I'm having a hard time visualizing what your describing but I've never built anything like this. I do question using 'tufa around a pond or near a constant source of water. It will not last very long. Also I'm assuming that this project is outside. Will the water be turned off in winter? How will you protect it from freezing? Freezing will break 'tufa down even quicker. Just because it has cement in it doesn't make it as durable as concrete. 'Tufa lasts about 10 years. Maybe longer in dry areas, less in wet freezing ones.
As for the planting holes why not just set plastic nursery pots in the wall as you work? If you thinly smear some petroleum jelly on them they'll pull right out when the concrete has set. And if they don't you can just cut the plastic and pull them out in pieces. Be sure the planting pockets will drain, that there is lots of room for root growth and protection from heat and cold.

nmgirl wrote:
As for the planting holes why not just set plastic nursery pots in the wall as you work? If you thinly smear some petroleum jelly on them they'll pull right out when the concrete has set. And if they don't you can just cut the plastic and pull them out in pieces. Be sure the planting pockets will drain, that there is lots of room for root growth and protection from heat and cold.

Hi pondboi and nmgirl-
In regards to the planting pockets in your construction, you can leave the plastic in wall and this will protect the plants from possible alkaline incursion. Also you can cut, melt, punch a hole in the bottom of the bucket and run a drain line from the bucket(s) to a suitable drainage area to keep the drainage from your waterings from undercutting the crete/tufa.

I took a class from a professional concrete facade builder and they use 5 gallon buckets for post-fabrication plantings all the time.

Tah!

Here's a link that may help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hypertufa Mountain

Hi muddymesawoman! Good idea just to leave the pots in the wall. Saves some time too!
What part of NM are you in? I was born in the southern part of the state and lived in Albuquerque before moving to VA 3 years ago. I miss it.......sigh.

well as far as drainage. these ar walls built ontop of a gravle bed that is part of the pond endges. the water will just run down into the gravle, and in to the pond. i dont want round holes in the wall. the walls are supposed to look like glacial dugouts in stone with cracks in them that ferns are now growing in. i can add peat moss to the soil that the wall is hlding up so that it is more acidic and that should balance the lime in the wall. as for the hypertufta im not wanting to build the wall out of it. only use it as a coating over the wall to make it look like stone. the recipie im looking at would be vermiculite black coase sand,portland cement , and sum chucnks of peat added in lat and gentaly miked it to creat some texture. the liner of the pond and any walls that are part of the water fall will be made of concreate.but i have seen something called vermiculite concrete that would be a beter concrete for the water basin and water fall walls. possibly even the planter walls. but i still didnt get some of the snsweres i needed. will a 2 inch thick wall at 3 feet high be thick enough if reniforced with wire mesh and window screening or do i need to make it 4 inches thick?. i want the planting walls porus so that the fronts of the walls can stay moist. ill try to make a modle of what im talking about so you have a better understanding of what i want to accomplish.
thanx parker

I'd need to know a bit more about your zone and the stresses on the wall but even in a temperate zone a 4 foot wall might need to be 8 inches thick.
There are generally zoning laws about concrete structures over a certain height, you might want to talk to a concrete builder.

i might have to, the idea is not to make it look like concreat but like a stone wall. im in zone 5 i get hot summers and cold winters.im working on a modle of part of the wal i want to construct so you have a better idea of what i want to do.

In a zone 5 soil conditions, runoff, etc, play a huge part in the requirements.
Your local concrete guys will have the answers.
I suspect you may not like them.
I got an estimate on a small retaining wall once and the cost nearly floored me. There is a lot of engineering that goes into making a good concrete wall in colder climates.

i figured as much. since its supposed to look like rock im not too worried about it cracking as far as the planter walls. the waterfall walls i a tho. cracks would just add charecter

This sounds interesting, I'm looking forward to the model.
Re: cracks in wall
They'll add character but also weaken. Keep ice formation in mind.