How to Make a Living Plant Wall (DIY)

yo what's up serpa squad tanner here and after a quick break i'm at it once again i decided to go back to basics with a budget friendly diy project over the years many of you have been requesting a video on this to gain inspiration because of that i figured it made sense to keep it as simple and cheap as possible in this one i'll demonstrate how to make a beautiful living wall unlike my other projects i'll show you where i purchased all of the components and for how much i'll also keep a tab on the total cost incurred keep in mind that the prices in your area may differ from what i was able to find again i'm keeping it as simple as i can if you want to see me tackle something more elaborate and at a larger scale then let me know you enjoy the video and concept with a like let's get this video to 10 000 likes and i'll do it again i've seen several projects like this and something i think is usually overlooked is waterproofing the setup maybe i'm jaded because i frequently work with aquatic setups but i think this should be one of the primary considerations it goes without saying that leaks will cause issues in your home waterproofing solutions such as epoxy are often quite expensive and other options can be difficult to implement rather than spending a fortune or over complicating the process i figured it made sense to use a material that's waterproof to begin with that of course is pvc board i got this large piece of it for just under 27 dollars this is a fairly inexpensive solution considering everything i just mentioned plus we only need one of them we will cut this into smaller pieces and hold it together with a few components first and foremost is od fusion cement there's likely a cheaper option out there but i like this one because application is very straightforward this mounts and fuses the pvc boards together which can make the system waterproof without additional elements however that's difficult to pull off unless all the cuts are flawless so just in case i end up with a leak or two i also picked up a tube of ge silicone 2 advanced silicone and i suggest you do the same this is typically used around bathtubs and showers so it should actually adhere well to pvc also since we're not using this with animals we don't have to worry about the mold free properties i use one and a quarter inch long screws to aid with the process i decided this would be easier than meticulously clamping it all together while the cement cures plus they'll add more overall strength without adding excessive cost alternatively you could just use screws in silicone to save a few bucks but i think the addition of cement is worth the cost originally i wanted to make the plant pockets from scratch with landscaping fabric however i realized it would be cheaper and easier to buy them pre-made from amazon we'll still have to modify them but using these is far less work we also need to create a proper substrate for the plants going into the pockets as usual i'm looking for a blend that will retain moisture while also providing good drainage for that i have three components including potting soil orchid bark and sphagnum moss you can adjust this however you see fit but the combination of these should work well for me a few miscellaneous items that we'll need include felt pads and large d-ring hangers these hangers can hold up to 75 pounds so they'll be more than sufficient for my living wall that said be sure to check the weight of yours and choose wall hangers accordingly we also need some stainless steel staples to attach the plant pockets to the main structure lastly we need an appropriate selection of plants above all else choose plants that you like but make sure they're suitable for your planting arrangement my recommendation is to get a variety of small to medium sized plants that complement one another do your research because some plants may be small at this store but will eventually get too large for this type of setup this is likely where you'll spend most of the money unless you don't mind starting with a small selection of plants i'll discuss more about mine later in the video because at this point i don't even know what i'm going to use i started the process by making a few measurements on the pvc board i set up the guide accordingly and cut out the back piece with my circular saw i repeated this process eight more times to create strips these cuts would have been easier on my table saw but the blade melted the pvc so if you're wondering that's why i use the circular saw for the rip cuts that said i did go back on the table saw and cut down a few of the strips without issue in total you'll need 9 pieces of pvc to build the main structure the largest piece of course is the back i cut it out as a square the second set of strips are all the same width but differ in length these are the middle pieces which dictate the depth of the wall the final set of strips are for the front of the wall and they differ from one another the top and bottom are the same length but the bottom piece is taller to account for excess water the side pieces are not as long as the other two but they're the same width as the top piece let's put the pieces together i used one of the strips to mark for the width of the middle pieces on the back i also marked for where the screws will go i used a countersink bit to pre-drill holes for the screws screws will go into the boards without cracking them but the holes will make the process easier i repeated this process on the other boards as well after pre-drilling the holes i went on to attach the pieces together starting with the middle section i applied cement where the boards connect and screwed them together accordingly [Music] once the middle frame was built i applied cement to the entire edge of the piece i did the same for the back rests on this edge i pressed the pieces together and secured them with screws i went on to repeat the process the third and final time for the strips that go on the front i let it sit overnight while the cement cured unfortunately when i went back to do the water test it didn't hold water i knew there were a few inconsistencies so i wasn't surprised luckily i already had silicone as a backup plan i applied this along all the seams to account for my errors although i'm using this as a solution to a problem i would recommend using it anyways as a preventative measure in case the boards shift over time after i applied the silicone i evened it out with my finger i let it sit for the proper cure time and went back for a second water test this time it held water perfectly at this point you could leave the pvc structure as is and install the plant pockets however this looks kind of sloppy and you know how i like to do things i thought it would look much better covered in pallet wood you can easily get these for free so they won't add to the cost i'll attach them together with the same screws from earlier and wood glue although i have a few gallons on deck i got this bottle for the sake of demonstration i'll also stain it with this gray stain i already had this can and couldn't find the same color in a smaller size however you can buy a smaller size for about half the price so that's what i'll add to the expenses since you won't need much for this project i went on to rip off the boards on the table saw once i had strips of wood i went back and cut them down to the appropriate lengths when making all of these cuts i had to account for the added thickness of the wood around the pvc structure so in most cases these measurements are an inch longer than their respective pvc pieces anyway after all of that i had a series of boards that fit snugly around the pvc structure once i knew they would fit well i drilled holes with the countersink like before usually i'd glue something like this together but since the boards already look rustic i figured exposed screws would complement the look plus these are only visible from the sides from there i went on to glue the other pieces to the front i don't have enough clamps to do them all at once so i did it in sections i applied glue situated the boards and clamped them down while the glue dried after repeating the process a few times i removed the clamps to reveal the final structure the wooden box fits tightly around the pvc and doesn't need to be physically attached i really like the patina and aged look of the boards so i didn't process them any further prior to staining i went with greystain because it complements the look i just described without taking away from the character in my opinion it adds to the piece and makes it look a little more cohesive since the cut edges look really clean anyway i applied a single coat of stain and let it dry for this project i don't think it's necessary to seal the wood so i'm going to leave it as is feel free to add a few layers of sealant if you'd like next we should probably add the hanging hardware i measured down from the top of the pvc on both sides and marked accordingly i used these as guides for the hangers and drilled holes of course i went on to attach the hangers with screws i also put two of the felt pads from earlier on the bottom these aren't necessary but i usually add them to the bottom of heavy pictures to protect the wall the last bit of construction we need to account for are the plant pockets my frame is smaller than what i could find so i had to cut it down to a smaller size i made measurements and removed the excess based on the dimensions of the pvc frame while doing this i was mindful of the stitches to preserve the pockets from there i dropped it into the planting box it's slightly larger than the interior but a little excess isn't a big deal i just curled the fabric on the sides and it fit well from there i stapled it in place i began with the bottom left corner and up the left side i repeated the process on the right side then i secured the pockets in the middle i also put a few staples between the pockets for good measure after all of that i also removed fabric from the top pockets here's the completed planting structure i think it turned out really well also it doesn't matter that we can see the staples because eventually those and the fabric will be covered with plants as for the plants i ended up with quite a selection first are the ferns i was able to find a bronze venus maidenhair fern a compact boston fern a kangaroo fern and a rabbit's fault fern i also got several vining and trailing plants including a bellas creeping fig three parts of english ivy a golden pothos and a jade pothos lastly are my accent and miscellaneous plants those include a holly arrowhead plant two many white nerve plants a peperomia napoleonites a pyelia ellen a pink nerve plant two purple waffle plants and a red guzmanio bromeliad before we can put them on the wall we need to mix up the substrate i first put a few handfuls of sphagnum moss in a bucket and rehydrated it then i mixed up two different substrates both mixes have the same amount of sphagnum moss but the ratio of soil to bark differs the one on the left contains more bark which the ferns and bromeliads will appreciate the one on the right contains more soil and will work well for the other plants when removing the plants from their planters you can keep the substrate they came in and plant them as is however i typically remove some or all of the original substrate if done with care this makes planting easier helps stimulate new growth and can mitigate the introduction of pests you can also separate the bigger plants for better mileage take this pothos for example now i have 30 individual plants instead of one large mass now that we're ready to plant there are a few things to consider our goal is to cover up as much of the fabric as possible the plants will complete that process over time but we can utilize the different types of foliage to make it happen from the beginning all of the trailing and vining plants can be draped down to hide the underside of the pockets upright plants on the other hand would do the same thing but for the plants above them your job is to discover how to fit the plants together in a way that looks appealing and hides the fabric anyway went on to plant the bromeliad and boston fern first i started here because they're some of the largest plants i experimented with a few arrangements until i found an appropriate location from there i worked in a few vines of pothos i planted just a few to start and then i added the maiden hair fern i should mention that you typically want to wear gloves when handling this plant as it hates having oil on its leaves i just tried to touch it as little as possible from there i worked in some of the accent plants i thought the white from the fotonia would look great behind the bromeliad i put one of the purple waffle plants to its right after that i filled in some of the bottom pockets with more pothos part way through that i decided to put an ivy and pyle on the left side then i returned to the bottom and added more pothos as you probably noticed i'm not planting this in any specific order i'm simply filling in the space as i see what plants work best once those were good i added another fertonia for a pop of color as you're working on this don't be afraid to remove foliage doing so will help you get a cleaner look and make it easier to fit the plants together plus this also stimulates new growth after shaping things up a little bit i filled in the remainder of the bottom with the other ivs i also used the peperomia to cover the pocket above them then i went to the top and added more ferns first was the kangaroo fern next i added the rabbit's foot firm i was able to break it up into three individual plants to spread it throughout i also mixed in the ficus pumula as an accent the pops of white really help add interest i used frettoni on the top left to achieve the same effect to fill in the remainder of the frame i added the syngonium and the other purple waffle plant and that completes the planting i think it turned out great i really enjoy all the different textures and i can't wait to see how it looks as the plants adjust to their new home you may have noticed that i didn't need to plant the top set of pockets the plants ended up filling in the space better than anticipated so i was able to leave them empty we'll talk more about price and design once it's on the wall also in case you're wondering the final piece only weighs 26 pounds anyway let's put it on the wall if possible i recommend looking for studs if you can't do that then spend a couple of bucks and get some drywall anchors in my case i was able to utilize this stud in the first location but we decided to move it and had to use the anchors and there you have it my rendition of a living wall it was really easy to put together and i think it looks awesome i really love the dimension of the piece it's not just a flat picture on the wall plants are bursting out of the container making it look really dynamic even if that wasn't the case the addition of plants always dramatically changes the look of a space something cool about making a system like this is that each pocket can be designed around and cared for specifically based on the plants they house for example how i mixed up the two different substrates the pockets can also be watered more or less individually based on the plants as far as water goes just treat this like any other house plant that said it makes sense to start from the top and work your way down naturally the plants at the bottom will need less water since the runoff from the above plants will trickle down doing the opposite will likely result no for watering the system as i'm sure you could tell i used a lot of plants to make this build happen it wasn't cheap but it gave us the instant gratification of a filled in living wall typically i would use plants and materials i already have but i wanted to start from scratch to give an idea of what it costs to make something like this if you don't already have the elements if you take your time and get things gradually when you see deals or make the piece smaller you can save a lot of money before tax i spent a total of 103 dollars and 20 cents to make the planting box keep in mind that number includes the stain and wood glue which were both optional items you can also take 11 off that total if you omit the pvc cement however as i said i recommend including it as for the plants i ended up spending a total of 147 dollars and 17 cents before tax yikes i didn't realize it was even close to that much until i started adding up the numbers let's not forget to add that lovely seven percent sales tax to give us a grand total of 267.89 i know that might sound expensive but you'll spend an absolute premium to get something like this pre-made just search by living wall on google and you'll see what i mean for the size of piece i created the quality and style of the build and the number of plants included this is well worth the price and as i said it's really easy to construct also there are a lot of leftover materials so if you want to get technical it costs far less than 268 dollars anyway i'm really pleased with the result let me know what you think about it down in the comments as always i really hope you all enjoyed the video and learned something new again if you want to see me tackle something more elaborate and at a larger scale then let's get this video to 10 000 likes and i'll do it again until next time surfer squad take care and peace you

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 411,749

Rating: 4.9705133 out of 5

Keywords: living wall, plant wall, living plant wall, plant art, diy, do it yourself, how to, house plants, vertical garden, green wall

Id: epyQBDBssRc

Length: 19min 46sec (1186 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 24 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/sunsomuch]

Nice one
Here is an alternative method you might find useful? https://gardeningcreative.wordpress.com/a-living-picture-frame/