My First Terrarium & Other Chatter

Well.....FINALLY after what seems like forever, I feel strong enough to sit and chat.
As many of you know, I am trying to quit smoking. Sitting at the computer was a trigger for me and I have been trying to avoid it as much as possible. But today is a good day so I thought I would sit and "catch up" with all my friends here :)

I have been also having a very difficult time with the absence of our beloved Gail. I have been debating whether or not to carry on here or not and have decided that although I truly felt a bond with Gail that I have MANY friends here that I would miss SO much if I were to leave. So with that being said, you are all stuck with me *lol*

I will NEVER grow as good as Gail but have tried to learn as much as I can from all of you and grow with it each day.

So this terrarium thing is a whole new world to me and I have never tried one before. Last Friday hubby and I went to a cheap outlet store called Marden's here in Maine. I saw this AWESOME jar and decided it would make a PERFECT terrarium. It was only $3.99. Marden's is the kind of place that if you don't buy it when you see it, it will be gone when you go back.

I came home and was having super withdrawals as it was my first day trying not to smoke. So I looked at the jar and looked at all my babies to see if I could get any kind of cuttings whatsoever. I took my little episcia's (which are in those little fruit cups and I rooted all by myself) and some of them had little teeenie tiny stolons of their own. I grabbed my miniature nose hair scissors *lmao* and started clipping away.

First, here is a shot of my new terrarium:

Here is a closeup of the teeeenie tiny babies in the terrarium. Notice the penny for size reference. Also notice how there are more stakes than plants. This is because I KNOW 2 of the episcia babies in there have gone to heaven as they had a very cold trip to Maine and weren't strong enough to withstand being that cold but I REFUSE to give up and I could swear there was a root ........... somewhere *lol*

Here are the pictures of the "mommies" I took the babies from. The mommies themselves are stolons which I rooted and most of them are in those little Dole fruit cups.

I woke up Saturday morning and needed to "get out" and asked hubby to bring me back to Marden's for another terrarium. I don't have enough cuttings to do anything with that one yet but I just ordered some seeds to try to start and hopefully will be able to grow them. I have never been able to grow anything (other than Datura this year) inside the house from seed so we will see.

Here is a shot of the datura I have been growing from seed. I am quite proud of them as I have read that Datura is difficult to start. I seem to have a very hard time with the things labeled as "easy" (such as streps) though *lol*

Speaking of streps, here is a shot of my streps. They look great huh? Well, the sad thing about this picture is that most of them were full grown beautiful plants when they arrived :(

Example, here is a picture of what WAS a full grown strep that I bought from Gail on her Classified ad. Needless to say, this was after me caring for it for a couple weeks. Now, one week later........Streaker is in "rot" heaven :(

The good news about Streaker is, I took a leaf of EVERY strep and cut it to root. I will have Streaker babies to carry on. I am SO excited about these babies! I really did it :)

The only 2 streps that seem to be doing OK are the 2 I bought from Brennan's for my birthday (the one I bought from Lyndon Lyon has also gone to "rot heaven" to join Streaker....but I have a leaf down.....no babies yet but fingers crossed).
Here is a shot of my one little Bristol's Party Boy bloom today

I notice that when flowers fall off that there is a "stringbean" which carries on. Most of them wither up and fall down so I cut the stem off. This stringbean is still nice and strong. Does this mean I could be a seed mommy?

Now I really seem to be having a difficult time with Streps, but episcias seem to like me and here are some Alsobia babies I received from a dear friend. They seem happy :)

Just to throw this in, this was my kitchen table the day before Thanksgiving when I was all done baking for the day. I started at 7:00 AM and finished at 5:00 PM *lol*

Well, I guess that is about it for now. Not many blooms but lots of "playing plants" and nurturing babies :)
I am SO loving my light stand and don't think that I could even attempt to quit smoking without it. It has really saved me from depression lately and I am just so excited about it. My mind wanders with all the things I could try to grow now.
My poor plants whisper to eachother "oh no, here she comes again" every time I walk by. I am seriously so obsessive/compulsive. Hubby says that I need to leave them alone but they are really what is getting me through so even if I nurture them to death this winter, I will have save so much in my "plant fund" by not smoking that I will try again....and again....and again if that is what it takes :)

Would LOVE any advice on terrarium growing or to see pictures of your terrariums :)

Great Job! How long did it take to see the babies?? I have tried streps and always overwatered them and they turned to rot quickly. I now am promising myself to start (try to start) some and not overwater them. I have the Salad bowl terrariums that Gail sent and I put episicias in with the fritonnia (sp) she sent. So far so good. I have two gardening boyds bear figurines and they are in the terririums with my other little babies. If you see some of the fritonnia at the grocery stores, get some and they do add color and grow really good in that humid atmosphere. Lou

Good growing Kim!! The terrarium looks really good. You're gonna be moving things outa there in about 3 weeks.

I'll have a piece of whatever the pie is with the white fluffy stuff on top, looks yummy!!

Here is a really bad picture of my terrarium..it is a 35 gallon.

I think Gail said to put the carcoal in first, 2nd light potting mix ,(1 part potting mix i part vermiculit, and 2parts perlite), plant the babies, and put spaghum moss on top to hold in the moisture. Mist well and cover. If too much condensation is on the top in morning , leave it open a bit to dry out , until there is just a little condensation of a morning on the inside glass. Good luck. Lou

You know Lou, I seem to do better with smaller plants than I do with full grown, full rooted established ones...go figure? Streps have proven to be a real challenge for me so far. I put the leaves down on 10-12 and am just now getting babies on SOME of them but not all. I found that NOT using heat and putting a TINY bit of soil with TONS of perlite worked best for me. I dampened it when I first put the leaves down and have not watered them once. just the humidity build up and drips seems to keep them moist enough. I am finding episcia MUCH easier for some reason so I'm afraid my advice is not the best advice you could get....did you read what I did to poor Streaker above? *lol*

3Gardeners, that is Awesome!
I didn't put any charcoal or spaghum moss in mine. Do I need to? Ut oh.
I do have some moss but I don't have charcoal. None of my episcias are in moss and I've never grown with it. Right now all my episcia's are domed though until they get big enough and don't fit under the dome any longer.

The fluffy pies are Dark Chocolate Cream Pie and Double Layer Pumpkin Pie *lol*

Yes, I did. I'm so glad you took a cutting. I bought Spiritual Corridor , Hera, and Midnight Flame from gail . So far so good. But I have only watered the moss she sent them in and I have not repotted them. I'm afraid they will rot. They are blooming ad doing good so far. I ordered some from Rob's using the gift certificate I won on bingo. They are only about an inch tall . I was spoiled by the size of the ones I got from Gail, I guess. They are still alive and I hope they survive.

I need to get busy and put down leaves from them all, so if I lose some, I'll hopefully have replacements. Lou

Well Kim ..... Welcome to the new obsession of Terrarium Growing! I can't seem to Not plant in glass, even if it means using saran wrap as a lid if the jar or glass container comes with no lid!

Great buy for $3.99 .... that looks like the same type jar I get at Wal-Mart for $12.97! Your Episcia's look great! I think you will find they love being in terrarium's. I had no luck with them until I began planting them this way. I put moist Long Fiber Spagnum moss around the base of each plant in the Terrarium and they seem to go crazy putting out roots and growing! In the Spring maybe we can trade if we don't have all the same ones!

Man .... I don't know what looks better .... all those plants or all those Baked goods! Great Job, on both!!

AWWWW Shucks Lin....you make me blush :) Thank you so much, you made my day.
I'm truly afraid that with the way I water and mist things that if I were to use moss that I would kill them. Right now they all seem to be so happy that I am afraid to try moss. I truly check each and every plant every single day. THAT is how obsessive I am and how much I truly NEED my plants right now just to get through a day not smoking. I know that if I throw the moss into the mixture that I will lose the episcias too and that would devastate me as they are from my friends and mean so much to me. Not only that but most of them I rooted myself. We have a history together now *lol* Sick I tell ya, I'm sick. These are my babies and even when I KNOW they have gone to heaven I still make them a headstone and check on them ever day to see if POSSIBLY there could be green. Sometimes the green perlite makes my heart skip a beat and then I realize that maybe they are really gone. But I put the lid back on and say....I'll just check tomorrow as I remove the green perlite and replace it with a piece of new white perlite so that I don't fall for the same trick the next day. *ROTFLMAO*

So much better to be busy being a good plant mommy than thinking about smoking. You sound a little like me. I talk to them before I go to work in the mornings and tell them to grow and bloom like good little girls. DH knows I'm ready for the funny farm. Being a little bit nuts helps me deal with the public. Lou

I am SO sick that sometimes when I get caught up with over watering everything, I have this really soft face brush that I brush every single leaf with. I say, maybe if I had more plants that maybe I wouldn't be SO obsessive with the ones that I have. But quite honestly, it doesn't seem to matter how many there are, I am JUST as obsessive as always *lol* It just takes me a little longer that's all *lol*

I have had NO luck with Strep's at all ... zip, zero, nada, zilch! Every one I have tried has died on me. Gail sent me two more about a month and a half ago and they are just hanging on by a thread .... literally! I just can't seem to figure them out! LOL.

Here's a fittonia growing in a glass jar:

Oh Lin that is precious!
I can't wait until I earn my first "plant funny money"....I keep bringing catalogs to work to remind myself of why I am quitting *lol* With everything that I want to buy, I better not smoke for the next 5 years *lol*
I can see a new addiction in the works *lol* I don't know how many terrariums I'll actually do. Probably just these 2 for a while. I would really like to be able to grow some gessie seeds and play with babies for a while before trying terrarium culture too seriously *lol* I do LOVE those miniature plants though....I would like to make a mini fairy terrarium :) I LOVE fairies.

Kim ... You are too cute! You make me smile, that's for sure! Please DON'T even think about using the spaghnum moss ... if your plants are doing as well as they look, I would not change a thing! As someone on here said awhile back, what works for one person may not work for another! I never have to water the glass containers/terrariums that have a lid on them .... I guess there is enough moisture build up that they seem to do well without extra water. I DON'T use the charcoal in my terrariums either .... I did years ago but for some reason never seem to remember it anymore. I think in some situations it might be warranted but so far so good with mine not having it. I just put gravel in the bottom and my soil on top (I do mix in a lot of perlite) and then just stick the plants in! I know they would probably grow better and bloom more if I'd remember to fertilize them once in awhile. LOL. Maybe I should talk to them too? I usually talk to the cats and to the walls ..... wouldn't be any weirder talking to plants I guess! I sometimes have music playing when I'm working with plants ...... but it's usually my ipod with my headphones on so the plants can't hear it. Don't know if they'd like country music, or rock or even opera .... I have a lot of different stuff on my ipod! Maybe they would like some of it?

Here's my 10 gal Terrarium - I just keep sticking different stuff in there and when it gets too big I have to pull it out:

Oh these pictures are GREAT! I have a couple of fish tanks out in the shed but I don't really have the "shelf room" for them. I did find these REALLY cute containers.....wait a minute....I'll get a picture of it....brb....

OK I'm back....we went to the grocery store and I spotted this little jar in the fruit isle next to my little Dole cups and it was only $.99 full of mandarin oranges so I decided it would be the perfect little jar for a sinningia someday. Needless to say...I eat alot of mandarin oranges just for the containers these days *lol* I loved the way this jar was short and fat....reminded me of me *lmao*

Here is the lid:

Speaking of recycling, I LOVE this little setup I made up. These are Solo cups I get from work for free and the caps to my yogurt caps on top. The yogurt caps fit PERFECTLY and create the perfect domes for rooting strep leaves.

Needless to say, I have been eating ALOT of yogurt lately :)
I just write on them with a sharpie and then when I need to reuse them I take nail polish remover and change the name :)

I think that my plants prefer country music. I notice that as long as I only sing to them they seem to grow just fine. It's when I throw in the belly dancing that they seem to start to look a little sick *lol*

Wow, can you tell that I'm back in rare form and starting to come over the hump a little. OMG I am wearing myself right out tonight *lol*

Ooooh .... I love that little jar! It would be perfect for a micro mini sinningia! I will send you one in the spring! You will love it! They are the teeniest, tiniest little plants with a cute little bloom. I have gotten two in trades and they go to seed and spread .... very cute.

Here's Sinningia 'Rio das pedras' .... not sure if this is considered a micro mini but I think so:

ROFLMBO!! Kim .... you are making my day with laughter! You are in rare form tonight but I love it!

Here's Micro Mini Sinningia 'pusilla'

Oh goodness Lin, I would LOVE to try them in my little fat mandarin jar!
Would you like me to eat a bunch of mandarin oranges and save you some containers too? *lol* I'm really getting into mandarin oranges. First the Dole ones for the little plastic cups and now the Polar ones for the little fat jar *lmao* I'm going to turn orange one of these days. Oh yeah, and let's not forget all the yogurt I have to eat for the domes. Good thing I don't use any recyclable Hershey's products in my plant hobby *lol*

Ok, Kim .... I am putting your name on one of each of these little guys for spring time when the weather is warm enough to ship again!

Here's a couple more containers of S. 'pusilla' and S. 'Rio das Pedras'

I am so loving this thread!! Kim you are cracking me up! LOL Your pictures are great!! Babies are my thing whether it be human, animal or plant so your new terrarium is just a perfect nursery!

I've never gotten baby streps up as fast as you did!! Those Streaker babies look great. The only seed pods that I've gotten on a strep came with the ones I bought from Gail. I was just able to crack open the one on Iced Pink Flamingo and boy were there a lot of itty bitty seeds! Now I'm waiting to see if the one on "Strawberry Froth" turns brown and ripens.

I too paid the 12.97 for that exact jar at Wal Mart Lin! I always enjoy seeing all the plants you've done in glass! I have three little sinningia pusillas from Rain and they are doing good. I can't wait to see them spread and make more so I can share too.

I think a row of those little short fat mandarin orange jars : ) would be so cute with a little sinningia in each one!

Here are my little sinningias.....then it's off to DD for dinner tonight!

~Brenda

Kim
Here I just start AV Leaves the one is called Frozen in Time the one with the white around the edges I have started a few of them I do like to grow the leave in there . I started on 9-30-07 this one and I will take a picture and show what it looks like now
And I put the other one in I started the same time
Dimmer AKA Kim

Oh, how pretty Brenda! I love that jar with those Sinningia's. I got the S. 'pusilla' from RainGazer/Amy too. And the S. 'Rio das Pedras' came from Jannich! They are the cutest little plants I've ever seen! And, I love it that they go to seed and spread.

Here is the 2nd picture today

Great job Dimmer/Kim! Look at those little "ears" showing! Cute babies you've got there!

Wow! How they've grown! And, looking so healthy! I bet you will have blooms by spring time!