# Miniature living wall build thread!



## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

When this is finished, it'll be a Hygrolon living wall with a reservoir at the bottom, covered in low-light plants. The starting tank was a 2.5gal aquarium, which is a foot wide, so it'll be pretty small. 









Supplies! Aquarium, Great Stuff, plexiglass chunk, desk light, bowl full of charcoal bits to put in the reservoir, slate chunks, river rocks, box cutter, needlenose pliers, wood bits, and a chunk of a small animal's backbone and pelvis. 









Initial disassembly. Used a box cutter under the rim plastic to cut the reachable silicone, then hacksawed the plastic into pieces and pried it off. Cracked the glass, but that was my fault, not the technique. I forgot how leverage was going to work around corners. You have to cut really close to the corner so you don't have a long piece being levered against the glass as you pry part of it up. The one that came off mostly in one piece, albeit with some cuts to weaken it, was the bottom rim. 









This is the end configuration of the glass. I decided to use the cracked panel as the back, since it'll be covered in Great Stuff and won't have to really hold back any water. 









Siliconed the vertical panel into place with a couple leftover hunks of silicone to brace it and cover the cracks, then added the front plexiglass to form the reservoir. Front glass is cloudy because the outer protective plastic is still on, it's staying on until things are done. The black bits are pieces of the rim that I siliconed onto the back wall so the Great Stuff will hold on better.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Temporary plant storage. Water, then slate so nothing sits directly in water, then scraps of Hygrolon over the slate so everything has damp roots, then plants, and plastic loosely over the opening to keep everything humid. Hopefully should keep everything happy for a little while longer. 
The jug open for the pic has a small assortment of plants, the closed one is entirely oak leaf ficus.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Great Stuff is on!

I didn't apply all that in one go. I put a thin layer down on the back wall, and I sprayed a similar layer onto some plastic wrap. After an hour or so for everything to harden, I took the plastic wrap chunks apart and sort of loosely mounded them together with bits of fresh foam to help hold them together, forming that bottom part- which is supported by a propped-up piece of plastic from a giant plant saucer. I then poked a metric ton of holes in the foam to be sure everywhere cures properly.

Pic was taken after I poked some holes and did a bit of initial carving with some scissors, but before I poked even more holes and created a raised area to the right out of more chunks. No work was done with the deer skull there, I just had it in to be sure it would fit, and for the photo. 
*
Question:* do I need to cover all the cut areas in some kind of sealant? It's going to be constantly covered in moist Hygrolon, and I don't know if that smooth, hard outer shell does anything to keep water out. 

Next up, once all that hardens: Hygrolon! There are a couple of preemptive scraps to be sure I have some on the sides, but I gotta put a bunch more in.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Hygrolon! The bottom section is mostly layered so it'll have plenty for roots to get into, the top is a single section for vines to climb on. Dabs of silicone here and there to hold everything in place, silicone carefully around the edges of the top and sides. A lot is also held in place by being wedged underneath the deer skull, between it and the GS. 

I also poked even more holes in the GS, which all seems to be foam all the way through rather than ***** stuff, to ensure that every last bit of it cures right.

Gotta wait awhile for the silicone to cure and to be sure the GS is fine, then I can plant!

There's a spot almost up against the glass on the left-hand side where there's one of those thin plastic orchid pots embedded in the foam, and I have a thin piece of Hygrolon running up from the tray through the drainage hole of the pot. I can fill that up with one kind of substrate or another and plant a comparatively large plant in there.

I'm going to cover a lot of the left side in oak leaf ficus, and use some of it to stick out and disguise the shape of the back. Hopefully it won't mind being out here- that stuff wilts fast if it's not humid enough. 

I also have some rabbit's foot fern, I think I'll put it at the back of the skull so it'll creep over the skull and up that raised area of Hygrolon.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

@Betta,

You can use small nails as pins to hold the Hyrgolon against the GS and silicone while it cures. Once cured, just pull out the nails. You can use the nails method to get a much better fit of the hygrolon to the shape of the GS (upholstery style). I think the hygrolon will wick water better if it is in contact with the GS rather than with space between the two.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Ooh, heck, I didn't think of that. Might have to go cut some slits in the Hygrolon so I can do that all along the back. It's mostly just draped and secured around the edges. 

Maybe I can fill a syringe (the kind without a needle) with silicone so I can just put tiny slits in the Hygrolon to get silicone underneath.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Update: You can, in fact, use a syringe (like people get for cold medication) for silicone. It's much better for precision work than the standard dispenser thing, too. 

I've added a bunch of dabs of silicone behind that back panel, and a bit around the lower areas. It's not anchored everywhere, but it conforms much better to the foam now. I've also added a bunch of slits in the back with bits of extra Hygrolon behind them, making pockets that I can put the bases of new plants in.


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Great concept! Looking forward to see how it turns out!


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

First batch of plants in! Photo was taken with the room lights off for dramatic effect. 










Bottom left has an unknown aquatic-ish fern (something related to a Java fern, got it from one of those "aquatic" plant tubes at Petco), some U. Longifolia sprouts, and a particularly wet patch for the oak leaf ficus. 

The fern near the deer's snout is _Microsaurum linguiforme_. The vine in the eye socket is Pellonia pulchra, and that's golden club moss behind it. 

There's white rabbit's foot fern behind the skull, then begonia schulzii and an unknown peperomia in that pocket above them. 

Finally, more oak leaf ficus on the far right, Java moss stuck near the water (it's flattened into a sheet from shipping) and a tiny bit of U. Sandersonii under the ficus. 

There's also some live sphagnum tucked in various nooks and crannies, and I'll gradually be adding more according to how it does in various spots. 

More stuff will go on here in August, possibly a semi-epiphytic pinguicula or a hardy sundew before then if I find a source. 

I'm going to be misting everything several times a day to keep the humidity up as much as possible, which hopefully will allow everything to acclimate to being outside of a glass box.


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## Grimsrude (Apr 6, 2017)

This is looking interesting so far, especially with your plant choices. Are you planning on some more moss (sheet or something similar) to cover more of it?

I've always been interested in the hygrolon and epiweb but I fear that i'll never grow enough coverage to cover the rather unnatural textures of them. I'll definitely be watching this build closely to see how you manage to blend it in!


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

I'm planning on moss, vines, liverworts, whatever I can get to cover the mesh. A lot of sheet mosses prefer to grow on dirt, as far as I know, so I'm trying Java moss in one corner and sphagnum in a few other spots. I'm also going to pick up samples of whatever mosses I can find when I go to get more plants in August. Having all the Hygrolon covered in moss would be ideal, but I'll take anything that hides it. At least it doesn't look too bad uncovered- just unnatural. 

Small update: 

The oak leaf ficus is wilting in a lot of spots that aren't as wet, I think because it's used to very high humidity. Hopefully the stuff that's doing well in the wetter areas will adapt and spread outwards. 

Everything else seems to be doing well so far. I spread the Java moss out a bit, and I've been keeping up the frequent mistings. 

Added two plants, a jewel orchid and a _Pinguicula primuliflora_. 

The orchid started budding while in a temporary pot, but I decided to move it anyway, as the pot wasn't well drained and was never meant to be permanent. It has a lot of Hygrolon around its roots due to being a terrestrial species, and it's in a spot that should stay damp but not wet all the time.

The Ping is tucked into a pocket higher up on the background, so it'll stay just barely damp between waterings. I tucked it into a pocket full of live and dead sphagnum moss, and it's held in place with a pin (not through the plant) until its roots take hold. This type of Ping needs a cold winter rest at least every couple of years, but they also produce a lot of baby plantlets. My plan here is to pull all adult P. primuliflora off the wall in the fall and put them in a pot in a colder area, leaving all the plantlets to grow all through winter that year before being removed in turn next year. Why am I going to that trouble? Two reasons. One, I like Pings. Two, these guys are pretty much the best gnat eaters in the world, and I do not like gnats.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Minor update. I've gotten a plant I didn't think I'd be able to- Pinguicula emarginata. It's a Pinguicula that doesn't require dormancy and likes being wet, so basically ideal for this.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

P. primuliflora did poorly and has been moved to a much wetter spot lower on the wall. I may have to remove it, it still isn't doing well.

P. emarginata is doing well. It's opened a bud that it had on arrival, and it's growing new leaves. 

Java moss (bottom right) has gotten fuzzy and is clearly starting to grow in its emersed form everywhere the light hits it, and is doing absolutely nothing in the more shaded area. 

Most of the oak leaf ficus died off from lack of humidity, but a few larger bits are still alive and appear to be growing in particularly wet spots. Hopefully those will adapt and spread a bit. 

U. sandersonii appears to have died off entirely. 

Everything else is settling in and growing slowly. 


Does anyone have any thoughts on whether a marcgravia might be worth a shot on here?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Betta132 said:


> Does anyone have any thoughts on whether a marcgravia might be worth a shot on here?


I would think it would do fine. Make sure it is rooted first, as it's a lower humidity setup you have. Try a simple, cheap, rectifolia first.

A Rhaphidophora Pachyphylla would be another smaller shingler you could try, or Rhaphidophora Cryptantha.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

I have some M. rectiflora growing in a terrarium, so I took a couple of slightly rooted cuttings from it and fastened them onto a fairly damp patch of wall. I have the more rooted ends tucked under a bit of live sphagnum to keep them wet, and I'm hoping they take. 

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep them in mind for if the marcgravia doesn't take. Since the back of the wall is too dry for mosses, I'm hoping to cover it in vines instead, with the ends rooted further down where they get enough water.


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