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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  3032 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I made my first terrarium today!

Love it. Good luck. You may run into some difficulty with what you've got there because tillandsia (air plants) actually prefer being somewhere they can get a cool, damp breeze while haworthia (the big succulent at least, and maybe the small ones) prefer dry air. Neither species is really getting what they want in a bottle.

The Wardian case on the front of your book was invented for the transportation of orchids and other tropicals across the Atlantic to Europe. Once there, they aided in the cultivation of plants from tropical, damp climates in... you know, like Sweden. Terrariums, then, are great for the fiddly plants that normally fail hardcore outside of greenhouses.

You might try another with the tough stuff - fittonia, african violets, etc. I recommend Hessayon's House Plant Expert as a good reference for plants that you're growing indoors.

Maybe take that tillandsia out and put it in a shell on the fridge. That's kind of where they like to be.

    What are the prerequisites for a good terrarium plant? First and foremost the plant needs to be adapted to the conditions approximated by a terrarium, which typically consist of lower light, consistently moist soil, higher humidity, lower air movement and limited space, though all of these variables can be controlled to some degree. Fortunately there are many plants who are right at home in such an environment; think of the tropical forest understory, where the light is dim and the air and soil are often very damp indeed. Many species can be found either growing directly on the ground or else epiphytically on the lower portions of trees, and these are often the best suited for terrarium life.

http://www.insituplants.com/blog/beyond-succulents-strategies-for-successful-terrarium-gardening





TheGreatAbider16  ·  3032 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey thanks! Yeah I learned right after I finished it that Hawthornia is not a great terrarium plant. The nursery was really cleaned out after Christmas, so I took the only remaining succulent of appropriate size. I'm going to try to change it out ASAP for something else, maybe a Kalanchoes, per another person's advice.

I am looking forward to experimenting; I will look into the species and references that you linked, thanks again.