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Green walls are seen as an important architectural element in the design of sustainable cities, helping to make cities ecologically rich, green, and healthy places to live. The use of green walls, which have seen a wide range of applications worldwide, is supported mainly because of their potential in combating climate change, and international standards are being developed for the design, implementation, and monitoring of green wall projects. In this study, the effects of different growing media used in green wall systems on plant area and the increase in green wall performance were evaluated using an indirect monitoring technique. Peat, hazelnut husks, rice hulls and perlite were mixed in different proportions to produce the growing media, and their physical and chemical properties were determined. Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and boxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.) were used for planting the green wall. To measure the growth of the green wall and the planting area, images were taken and examined after planting and at the end of the growing period. According to the findings of this study, we found that growing media with a high water holding capacity and high organic matter content were more successful in terms of increasing plant area and green wall performance. However, factors such as pH and phosphorus were found to have negative effects on plant growth. In addition, it was determined that the physical and chemical properties of the growing media used in green wall systems are important for the plant area in green wall systems and that a balanced optimization of these properties increases the efficiency of green walls. The results obtained in this study show that the use of indirect monitoring techniques is a fast and effective method for monitoring the development of green wall systems. The appropriate use of this technique could be an effective tool for the standardization of installation and could contribute efficiently to the maintenance of green wall systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using waste products is a promising and sustainable alternative to conventional non-renewable peat and nutrient-rich renewable materials. Their products are gaining importance for closing the loop in the ornamental plant industry. Porous inorganic materials have recently become potential bulking agents (BA) for sewage sludge (SS) owing to their high porosity, surface area, passivation capacity, high recycling potential, and potting soil components. The main purpose of the present work was to investigate the feasibility of pumice (PU) and expanded perlite (EP) on composting parameters, nutrient bioavailability and suitability of SS to serve as an ornamental substrate. The addition of PU and EP at 50% (v/v) resulted in higher porosity, optimal initial moisture content, higher temperature rise (56.24 ± 0.13 °C, 56.21 ± 0.11 °C, respectively), and higher CO2 evolution (39.41 ± 0.17%, 41.70 ± 0.22% daily peaks). Composting with inorganic BA at EP-50 and PU-50 mixtures was beneficial owing to high nitrogen content (3.82 and 3.70%, respectively) and readily bioavailable nutrients (270 mg kg−1 phosphates and 1835 mg kg−1 potassium). The use of PU and EP was found helpful in improving the slow-release nutrient properties of the compost. The overall results indicated that composting SS with PU and EP is a viable approach to achieve good composting properties and a good nutrient-providing profile if the compost is used as a component for potting soil components or garden soil amendments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]