Nutrient Use Efficiency of Anthurium andreanum ‘Pink Fever’, Grown on Vertical Gardens Trough Fertigation (automatic drip irrigation)

Abstract

Vertical gardens are modern type of floral arrangements that are becoming widely used in the interior. As a part of aesthetics, vertical panels of plants should be with optimal ornamental performance. The great diversity of used plants of different species does not permit application of differential feeding that satisfies the nutrient needs of each plant type.
The purpose of the present study is to establish the nutrient use efficiency of Anthurium andreanum Linden ‘Pink Fever’, grown in a vertical garden together with other foliage ornamentals with different nutrition needs. The experimental plants are of Dutch origin. Part of them is grown as control-plants without external source of nutrients. Several plants are planted in the vertical garden with roots mixed with peat substrate in pockets of geotextile on panel size 70/160 cm with automatic drip irrigation system performing with 500 ml water/2 times/24 h. Suspension fertiliser Lactofol (500 ml, 1% solutiоn) was applied once a week containing nitrogen – 6.0%, phosphorus (P2O5 ) – 4%, potassium (K2O) – 4%; boron 0.3% and trace elements: copper, manganese , molybdenum, zinc and physiologically active and other substances. The vertical garden is grown at controlled light intensity, humidi-ty and temperature for 15 months. In Central University Laboratory “Ecology and Environmental Protection” are analyzed nutrient values and other parameters (pH, macronutrients, conductivity and salt content) before and after the experiment in: peat substrate, leaf samples, solution of fertiliser accordingly and in the lysimetrical waters (after soaking and draining from the geotextile). Certain efficiency of the applied fertigation nutrition is proved – no deficiency of essential nutrients and absence of deficiency symptoms within the study period, absence of salinity or significant loss of salts in lysimetrical water.