mm year-1. Thanks to the recirculation
system we expect to safe up to 50% of water a year. Environmental laws and regulations
pose a new situation: instead of delivering water and nutrients through root zone, as done
with traditional irrigation, collection and management towards the re-use of these
solutions is applied. Proper management and saving efficiency is achieved when several
factors such as EC in the solution are controlled along with correct irrigation regime. With
the hydroponic system we find out a model of vertical garden with minimum water
consumption using compatible ornamental plants with recirculating techniques, to provide
green areas with all the benefits that citizens expect. The system’s main feature is in the
way it improves the use of this solution by being a closed circuit structure. This ensures
that any water solution not used by the plants is recycled back into the system.

Literature Cited
Bell, F.R. and Marchant, A. 1998. The development and implementation of run-off
management plans for the collection, containment and disposal of nutrient rich run-off
from glasshouse crops, grown in artificial substrates in Guernsey. Acta Hort. 458:395-
399.
Bugbee, B. 1996. Nutrient management in recirculating hydroponic culture. Crop
Physiology Laboratory, Utah State Univ. Logan, UT 84322-4820.
De Kreij, C. 1995. Latest insights into water and nutrient control in soilless cultivation.
Acta Hort. 408:47-61.
Dufour, L. and Guérin, V. 2005. Nutrient solution effects on the development and yield of
Anthurium andreanum Lind. in tropical soilless conditions. Scientia Hort. 105:269-
282.
Duran, J.M. and Nolasco, J. 2004. El sistema NGS (New Growing System): un nuevo
sistema de cultivo hidropónico. Tratado de cultivo sin suelo. 3ª Ed. Ediciones Mundi-
Prensa. p.555-572.

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Guzmán, M. 2004. Población, agua, suelo y fertilizantes: el fertirriego. Fertirriego:
Tecnologías y programación en agroplasticultura. 1ª Edición. Programa CYTED.5-10.
Jiménez, R. and Caballero, M. 1990. El cultivo industrial de plantas en maceta. Ediciones
Horticultura S.L.
Lesaint, C. and Coïc, Y. 1983. Cultures Hydroponiques. Flammarion-La Maison Rustique,
Paris. p.119.
Montero, J.L., Salas, M.C. and Mellado, P. 2010. Hydroponic pergola as an example of
living furniture in urban landscape. II International Conference on Landscape and
Urban Horticulture. Bologna (Italy). Acta Hort. 881:355-358.
Posadas, F. 2004. Cultivo de plantas ornamentales. Tratado de cultivo sin suelo. 3ª Ed.
Ediciones Mundi-Prensa. p.793-845.
Raviv, M., Reuveni, R., Krasnovsky, A. and Medina, Sh. 1995. Recirculation of rose
drainage water under semi-arid conditions. Acta Hort. 401:427-433.
Salas, M.C. 2008. Los cultivos sin suelo y su contribución a la producción en los sistemas
hortícolas intensivos. Phytoma 199:36-40.
Salas, M.C. 2009. Fertirrigacion y recirculacion de la solucion nutritiva en cultivo sin
suelo. Revista Agropecuaria 79 (918):368-371.
Salas, M.C., Montero, J.L. and Villegas, J.A. 2010. Hydroponic system for growing
ground cover plants on vertical surface. II International Conference on Landscape and
Urban Horticulture. Bologna (Italy). Acta Hort. 881:421-424).
Van Os, E.A. 1998. Closed soilless growing systems in the Netherlands: The finishing
touch. Acta Hort. 458:279-291.

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Tables

Table 1. Nutrient solution for ornamental plants recommend for hydroponic system.

mmol L-1 E.C.

Source
NO3- H2PO4- SO42+ NH4+ Ca2+ Mg2+ K+ dS m-1
Dianthus 7 0.8 1.4 0.75 3.3 1.2 4 1.1 1
13-16 1.5 1-2 3.5-5.5 1.5-2 6-9.5 3
Chrysanthemum 12.7 1 2 1.25 5 2 7.5 1.8 1
14-18 1.25-2 1-2 4.5-5.5 2-2.5 8-11 3
Gerbera 11.2 1.25 2.5 1.5 6 2 5.5 1.7 1
11.2 1.25 1.2 0.75 3 1 5.5 3
Euphorbia 11.5 1.5 3 1 7 2 6 1.7 1
Anthurium 4.5 0.7 2 0.8 2 1.4 3 0.8 1
2.9-7.2 1.4 1.5-2.4 1.2-2.3 1.6 1.6-3.2 5
Alstromeria 11.2 1.25 2.5 1.25 5.8 2 6 1.7 1
Arbutus unedo 2.5 1 5.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2
Pittosporum 3.5 1 4.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2
Viburnum tinus 3.5 1 4.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2
Lilium 8-14 1.25-1.5 1-2 3.5-5.5 1.5-2 5-7.5 3
Rose 11 1.2 1.2 1.5 3.2 1.1 4.5 3
Neutral condition 4
12 1.1 0.75 2 3.2 0.75 5.2
tolerant plants
Acid condition 4
2.9-7.2 1.4 1.5-2.4 1.2-2.3 1.6 1.6-3.2
tolerant plants
Source: 1Sonneveld, 1994; 2Martin-Rueda and Eymar, 2000; 3Posadas, 2004; 4Lesaint et Coïc, 1983;
5Dufour and Guérin, 2005.

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Table 2. Optimum requests for ornamental plants for vertical gardens (Jimenez and
Caballero, 1991).

Lux
Family Genus pH T (ºC)
*1000
Acantaceae Acanhus, Aphelandra, Beloperone, Crossandra,
Fittonia, Hypoestes, Jacobinia, Pachystachys, 6-6.5 10 -30 25
Thunbergia
Agavaceae Cordyline, Dracaena 6.5-7 20-30 16-30
Apocinaceae Catharanthus, Vinca 6.5-7 20-30 18-25
Araceae Aglaonema, Alocasia, Anthurium, Caladium,
Diffenbachia, Epipremnum, Philodendron,
6 15-20 25
Monstera, Spatiphyllum, Syngonium,
Zathesdechia
Araliaceae Brassaia, Dizygotheca, Fatshedera, Fatsia,
6-7 35-45 18-25
Hedera, Polyscias, Schefflera
Asclepiadaceae Ceropegia, Hoya, Stephanotis 6-7 20-25 15-25
Asteraceae Ageratum, Asteraceas, Asteriscus, Brachyscome,
Centaurea, Cosmos, Gaillardia, Gazania,
Rudbeckia, Tagetes, Caléndula, Callistephus, 6.5 30-60 15-22
Chrysanthemum, Dhalia, Gerbera, Gynura,
Ligularia, Senecio
Bignoniaceae Pyrostegia, Tecomaria 6-7 30-40 15-25
Bromeliaceae Aechmea, Ananas, Cryptanthus, Neoregelia,
4.5-5.5 15-25 20-25
Nidularium, Guzmania
Campanulaceae Campanula, Canarina, Platycodon 6-7 30-40 18-20
Commelinaceae Callisia, Cyanotis, Dichorisandra,
Geogenanthus, Campelia, Setcreasea, 6-7 35-45 15-25
Tradescantia, Zebrina, Rhoeo
Ericaceae Erica, Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Arbutus 4-5.5 30-60 15-20
Escrofulariaceae Calceolaria, Buddleia, Hebe, Mimulus, Nemesia,
6.5 35-45 20
Russelia, Torenia
Euforbiaceae Acalypha, Codiaeum, Breynia, Euphorbia 6 20-30 20-25
Gencianaceae Eustoma, Exacum 6 20-30 15-25
Gesneriaceae Achimenes, Aeschynanthus, Codonanthe,
Columnea, Episcia, Nematanthus, Saintpaulia, 6-7 20-35 20-25
Sinningia, Smithiantha, Streptocarpus
Poaceae Bambusa, Anemanthele, Arundo, Calamagrostis,
Chasmantium, Deschampisia, Elymus,
Eragrostis, Festuca, Helictrotrichon,
6-7 30-60 15-25
Hiparrhenia, Imperata Koeleria, Miscanthus,
Molinia, Nasella, Panicum, Pennisetum,
Phalaris, Sesleria, Stenotaphrum, Zoysia
Fern * Pteris, Adiantum, Arachniodes, Cyrtomium,
Asplenium, Blechnum, Stenochlaena,
Sphaeropteris, Davillia, Microlepia, Cibotium, 6 15-45 16-25
Dicksonia, Nephrolepis, Platycerium,
Polypodium, Pellaea
Lamiaceae Coleus, Plectranthus, Ocimum, Rosmarinus 6-7 25-40 20-25
* Family: Acrostichacea, Adiantecea, Aspidiacea, Aspleniacea, Blechnacea, Cytheacea, Davalliacea,
Dennestaedtiacea, Dicksoniacea, Nephrolepidacea, Polypodiacea, Sinopteridacea.

1158
Table 2. (Continued) Optimum requests for ornamental plants for vertical gardens
(Jimenez and Caballero, 1991).

Lux
Family Genus pH T (ºC)
*1000
Liliaceae Asparagus, Aspidistra, Chlorophytum,
Gloriosa, Hyacinthus, Hosta, Lilium, Ruscus, 6-7 5-10 15-25
Tulipa
Litraceae Cuphea, Lagerstroemia 6-7 40 25-30
Malvaceae Abutilon, Hibiscus, Lavatera, Pavonia 6-6.5 30 20-25
Marantaceae Calathea, Ctenathe, Maranta, Stromanthea 6 15-30 15-25
Melastomataceae Bertolonia, Medinilla, Sonerila, Tibouchina 6.5-7 30-50 16-25
Mirtaceae Eugenia, Psidium, Myrtus, Leptospermum,
Callistemon 6-7 30-50 20-25
Nictaginaceae Mirabilis, Boungainvillea, Pisonia 6.5-7 30-50 15-25
Orquidaceae Cymbidium, Phalaenopsis, Paphiophedilum,
6-7 15-50 20-25
Miltonia
Piperaceae Peperomia, Piper 6.5 5-15 18-20
Ranunculaceae Aquilegia, Ranunculus 6-6.5 30-40 15-20
Saxifragaceae Bergenia, Hydrangea, Saxifraga 4.5-6.5 30-40 18-20
Solanaceae Browallia, Brunfelsia, Capsicum, Petunia,
6.5 30-50 20-25
Solanum
Urticaceae Pellionia, Pilea, Soleirolia 5-6 15-25 20-25
Verbenaceae Lantana, Verbena 6.5-7 30-50 20-25
Vitaceae Ampelopsis, Cissus, Parthennocissus,
6-6.5 30-50 18-20
Rhoicussus, Tetrastigma
* Family: Acrostichacea, Adiantecea, Aspidiacea, Aspleniacea, Blechnacea, Cytheacea, Davalliacea,
Dennestaedtiacea, Dicksoniacea, Nephrolepidacea, Polypodiacea, Sinopteridacea.

1159
Figurese

Fig. 1. Polythene bands with different layers for NGS system (left) and Espacios y
Paisajes system without and with plants (right).

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