Water-retention additives increase plant available water in green roof substrates

C Farrell; XQ Ang; JP Rayner

Journal article

Water-retention additives increase plant available water in green roof substrates

C Farrell, XQ Ang, JP Rayner

Ecological Engineering | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2012.12.098

Abstract

Green roofs in hot and dry climates are frequently exposed to drought due to shallow depth and low water holding capacity (WHC) of substrates (growing media). Water-retention additives have the potential to increase substrate water availability leading to greater plant growth and survival, expanding the range of plant species suitable for green roofs. We determined whether two different water-retention additives (silicate granules and hydrogel) increased substrate WHC, plant available water (PAW), days until permanent wilting and growth of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) grown in green roof substrates. Two substrates were compared; one based on scoria, ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Claire Farrell Author

John Rayner Author

Related Projects (1)

Green roofs improving urban environments in a changing climate

Green roofs are an emerging climate change adaptation technology that is widespread in Europe and North America, but rare and untested in Au..

Grants

Awarded by Department of Sustainability and Environment

Funding Acknowledgements

We thank the Burnley nursery staff Nick Osborne and Sascha Andrusiak for technical assistance during the experiment. We also thank Nick Williams and Chris Szota for useful feedback on this manuscript. This research was funded by The University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP0990704 supported by the Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne Water, City of Melbourne, and The Committee for Melbourne.