Study on the initial growth of main adhesive climbers

Abstract

With respect to the Hedera rhombea, Ficus pumila and Bignonia capreolatathat are three of the main evergreen adhesive climbers in Japan, a test was performed concerning the speed of initial growth that is an important factor when walls are to covered. The environmental factors and their levels control the speed of initial growth of climbers were set as follows: the amount of rhizosphere soil; a) planting to ground and b) planting to pot, the amount of insolation; a) south side and b) north side of wooden wall. During the course of the test, careful management was performed so that no harmful diseases and insects were introduced.
The result of the test was that the Bignonia capreolata had the fastest speed of initial growth, followed by the Ficus pumila and Hedera rhombea in order. The amount of initial growth was greater for the direct planting than the pot planting, and those against the north side showed a greater growth than those against the south. Eurthermore, the Hedera rhombeaand the Ficus pumila indicated that the insolation factor was more important than the soil factor but the opposite appeared for the Bignonia capleolata.