Vegetation establishment on ‘Green Walls’: Integrating shotcrete walls from road construction into the landscape

Abstract

The establishment of a sustainable vegetation layer on shotcrete walls subjected to road environment represents enormous challenges. High inclination of almost 90°, the exposed position of the walls near streets as well as lack of soil and water supply pose major limiting conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of an innovative greening technology for vertical structures in terms of vegetation development on varying plant substrates and geotextiles.The field experiment included testing three plant substrates on basis of nearby rocky excavation material (‘Innsbrucker Quarzphyllit’, ‘Bündnerschiefer’ and ‘Zentralgneis’) combined with compost. Additionally, five geotextiles (geogrid (3x4 mm), geogrid (9x10 mm), coir net, coir mat, geo mat) were applied for assessment. All test combinations were evaluated regarding vegetation cover, species composition, and biomass production from 2015 to 2016. Analyses of chemical properties were conducted for all plant substrates.Results showed highest vegetation cover ratio on ‘Bündnerschiefer’ and ‘Innsbrucker Quarzphyllit’, which can be explained by the favorable mineral composition (nutrient storage capacity) and chemical properties of compost (lower values of electrical conductivity and C/N ratio).In conclusion, the use of ‘Green Walls’ filled with ‘Bündnerschiefer’ or ‘Innsbrucker Quarzphyllit’ plant substrate in combination with netlike geotextiles like geogrid or coir net proved best. They are promising in terms of establishing an optimal vegetation cover on vertical structures and are well suited for integrating shotcrete walls into the landscape. The use of local excavation material for greening purposes thus can be confirmed. Though, the use of high-quality compost is crucial.