Terrarium Types
Tropical
- Mixing plants is easy, close grouping looks lush,
- Made with popular house plants, easiest to create
Woodland
- Most naturalistic, forest floor or cool woodland area,
- Ferns, moss, moisture-loving plants
- Banked areas and different levels
- Most effective in rectangular aquarium, but can be achieved in others
Desert
- No cover because that would be too moist
- Desert setting, dry sandy soil, rocks and dried branches
- Water cycle not in effect, so it needs to be sparsely watered
Terrarium Construction
Containers
- Plastic is worse than glass because it fogs up and water does not run down the sides
- A hole would fix this problem but we lose humidity, moisture balance, and easy maintenance
- Glass is much heavier than plastic, and much more fragile
Drainage
- In nature, moisture that does not evaporate or become absorbed by the plant, falls into the subsoil
- Drainage makes sure the plants roots are never submerged¼ in to ½ in gravel
- Pulverized feather rock or pumice stone to reduce weight, hard to find in small quantities
- ⅓ drainage and ⅔ soil mix in depth, not volume
Charcoal
- Horticultural grade charcoal
- Absorbs odors and keeps planting smelling sweet
- For very small terrariums (3in diameter) omit gravel and use charcoal as drainage
Soil Separator
- Keeps the soil mix from falling into the drainage layer, which would render it useless
- Barely touches the sides of the container
- Must be made of synthetic material as organic material will rot out
- Porous enough for water to flow through and fine enough to hold back soil particles
- Fiberglass drapery material, nylon stocking, discarded curtains, old dress material, rustproof metal screening are all good options
Soil Mixes
- Sterilized potting soil, not special, “general purpose potting soil” or “house plant soil,” NOT garden soil
- Peat Moss- loosens the soil, make more moisture-retentive, roughage for plant roots
- Sand- do not use beach sand, but lake sand is okay, can be a substitute for perlite in desert environment
- Humus or leaf mold- woodland and desert mixes
- Limestone- not needed in woodland, strongly advised for desert, “sweetens” the soil as it lowers the acidity
- Bone meal- desert, provides phosphorus nutrients