We're pretty into plants around here and have a lot of experience with succulents and container gardens. Beautiful terrariums keep popping up online and out in the world and we've been lusting after them, wanting to make one but for some reason found the whole idea of building a terrarium a little daunting. It seemed like you needed all sorts of fancy stuff and...magic? But last week we finally took the plunge and started small, creating a sweet little terrarium out of a jar we found at the salvation army:
How To: Plant a Terrarium in a Jar
Gather Your Supplies:
- a jar or other container that is mostly contained
-some rocks
-charcoal (this is the fanciest ingredient)
-some dirt
-some plants
-options: some moss
Assemble:
This is the easy part. Once you have your supplies, lay some rocks in the bottom of your container. These are for drainage. Then sprinkle in some charcoal. This helps absorb the decaying matter that will be created within the terrarium. We got ours at the nursery, so you don't need to make any special trips for it. Then sprinkle in some soil and start planting. We chose succulents for our little guy and relied on using cuttings from plants we already had around. We decided to add some decorative moss to make it feel more terrarium-y (and we found it at OSH, so you don't have to go out of your way to find it).
We watered it and sealed it up. It's been about 10 days and we haven't needed to add any more water, though we did undo the latch because the condensation was starting to get out of control. The jar is sitting on a desk with medium light and seems to be doing well. Next we plan to try some larger scale terrariums!
What had your experience been with enclosed terrariums?
Comments (12)
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I love this idea! Thank you.
P.S. What kind of dirt/soil did you use?
view Molunat's profile
I used cactus soil because it's sandier and will drain better!
view laure's profile
I planted a terrarium months ago and haven't ever watered it. The ferns and polka dot plants are still doing fine.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
I've planted several over the years and I always manage to kill them off. I'm not sure what I do wrong but all my terrariums end in death and destruction. I tried one with prehistoric looking plants and some dinosaur figures... it smelled awful within a couple weeks. /sigh. I have the black thumb of doom I swear
view geek details's profile
geek--the charcoal is supposed to help with the smell, maybe you need to use more?
view laure's profile
What a great way to let plants coexist peacefully with cats...
view moema's profile
Will any kind of charcoal do? I'm looking for permission to smash up the stuff we BBQ with. I hope I didn't embarrass myself too thoroughly with this question.
view mwzoe's profile
Don't use succulents in a closed terrarium. They like low humidity areas and will rot from the excess humidity.
In closed areas use ferns and high humidity tolerant plans.
Succulents do best in open containers so moisture does not build up. They still rarely need to be watered.
view kiljoywashere's profile
Thanks, Kiljoywashere. I was going to plant a cactus!
view mwzoe's profile
In regards to succulents, they need air circulation, so an enclosed terrarium would not work. They need light and air, neither of which they will get while enclosed. Also, they would be susceptible to mealy bug.
view diplocat's profile
same question as mwzoe - what kind of charcoal? where do you buy it?
Thanks!
view 925juliebean's profile
What a great idea, even if you have to leave the lid open! I've actually got one of those kilner-type of jars that's just a little past it's purpose and currently stuffed under the sink, doing nothing... I also invested in a packet of bamboo charcoal to use to filter water. Can't tell you how good it is yet as I still need to get a jug for it (I suppose I could be thrifty and use that jar but it really is too grotty!). However, one of the many uses for spent charcoal is in gardening so... after I have finally exhausted my precious lumps, I could crush them and finally plant up my own little jar...
view AcrossThePond's profile