How To Make a Vertical Garden of Succulents - ALIKA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED;

A great how to guide to create a succulent vertical garden from Instructables which they call a succulent quilt. Best step by step guide I have seen to date. Well done.

Step 1Pick a location

Decide where to put your succulent quilt. It will need lots of sun and a way to be watered. I use a drip system and let the excess water drip down onto plants below. You can also use a recirculating system and catch the drips with a gutter.

A south facing wall is best. Partial sun will work but some plants may not be able to grow as well. You will have to experiment with cuttings from different plants.

Step 2Choose your size

step 7Fourth layer

Next, place a pile of dried sphagnum moss on top of the coco mat.

Break up any large chunks.

Step 8Fifth layer

Pour out seed starter on top of the sphagnum moss. I estimate that I put about 8 cups of seed starter on my 2¡ä square panel.

Mix the moss and soil together.

Step 9Sixth layer

Place the second piece of felt on top of the moss + soil.

Pat it down a bit.

step 10Seventh layer

Place the plastic trellis on top of the felt. Line it up with the edges of the coco mat.

step 11Wrap and zip tie

Wrap the edges of the landscape fabric and felt around the edges of the trellis. Poke holes through the fabric ¨C but between holes of the plastic trellis ¨C with a knife or scissors. Insert a black zip tie and pull tight. Continue around all edges until it is all wrapped up. Trim off excess fabric with scissors.

step 12Install your drip emitters

Drip systems can be a whole other instructable, so I will keep it brief. The panels need to be kept moist while the cuttings are rooting. Once the panel is established the watering schedule can be reduced, but this will take six months or so. The best way to do this is by watering via a timer and drip system.

I use 1/2 Gallon Per Hour (GPH) pressure compensating emitters. I install a string of them along the top of each panel, with about 3 inches between emitters. Therefore each 2¡ä square panel will require 10 emitters, 10 ¡®T¡¯ barbs (or 9 ¡®T¡¯ barbs and one elbow if the panel is an end piece). Use 1/4¡å drip tubing to connect all the emitters into a chain.

I stuck my emitters on the inside of the panel, along the top. I did this by poking a hole in the fabric, sticking my drip tubing through it, and then pushing the emitter into the end of the tubing. (Hint: the red plastic barbed end of the emitter is the part that goes into the tubing.) The idea is to have the drip end touching the felt . The felt acts a wick carrying water through out the panel to the roots.

Once the panels are installed, the 1/4¡å tubing can be hooked into a 1/2¡å black polyethylene supply line that is either plumbed into the household supply, or attached to a submersible pump.

step 13Thoroughly water the panel

After each panel is installed, thoroughly soak the panel with the hose. This is very important because if the panel is dry, the felt will not wick the water and the drip irrigation will not be effective. The drips will simply run out the bottom of the panel.

step 14Gather your plant material

I built 4 panels for Machine Project in Los Angeles. I brought along a bunch of succulents to be sure we had enough for our large construction. I visited a local cactus and succulent nursery in Reseda called Cactus Ranch. http://www.california-cactus-succulents.com/ That place really blew me away, as you can tell from my expression in the picture!

I also put out a call for participants to bring their own cuttings. But unless you are doing this with a cactus and succulent society, you will probably need to supplement like I did.

Plants that are especially easy to root from cuttings are: sedums, kalanchoes, aeoniums, crassulas, basically succulents that have stems.

Plants that are easier to start by planting with root still attached or by a side offset (baby): hens and chicks, asclepids, agaves, aloes, gasterias, haworthias, sanseverias, basically the ones that don¡¯t have stems.

If in doubt, try it. If it doesn¡¯t work then you¡¯ve learned something. Gather your plant material

Step 15Instruct quilters

I have all but one of the panels assembled ahead of time. I demonstrate how the quilt is put together by assembling the final panel together with the quilters.

Next, show them how to take cuttings and insert them into the quilt.

Each cutting will be stuck into a slot that is cut through the black fabric and top felt layer. Use scissors or a knife (assist children) to cut through these layers until you can see the brown coco mat layer. Insert each cutting by slipping it through the slot with the stem or roots pointing down. Use the location of the drip emitters to help people know which end is up.

To take a cutting, simply use sharp scissors and cut off a stem from a plant. If the plant is more of the ball shaped variety (i.e. hens and chicks), separate out a baby. If the plant is in a pot, empty the plant onto the table and pull apart all the separate balls. Shake off some of the soil from the roots and stick the roots into the slit.

It is even better if the cuttings can sit for a day so their ends can dry out. This is especially important if you want to put in any cactus cuttings. I don¡¯t do this with quilters because the spines can be a pain. (Hint: To root a piece of cactus, cut it off with a sharp blade, spray it with isopopyl alcohol, and let it sit indoors in the shade for a week. Then shove it into a slit in the fabric and wedge it in well. Use gloves! If it rots, remove it, cut off the bad end and repeat the process. Maybe let it sit a little longer. Instruct quilters

step 16Do the vertical test

I take each panel and with a helper, hold it upright over the table. Cuttings will fall out and that¡¯s ok. Just cut the holes a little larger and stuff them back in. For some of the larger, round cuttings, you may need to cut a very large slot and wedge the hole ball into it.

step 17Hang your quilt

Now it¡¯s time to put your panel outside!

I used wood screws and large fender washers. Don¡¯t screw into the plastic trellis because it can crack after a while. It is best to screw between the holes in the trellis. The washer will clamp everything down.

Next, hook your drip system up by extending 1/4¡å tubing to it from the 1/2¡å supply line. The supply line is either connected to the household plumbing, or in this case, to a submersible pump in a reservoir. Get a digital timer and set it to come on for 5-10 minutes at a time, several times a day. I like to water twice in the early morning and once in the late afternoon.

If you want to try a recirculating system, get a fountain pump from Lowe¡¯s or the Urban Farmer Store. Use a check valve (I love the Hudson Valve www.hudsonvalve.com which can be purchased from McMaster-Carr) to top off the reservoir automatically so the pump does not run dry. Take care when using a pump that you do not try to pump the water up too high. The higher it has to pump, the lower the flow. Each pump has a head height which is the highest the pump can push water up before it stops flowing.