Saturday, March 12, 2016

My Terrarium Project


The terrarium (originally Wardian Case) was invented in 1842 by Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. His work on the subject is called On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases and can be read online here. It was an excellent way of transporting fragile plants long distances. Now the terrarium makes a delightful miniature garden.

I've made a vivarium or two (or three) in the past for various pets (anoles, hermit crabs, snakes, etc.) but I can't remember ever making a terrarium just for plants. I decided to try one to see how it would turn out. I used a 2 1/2 gallon glass aquarium, figuring I could easily see how the substrate layering process went in a rectangular container.

I bought small aquarium gravel for the bottom drainage layer. On top of an inch of that, I put a layer of coffee filters and 1/2 inch of activated charcoal. I wet down some spaghnum moss and pressed that on top of the charcoal. I put potting soil on top.

I picked up a couple of plants at the pet store labeled "semi-aquatic" (peacock fern -Selaginella willdenowii- and umbrella plant -Spathiphyllum wallisii) and planted them with an asparagus fern and a coral reef sedum.

I researched the plants after I bought them. Yeah, I know, but I figured I could do something with them even if they were unsuitable for the task at hand. The "peacock fern" ought to have been fine in the terrarium, but it quickly wilted and never recovered. The sedum didn't do well, either, and I moved it outside to a dryer location. It did well there for a while but died during the winter. The "umbrella plant" turned out to be nothing but a common peace lily, which soon outgrew the terrarium. I put it in a pot, and it has its first bloom. The asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus "Sprengeri") also got too big, and I've moved it to a pot.

Seeing that I would have to be intentional about finding tiny plants, I was on the lookout and saw a little 2-inch pot at Home Depot that had an unlabeled plant that looked like a fern. I think it's a Maidenhair Fern, and it's doing fine:


I lifted some little wild violets out of the back patio to see how they would do in this space; but oddly, they seemed to get spindly and lean towards the light. I thought they were shade-lovers, so I'm not sure what was going on with them, but I moved them back outside into the flowerbed.

I added a little piece of moss that was between the patio stones. I think the moss might prefer more air movement that it'll ever get here, and some of the moss has died.

At this point I decided that perhaps a little professional advice would be a good thing, so I signed up for a Terrarium Workshop. For $45 I got supplies and help for making one small terrarium with one plant. Moss cost $8 extra, so I skipped the moss. She seemed surprised I'd been able to kill a peacock fern, so I put one of hers in this new jar. It's dying. She did layers just like I had, using gravel, then charcoal, then sphagnum moss , then dirt. She seemed to think I hadn't added enough water to my original planting, and she was generous with the water in this one. I look forward to seeing if it rallies.

I'd like to get a larger tank -much larger- so I could put in larger plants and do some actual arranging.

13 comments:

  1. I've always wanted to try doing a terrarium garden. Some pet shops such as Petco also have small plants...seems odd but lots of people put them in with their lizards/turtles etc.

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    1. Pet stores are a great place to find some smaller plants, and the semi-aquatic plants in the aquarium department sometimes do well in a terrarium.

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  2. Great terrariums. I haven't thought about terrariums for a long time, but they are really fun. Thanks for this post. Hugs-Erika

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    1. I'm looking forward to learning more :)

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  3. I've had three terrariums in my life and all have eventually bit the bullet, so to speak. I look forward to your adventures with this latest venture. It may even spark my interest in trying another one again, myself.

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    1. They don't require nearly as much attention as potted plants, at least in my limited experience so far. I wish I could get moss to do better.

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  4. Will be interested to see if the class you took gave you enough information to have a successful terrarium. I've never tried that kind of "planting" myself. I'm not too good with house plants in general. I tend to buy them and then ignore them. Poor things.

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    1. To be honest, the class I took just repeated information I'd already learned online, and that terrarium (not pictured) is not doing well at all. I love my plants, and sometimes I fuss with them a bit too much. A happy medium, that's what we need.

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  5. Will be interested to see if the class you took gave you enough information to have a successful terrarium. I've never tried that kind of "planting" myself. I'm not too good with house plants in general. I tend to buy them and then ignore them. Poor things.

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  6. What a fun project! I had two swamp turtles long ago, but I felt the asthma every time I cleaned the terrarium out, and they both seemed depressed and not like each other much (it was a male and a female, much fighting... ), so I passed them on to someone who seemed more suited to own pets. I don´t know what happened after that, but I was told they could live quite a long time. I hope your fern lives and prospers. :-)

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    1. Red-eared sliders were all the rage when I was little, and I had 2-3 until I realized I couldn't provide an environment they could stay alive in much less thrive :( I do love turtles/tortoises! I'd keep a box turtle in a heartbeat, if I could make one happy. They do love to roam, though. I've kept snakes and anole lizards with some success, but I'm going to stick with plants for now.

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    2. Mine were very similar to the slider, a cousin, perhaps. They had that belly-shield that could be pulled up close to the upper shield to protect them entirely. Pretty cool. In the end, I had nightmares about turtles coming out of every nook and cranny, like cockroaches, I felt so bad about them. :-( I am terrible with plants too, the husband has one single cactus his students gave him fifteen years ago and I water it a couple of times a year. It seems to thrive, though...

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    3. When I was little they sold the sliders with tiny habitats and dried flies as food. The turtle shells would eventually soften. It was tragic, and I just couldn't bring myself to keep trying. I have a friend who keeps one in a long aquarium, and it is big and healthy. I have no luck at all with succulents. They consistently die on me, no matter what I do.

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