Setting up my first terrarium

I bought this tank cheap from the local pet store when they upgraded to larger tanks. It is a 33 gal long which means it's the same length as a 55 gal. It was used as a saltwater reef tank. It has a hole drilled in the back with a bulkhead in it for an overflow. The bulkhead is removable and I may cover the hole if I find it necessary. I'm going to leave it open for now because the terrarium will be getting some early morning winter sun where it's at and I want to make sure it doesn't overheat. Needs lots of cleaning :~)

Lana

I went crazy at Home Depot Friday night(see pic). I got 2 Rex Begonias(one was sitting in water and might not make it), 1 Polyscias 'Fabian', 1 Syngonium podophyllum 'Holly', 3 Fittonia argyroneura 'Red Vein', 1 Hypoestes phyllostachya, 1 Fittonia verschaffeltii 'Purple Rain', 1 Hemigraphis alternata 'Purple Waffle', 1 Pilea cadierei 'Combo', 2 Fittonia argyroneura 'White Brocade', 2 Pilea cadierei 'Pan Am', and 1 Orlifolia(can't find this one in plant files, anyone know what it is?). Some of the plants that I bought more than one of are destined for the houseplant swap getting ready to start or to trade for other terrarium plants. Also, bought 2 bags Miracle Grow Organic Choice potting soil. Has anyone used this? Only has organic fertilizer in it. Would it be safe to sterilize with heat? And 2 bags of Perlite. I already had stone for the bottom and charcoal. Do I have to have some kind of barrier between the charcoal and soil? I have landscape fabric will that work?

Here's a pic of the MG Organic potting soil.

Oh, no, the terrarium is too small! After all that cleaning, set the potted plants in the tank to keep them moist until I was ready to put in the substrate. The smallest plants are going to be hitting the top once the substrate gets in there. Guess I will have to pull the 55 gal out of storage and clean it up :~)

Lana

You are going to have a nice Terrarium !
The first picture of your plants what is the name of the plant onf the left side the pretty variegated plant please ?

haha funny how plants are always bigger than you think, or the tank is always smaller than you think, or.....

That's a very nice tank. I like the dimensions a lot.

The bulkhead hole may be useful for a computer fan, if you find your plants prefer air flow.

Keyring, it's like eating too much...your eyes are always bigger than your stomach as my granny always said :~)

Plant_Dreams, the one in front left is Pilea cadeirei 'Pan Am', the variegated green/white in back left is Ployscias or Aralia 'Fabian'. The Pilea looks like it will trail. I have an extra to trade with.

Lana

Lana,That is going to be wonderful looking.I love your selection of plants.Can't wait to see a pic of your finished project : )
Nancy

How much fun .....I can just get addicted to any project someone else is taking on.....this home is getting smaller and smaller for space the longer i stay on DG...good luck and please show us the progress

My house was small to begin with, about 800 sq ft. My dh, myself, 2 dogs, 2-10 gal saltwater aquariums, a 40 gal saltwater aquarium, close to 40 house plants and now the terrarium which is being set up in the extra bedroom. Talk about a house shrinking! I move almost all the house plants outside in May and they don't come in till about Oct. I hate when the plants come back in for winter, it feels so crowded until I get use to it again. We're hoping to have the green house in this year. That will way help.

Today DH and I went to some flea mkts/antique malls with friends and found 4 glass jars/terrariums for use in other parts of the house for specimen plants. The terrarium in the xtr bedroom won't be visible to visitors unless I specifically take them in there. It's used for storage so is pretty crowded.

Can I use landscape fabric over the gravel/charcoal to put the soil on? Or can I put the soil directly on top of the charcoal/gravel layer?

Here's a pic of the jars I found today. Hope you can see them well enough.

Very Nice selection of Plants for your new Terrarium Lana! And, I love those jars! I have a thing about planting in glass containers! Just love it!

Hope you don't have a lot of difficulty cleaning that aquarium. A friend gave us a 175 gal last year and since we already have a 150 gal Marine (Salt Water) set up, I was going to use the 175 gal for a really neat terrarium, but it was impossible to clean ... tried everything ... could not get the glass completely clear ... I guess it had been set up so long and all the different algae and stuff had really kinda etched the glass. I was so disappointed, I really wanted that Huge Terrarium! I have a Birthday coming up real soon and have asked my DH to get me a 10 or 20 gal to make into a terrarium.

Please keep us posted on yours and post photo's when you get it set up ... also hope you will be posting photo's of your glass jars when planted too!

Lin

I'm really excited about the terrarium and jars! Working on something for my brother but should be done with that in a day or two so will then start planting. Well, have to get the 55 gal from storage and clean it up. The 33 gal had that same etching, Lin, but only on the back glass. Since it was used in a pet store the front glass was kept clean and the back glass allowed to grow algaes. That 175 gal would have looked awesome! I'm looking forward to getting some beautiful begonias to plant in the jars. Will have to place an order somewhere or try to trade for some. I will post pics as the terrariums progress.

Lana

I didn't even know that Begonia's would do well in Terrariums until I joined DG and saw a post somewhere. I need to try and find one for one of my glass jars!

Please do post some photo's as you progress with the set-up!


Lin

Well, this isn't really a progress photo but the plants do look like they have perked up a bit since I brought them home from HD. I haven't watered them at all, as a matter of fact the one Rex Begonia I found drowning in a non drain pot I pulled out of the terrarium today to let it dry out. I think it will survive if the rest of the plant doesn't succumb(sp?)to rot as part of it did before I liberated it. It has a tiny new leaf popping out. This pic was taken at almost 4PM, the window faces east NE. Once the trees leaf out this spring it won't get as much direct sun. It gets just a little morning sun as it is. I do have flourescents(sp?)I can put on them if need be. First want to see if natural light will be enough for it...don't want to overdue. I may go ahead and set the artificial lights up just to extend the daylight to 14hrs, think I have an extra time around here somewhere. Hope to get the 55 gal out of storage this weekend and finish the terrarium out properly. Hmmm, I could use the 33 gal for just propogation with just stone in the bottom. I have bunches of tiny clay pots I bought for a garden craft I never did ;~) If I could just find room to set it! LOL 800 sq ft is just not enough room!

Lana

Have a question. I forgot to put the charcoal in on top of the gravel. Of course I didn't remember that I had forgotten something until all the dirt was in the tank :~( Can I just mix charcoal in the soil? I don't know that it will hurt the plants. Quick advice anyone so I can finish working on this tonight?
Thanks!
Lana

I don't see why you couldn't mix crushed charcoal with the soil ... but I wouldn't know how much would be too much. Hopefully someone will see your post and be able to tell you if it's okay for sure.

not all of mine have charcoal. you should be fine. Give your terrarium the sniff test once in a while and see if it smells moldy/mildew.
Cant hurt to mix a bit in if you still can. But I'm not an expert. just wouldn't worry much if I had done the same =º)
looking forward to your photos of the finished terrarium!

Here's something I found when I googled "charcoal in terrariums" .....

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/terrarium/msg0804585822676.html?4


Hope this helps.

Thanks, that's a help. I think I'll just add charcoal to the soil as needed. Unless of course I hear a negative of that. Here's a pic of the 55 gal with gravel and landscape fabric in it.

Lana

Here's the next step. I layered perlite with the potting soil because I didn't have a container big enough to mix in. First went perlite then a bag of soil then perlite and mixed well, then another bag of soil and more perlite. Mixed it well again. It mixed well on top of the landscape fabric. Oh, I did pour just a tiny bit of water into the gravel. The soil is just a bit damp but not wet at all.

Lana

Here's the finished tank before the plants.

Here's the tank with plants still in pots. Not really ready to plant yet because some of these will be used for the houseplant trade and some will go into the jar terrariums I'm going to make. First I want to get a bunch of Rex Begonias. That was my main reason to start a terrarium and the other plants are just companions pretty though they are.

If anyone's willing to do a trade for Rex, or other unique foliage Begonias, I have some house plants for trade also some old Country Living Mags sequential months, and perhaps some gardening books. I'd also like a mini or semi-mini trailing AV for the terrarium. I'm going to put it in the back corner set up on an over turned pot to trail down to the soil. I think that would be a pretty backdrop for the other plants.

Lana

It's looking very nice Lana! Can't wait to see the finished product with everything planted! Are you going to have a hood with lights?

Thanks, I do have lights, but the plants have been doing fine so far with just the light from the window. Will get the lights set up with a timer later. Need new bulbs.

Lana

This is fantastic! Thanks for posting the steps Lana, I've been thinking about setting up my own terrarium since many of the begonias I take care of at work are finicky about humidity. I'd love to be able to save and root some of the cuttings that usually wind up in the compost heap (I know, I know, I hear you all screaming already!) As it is, the plants that I have from rooted cuttings are only the ones I think that I can keep alive in my house. I'll be posting pictures of some of my babies soon. But in the meantime, I thought you all might like to see a bit of the giant "terrarium" I work in... (Tropical Display House-Norfolk Botanical Garden)

Oh Lana you need to get a few poison dart frogs for your terrarium. They will liven it up. I bet that huge one is going to look so good. Joelle, I can't wait to see what ones you create. I am going to do a couple too thanks to Lali's influence.

oh Kell, your frog shots came out great. I'm still uploading mine from the camera. Been too busy potting up all of my new cuttings and redoing another terrarium.

I have been looking at others Lali and there are some that are so beautiful, even more so!! I can't wait to get mine together. You have to show us yours.

The frogs are very pretty! I'm waiting to get my plants from the houseplant swap then I hope to set up trades for some Rex begonia before I actually plant the terrarium. I want the Rex's to be the main plants with everything else kind of showcasing them.

Joelle, would be happy to liberate any of those begonias to a safe(usually)home *vbg*

Lana

I'm just lurking around this forum for the first time this week. Didn't even know it was here! Lana, how is your terrarium doing now? I have a 20g tank I might set up as one.

Hi, Kimberly! It's doing great but I haven't planted the plants in it yet they're just sitting in there in the pots. I'm not pleased with the begonias I have yet so need to find what I'm looking for which is the mini begonias. The plants I have in there do much better than the ones outside it. I would love to get it completely planted but want to wait until I have exactly the plants I envisioned(sp?) in there.

Lana

I'd love to plant one with miniature stuff in it. I have a cool-looking archway that was from a fishtank, and it would look neat with a little crushed gravel path going through it. I have this mental picture, but need to learn the specifics of how to do all of this.

The links at the top of the forum are helpful. Also, the links in the begonia forum I found helpful for finding mini plants. If you start one, Kimberly, would love to see pics...I know you'll take pics! :~D