Setting up a Terrarium
I have been meaning to write something on how to set up a small terrarium for a while, and this little gem of a terrarium seems like the perfect opportunity! I saw these by the company, Urban Born, on Amazon before Christmas, and thought they were adorable. But I was buying CHRISTMAS PRESENTS then, not things for myself! When I looked again in January, sadly, they were out of stock. As soon as they were available again, I ordered one. Some of the reviews were very negative about the fact that the terrarium leaked when they poured water into it. (in spite of the fact that directions warn not to do this) It is pretty typical that small terrariums will require re-sealing if you want them to handle moisture better, or if you want them to last for longer periods of time. So I planned to reseal the bottom when it arrived. You can use this same technique to seal many different types of small containers for terrarium use.
I decided to use the small size tube of “aquarium sealant” rather than a big tube of silicone in a gun, just because I was working in such a tight space. I also decided to mask off all the glass. I could probably have done an “OK” job without masking, but it’s such a pretty container, I really wanted a neat silicone job.
It was tedious work, but I cut painters tape to mask off each section of glass in the lower section.
Remove the painters’ tape while the silicone is still wet, and then allow it to set overnight. It doesn’t matter if you have gotten some silicone on the bottom glass. I didn’t even bother to mask that off. But you may find that no matter how careful you were, there are small bits of silicone on the glass where you might see it. I sure didn’t want that in my beautiful terrarium! At this point, however, it is still easy to remove with a single edge razor blade. Just work carefully, and remove any excess silicone that will show through the glass.
While you are at it, you will never have a better time to give ALL the glass a thorough cleaning. One thing I’ve learned about Wardian cases and any glass terrarium with leading is that cleaning the glass is time-consuming. So make sure it is as clean as possible before you get it planted! Many people use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol for this, and that is another fine choice, as is white vinegar. I happened to have a big bottle of eyeglass cleaning solution handy, and that works well too. You do not want to use any strong chemical or soap-based cleaners. They are not needed and they will streak. Another tip is to use a microfiber cloth rather than paper towels. You’ll make yourself crazy trying to get the small pieces of lint off that are caused by the paper towel getting caught on the edges of the metal of each section.
The next step is to make your drainage layer. This will keep your terrarium fresh and healthy for a long time. You will need a piece of fiberglass window screening or other synthetic, porous material that will let water through, but not your terrarium soil. Some people use weed cloth, but be aware that some weed cloth does not drain well enough for use in terrariums. So test any weed cloth first, and make sure it actually will let water drain through it promptly.
The screen I am using here I got very inexpensively at the Dollar Store, probably because of the wild pattern on it. I wouldn’t want it on my windows, but no one sees it in the drainage layer of my terrariums. A win for me! I trace around the outside of the terrarium I am using. That gives me just enough extra so that the edges turn up when it is put in place in the terrarium after it is cut out.
Next is to put in the drainage layer itself. Because this is a small terrarium, I decided on a small black gravel for my base layer, about one inch thick. A spoon seemed to be the best way to navigate materials through the door! Next my screen was placed on top of the gravel, and then the substrate for the plants was placed on top of that. I use a mix called “ABG”, used mainly for vivariums. But what you want is a mix that will hold some moisture AND drain well and allow oxygen to move through the soil better. Typically, a straight commercial potting soil mix will contain too much peat moss, and hold too much moisture on its own. If you are using potting soil, I would choose and organic one, without added fertilizers and I would also get a bag of perlite, and mix 1/2 -2/3 potting soil with 1/2-1/3 perlite. This will give you a much lighter, better draining mixture.
Spoon your soil mixture in on top of your screen, just as you did your drainage layer, and fill it up to just about the level of the waterproofed edge of your terrarium.
With your terrarium full of substrate, it’s time to plant! Here is where I should admit that I’m a bit of a plant addict. I like to have more plants available to work with than I STRICTLY need when I start to plant an aquarium or terrarium. But I also don’t mind storing excess plants in tubs for future projects. If you want to work a little more precisely, roll back the film a bit, and before you even START doing any work on your terrarium, take the container to your nursery, and plan out the plants you want to use in it. Most better nurseries these days have a pretty good selection of tiny pots of what they either call “fairy garden” or “terrarium” plants. Many, but not all of these are suitable, so it helps to go to a good shop that has knowledgeable staff to help you. Especially because most of these plants will just be labeled as “assorted foliage plants”.
In the LONG run, most ferns will outgrow a small terrarium. But that’s in the LONG run when you start with these teeny ones. I still use them. You can usually get at least a good year out of them before they are big enough to be troublesome, especially if you don’t use an overly nutritious (fertilized) soil. Of the plants below, the Sellaginella sp. on the left was trimmed out of one of my other terrariums, the mosses in the middle were wild collected on my farm and had been stored on my grow-out racks since last summer. The three large pots in the back are from Home Depot. The Hemigraphis repanda (L) and Begonia (M) can easily be divided, and the fern on the left will be used as-is. It’s not as big as the pot makes it look. The nine little pots are the “terrarium sized” plants from my local garden shop. Three are ferns, five are Peperomia sp. one is a strawberry Begonia, Saxifraga Stolonifera and one is a polkadot plant, Hypoestes phyllostachya.
I didn’t use all these plants, but here is what I ended up with! I later also added a bright pink Cryptanthus pup in the very center, to make use of the very bright light in that area. Once all the plants were planted, I misted everything heavily. I Made sure that the entire substrate is damp, but not wet. You should be able to see some condensation against the glass below the plants.
My final step was to add springtails. These are tiny terrestrial relatives of shrimp that live in the soil. In a terrarium, they are very helpful, because they eat any mold that might develop and any dying plant materal that breaks down, turning it back into plant food for the growing plants. They never, EVER try to leave the terrarium, and, in fact, can’t live outside of it. So there is nothing to fear in terms of them infesting your house. But they are extremely beneficial to the vivarium, and interesting, tiny creature in their own right. However, if you choose to leave them out, it is certainly not the end of the world. Lots of “plant only” people do. If you choose to use them, they can be purchased from many online sources, (yep, including Amazon) but my favorite is New England Herpetoculture. If you make terrariums regularly, it is easy to keep a culture of these handy little critters on hand at home, so you only really need to purchase them once, for a never-ending supply!
Although this springtail might not look small in this macro photo, they are very hard to see with the naked eye! Just tiny little white specks!
While a desk lamp would do as a light source for this little terrarium, it is such an elegant little thing that I really wanted a light that would show it off beautifully. I chose this little LED clamp spot light available on Amazon. These lights are inexpensive and remarkably bright for their diminutive size.
If used on a container with a convenient edge, of course, they can just be clamped on. That was not possible for this terrarium and several others I’ve used them on. No worries! Just clamp the light onto a piece of heavy-weight scrap plastic or even an old coaster, and slide that under the terrarium to anchor it in place. Make sure to put your light on a timer, so your plants get about 12 hours of light each day. You can use any type of timer you want, but I’ve become a total convert to the small wifi timers that are controlled with a smartphone app. They are cheap and work great!
And there you are! A gorgeous little gem to brighten up any dark corner of your house.
