Make a Wall of Plants With Automatic Watering Using a Washing Machine
Like many people, I killed houseplants. Despite their proximity to me for most of the day, I often managed to kill them by neglect or strangulation. Despite my colorful background, I still keep houseplants because they are so much better for Zoom than my sofa. But now I keep them alive thanks to my new system: I turned to automation to water my new flower babies and hooked up my washing machine to it.
What is a plant wall?
Plant walls are pockets of dense wool felt that hold water. You wrap the roots of plants in this wool , put them in pockets, and then water the pockets. Water drips through the coat, keeping the roots moist, and then drips off. They have a plastic backing to keep water from touching the wall.
The plants grow aerial roots, and the leaves and stems grow up the felt, attaching to each other and creating a beautiful, woven together wall of greenery. It’s a living ecosystem so every once in a while you need to change the plant or go in there to give the plants some food, but otherwise you sit back and watch your wall turn into this magical green carpet.
How to water a plant wall
Plant walls can be installed inside and outside. Outside, you just wash away the wall; it retains water and then drains the excess to the ground. There is a lot of water inside that has to go somewhere, which is why companies that sell pockets also tend to sell drainage trays . However, the water in this tray can’t just stay there – and you still need to remember to water this thing from the start. It was then that I realized that I forgot that there is an entrance and exit of water nearby – my washing machine. As long as the wall of the plant was 6-10 feet away, I could use the entrance and exit.
There is a bib or nozzle behind your washing machine. It is on all the time and when your washing machine needs water, it will open the internal valve and the water will rush in. Your washing machine also has a drain pipe that goes into a pipe in the wall that collects dirty water and flushes it out. . You can design an entrance and exit for your plant wall – and it’s not hard to do.
How to use the drain hole of the washing machine to automatically drip water onto the wall of the plant
For pipe:
- Hose Splitter
- washing machine hose
- Hose timer
- Built-in filter
- ¼” empty dripline
- pressure regulator
- Hose with female thread to ¼” adapter
- Plumbing Tape
- Additional washers
For drip line:
For pond pump:
First, assemble the splitter. Connect the washing machine hose to the filter and then to the timer. The timer is attached to the adapter and then you attach a ¼ inch drip tube to it. Now put that aside.
Behind the washing machine, turn off the water at the faucet or hose nozzle. Now disconnect the washing machine hose. Attach the splitter to the nozzle. You now have two hose bibs – one you will use for the washing machine and the other for the plant wall. Tighten each tightly, using plumbing tape as needed. Most hose connections have rubber washers inside, so double check if they are lost before making these connections, and if so, replace them – this is what prevents leaks. It’s worth having a few extras on hand (which I listed on the supply list).
Before turning the faucet back on, make sure the splitter is turned off on both sides. Open the faucet and look for leaks. Now turn the lever on the side of the washer to open it and check again for leaks. Run a quick cycle on the washing machine to double check. If everything is in order, proceed to install the dropper.
Set up your drip line
At this point, the hose with the filter and timer is probably on the ground. A simple hook on the wall, Velcro, or some other way to lift it off the ground and make it easier to access is a good move.
The goal is to install a drip line along the top of the plant wall with emitters above each pocket. You don’t need to use anything more elaborate than safety pins to hold the line in place – you really won’t see them. But first you need to put everything in order. Once the line is in place at the top, cut off the excess line and close it with a ¼ inch plug so that the end of the line is not exposed.
Now we need to add emitters. They each have serrations on each side, so you simply cut through the dropper in the middle of each pocket and then insert the emitter to put them back together. If this proves very difficult, heat the drip tube with a hair dryer, but you won’t need it. Just put the emitter in there.
How to dry a plant wall
The water needs to drain somewhere, so it’s a good idea to purchase a drain pan from the company you buy your plant wall from. You can also build one and cover it with rubberized paint. This is just a tray at the bottom of the plant wall where all the water will drain. You need to drain it anyway, and the way to do this is with a small pond drain with a good “lift” meaning it’s powerful enough to lift the water several feet. That’s why the wall of the plant needs to be less than ten feet away so that the pump you buy has enough “lift” to direct the water back to the outlet in the wall.
You place your plant drain in the drain tray and the tube that comes out of the drain goes up and into the washer drain. Make sure the handset is really well inserted into the outlet and most of the time you won’t even hear it and it won’t be able to fall out.
Water and drainage programming
Now we need to tell the timer when to water, how often, and when the drain should remove all the water (which will happen in about an hour).
Depending on which hose timer you choose, select a time of day and set it to water for four minutes. Over time, you will need to see if there is too much or not enough water. It depends on how big your plant wall is, what kind of plants you have, and the environment in the room. Four minutes once a day is a good start. I love it when it sounds, when I can hear it, because knowing it’s happening is soothing.
Connect the drain to the smart plug and use the appropriate app to make the drain work for twice the amount of water, about an hour after you finish watering. Again, you will need to fine-tune this for the first week or two because you want to make sure it drains enough but that the drain doesn’t dry out.
In general, the installation of the project takes about an hour, and I sometimes have to fiddle with it. I have a water sensor on the floor in case something goes wrong, but so far it hasn’t. And now I can go away for long periods of time and no one needs to water my plants and my ADHD can get out of control and my plants won’t wilt from neglect.