Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Terrarium begonias, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
I water if I see wilt. You should never ever have standing water. You want to water very sparingly because once it is wet, it becomes difficult to remove all the excess water.

One suggestion by a terrarium guru is one tablespoon of water at a time. In other words sprinkle in one tablespoon of water, cover, and come back a little bit later (an hour?) to see if the plant(s) have perked up. If not, then another tablespoon.

Personally I don't go by this little nugget. It is good to start with but pretty soon you get an idea on how much to add at a time. If you add too much then it is harder to get the excess out than add some more in. If you vent too long, it can dry out faster than you think. If you added too much you will see how much condensation there is. It is a balancing act. My medium sized tank can stay pretty dry in the middle but the walls can stay quite wet. I use a turkey baster to squirt some water in the middle, then vent to get rid of some of the wall moisture.

In other terrariums, I just place the potted plant in the jar or tank. Then when it is time to water I lift the potted plant out, water the pot like I would normally, let it drain, then place it back in the vessel (sometimes I wipe the container out to clean excess moisture and any algae growth). There will always be excess moisture this way but no standing water. I may water every few weeks with this method.

Here is a picture of my bipi in a tall jar. Lots of condensation after watering a few days earlier. If you see rot, then vent the top a little bit.