Interior Maintenance Guidelines

Interior Maintenance Guidelines for Green Walls and Indoor Plantscapes

Green walls and landscapes are a welcome sight in an urban concrete jungle like Dubai. From increasing office productivity to attracting more customers to hotels and restaurants, they offer plenty of benefits for everyone around them.

‍

According to Earth.org, green walls help regulate temperature and make the space more energy-efficient. They also lower greenhouse gas emissions, making them crucial to strategies for solving problems caused by urbanisation.

‍

You must ensure that a green wall or interior landscape is maintained regularly to continue enjoying the benefits of one in your commercial space in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This guide will teach you what interior green wall maintenance entails, common challenges, and key best practices for ensuring these installations thrive in any space.

‍

Understanding Interior Plant and Green Wall Maintenance

Installing a living wall and arranging plants in an indoor landscape is an excellent investment for businesses aiming for a healthier, more sustainable commercial environment. However, a few more things need to be done even after providers of professional landscaping services complete the project so you can enjoy the benefits of green space for a long time.

‍

Green walls and indoor plants require routine care to stay lush, healthy, and vibrant. This is especially true in the UAE climate, where high heat and low humidity can challenge plant health.

‍

To maintain your green space, landscape maintenance service providers must focus on watering, pruning or trimming, and the light and environmental conditions of the area.

‍

Best Practices for Professional Interior Landscape Maintenance

In this section, we’ll cover the best practices for maintaining interior landscapes.

‍

1. Assessment and Planning

Indoor landscape maintenance begins with thorough planning after an initial assessment of the space. At this stage, interior maintenance specialists check all the critical aspects of the landscape, including the condition of the existing plants and green walls and the state of the space itself.

‍

Sometimes, interior landscapes are bound to have problems from the beginning because of how they are set up. For example, sun-loving plants may be placed in a location that gets very minimal natural light for the sake of aesthetics.

‍

Once they determine potential issues, the professionals prepare a proposal, recommending the best course of action to ensure your green walls and landscapes look their best all year round.

‍

2. Watering Techniques

When watering plants, more isn’t always better, even in a desert city like Dubai. Seasoned landscape experts recommend setting a precise timing, frequency, and quantity to avoid dehydration and overwatering.

‍

Plants in vertical gardens and indoor living walls have special irrigation requirements. This is because they are planted in small pockets or containers that don’t have much space for water accumulation and growth. Interior landscaping specialists recommend self-watering or automatic irrigation systems to facilitate the process.

‍

Reducing watering times by 50 per cent is also advised, especially if there are signs of overwatering. After a week of observation, you may lower them as needed, depending on the type of irrigation system in place.

‍

If you have a recirculating system, you can keep the watering frequency to once daily. If you have a drip system, watering four times a day should be enough to keep the plants on top irrigated and the water flow consistent throughout the green wall.

‍

3. Pruning and Trimming

Green walls and landscaped flora can become unruly if not pruned or trimmed regularly.

‍

You will know it’s time for a trim when some plants begin growing on top of the others and shading the greenery underneath. Meanwhile, brown or wilted leaves must be removed through pruning. These signs indicate that the plants need attention.

‍

Pruning early on after the installation of a green wall determines plant density. Later, trimming becomes necessary to achieve avoid other things, including excessive flower growth that takes up too much space.

‍

The good news is that, in most cases, these maintenance tasks only need to be done once a month.

‍

4. Light Adjustments

Plants need ultraviolet (UV) light to “feed” themselves through photosynthesis. In their natural habitat, they get enough of it from the sun. However, this may not always be possible for green walls and indoor landscapes.

‍

For the plants to thrive, careful consideration must be given to ensuring that the light requirements of all the species are met, particularly during the landscape design implementation or green wall installation.

‍

• Light quality, or spectral quality, is the level of red and blue light spectrums. The appropriate levels vary for different plants.
• The duration, referred to as the photoperiod, is the length of time the plant is exposed to light. This should match the sunlight exposure of their natural habitat to ensure optimised growth.
• Light intensity is measured in lux (lx) or foot-candles (fc), which specifies the amount of light falling on a surface (known as illuminance).

‍

If you’re unsure about the unique lighting needs of the plant species in your green wall or indoor garden, consult horticultural guidelines or ask landscape design and maintenance experts for help.

‍

Common Challenges in Interior Plant and Green Wall Maintenance

Without proper care and regular maintenance, green walls and interior plants may face the following issues:

‍

Overwatering

People often watch out for dried vegetation, but only some understand that underwatering is not the only major concern when it comes to indoor plant maintenance.

‍

Increasing watering frequency is not always the best solution when plants droop or wilt. In fact, too much water can be the reason why they are in this condition in the first place.

‍

Overwatering can lead to root rot. This damages the roots, especially in low-light environments indoors.

‍

If you notice leaves starting to turn brown, check the soil first. If it’s too wet, do not irrigate. Instead, take steps to dry out the plants. Your indoor plant maintenance provider may also need to uproot the plants to check if they can still be saved.

‍

Remember: Root rot can become fatal to plants and can creep up without warning.

‍

Inconsistent and Inadequate Light Conditions

Without enough light, plants may become etiolated (e.g., the leaves and stems become stretched). Inadequate light exposure can also lead to loss of colour and reduced vitality in many plant species.

‍

Why Professional Maintenance Is Essential

With plenty of considerations and technical aspects of green wall and interior plant care, taking on the task yourself may put your green space investment at risk. This is where interior maintenance specialists can help.

‍

Here are the reasons why professional landscape maintenance is essential:

‍

• Expertise and Experience: These professionals understand the specific needs of indoor plants and green walls thanks to years of experience that honed their expertise in the field.
• Customised Solutions: There is no cookie-cutter solution for plant and green wall maintenance. Professionals can offer tailored maintenance plans that suit each space’s unique characteristics.
• Time and Cost Efficiency: Regular professional maintenance can save time and prevent costly plant replacements in the long run.

‍

Make sure you partner with reliable green wall and landscape maintenance experts with a proven track record of excellence.

‍

‍

‍Care for Your Green Space

Green wall and interior plant maintenance is as important as the design and implementation of the green space itself. To ensure your business attracts more customers from the healthy environment the green space provides, you should stay on top of the maintenance tasks and follow the best practices shared in this guide.

‍

Entrust your living wall and interior maintenance needs to Planters for a tried-and-tested quality of service. Contact us for tailored landscape maintenance services for your commercial space.