hey guys how's it going today I'm
putting together a terrarium I already
put together one and I think it turned
out really cute and I've got the second
one here because I wanted a set and I
thought this would be a really good
opportunity to show you guys how I layer
all of my ingredients in in a terrarium
because I do it a little bit different
than a lot of the other uh tutorials you
find out there so in this terrarium
right here I used an East Indian Holly
Fern which is really pretty it's got
beautiful variegation in the foliage and
then I've got a faux layer of pebbles at
the bottom it's not an actual layer and
then a layer of soil with a a little bit
of charcoal and then I've got decorative
moss and larger stones and pine cones so
I think it just turned out wonderful and
I love the shape of these containers I
love this it looks so clean and so
modern so let me show you a few of the
things I'm going to use for this project
there is activated charcoal and what
this does is help eliminate any odors if
there's moisture that collects at the
bottom it kind of absorbs that odor I've
got small Pebbles large pebbles for
decoration I've got pine cones for
decoration some soil and I just chose
kind of regular house plants that just
require regular potting soil so this is
just I think I'm using a spoma organic
potting soil for this project then I've
cut some really pretty Moss here and
this is like chunkier moss I think it's
really pretty then I've got a pepper
roia which is the sweetest little plant
love it and then a mahogany Fern and a
tectorum airplant and this one I is just
beautiful I don't know if you've ever
seen one of these up close but they are
just absolutely gorgeous so the first
thing I do is I take my charcoal and you
don't need a ton of it but you're going
going to want to put a little bit of a
layer on the bottom kind of like
that the goal is not to have a whole
bunch of extra moisture at the bottom so
hopefully this won't even really have to
do anything and then I'm going to take
my soil and create kind of a cone right
in the middle of the terrarium so that
I've got a little bit of an edge on
along the outside so I can put my
pebbles in so let's move just a little
bit kind of like that and this is where
I do my faux layer of stones because I
really do like the way that the layering
looks I like seeing sand and Pebbles and
soil and uh moss and all those good fun
pretty looking layers but what I have
found is that if you have a really thick
layer of stone at the bottom you can
actually run into more problems with
root rot quicker because if you are
accidentally giving your terrarium a
little bit too much water that water
will puddle in that drainage area and it
doesn't really have anywhere to go you
know it's not making contact with the
soil so the soil is not wicking it back
up to the roots of the plants or
evaporating it um so it just kind of
lays down in there stagnant now the goal
is to not water your plants that much if
you're giving the proper amount of water
I think a layer of gravel at the bottom
is fine it's kind of a to each their own
thing the amount of water you give um is
just basically enough to moisten the
root balls of the plants so I usually
water my teram with a large syringe so I
can control the amount of water I'm
giving them um so I just prefer not to
have a layer of gravel at the bottom for
drainage for that reason that way too
the plant as it grows it can fill this
whole um Reservoir with its roots
instead of coming up against a reservoir
with rocks and possibly sitting water
The Roots will not like that so that's
why I don't do it I found I've had a lot
better success with that so I'm going to
put my Stones around the outer
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edge I want my rock layer to look
somewhat substantial you know I want to
be able after the curve of this glass to
still see it so I'm going to add a
little bit more Pebbles around the
outside okay now with my fingers I'm
just going to move the stones a little
bit more toward the front and kind of
arrange them because I'm not going to be
looking at the back of this terrarium
it's really not essential that I see a
whole bunch of Pebbles so I'm going to
move these
around that's just about perfect so it's
just creating this nice kind of faux
layer of Pebbles when there's actually
soil on the inside that goes all the way
to the bottom so now I'm going to add my
potting soil about up to this level
right
here this is the easy
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part you also want to keep in mind that
you need to use the correct type of soil
for the type of plants you're using so
in my case like I said these plants just
want regular potting soil so that's what
I'm using but if you're using Cactus or
succulents as your plants you want to
make sure to use a soil that's specific
to them and they also look really pretty
in terrariums like this but I wanted
wanted this for a spot in my house it's
got kind of um it's a bright spot but
it's more indirect light so it wouldn't
get enough light for succulents so these
plants will be great so now I just need
to plant and I'm going to start with
this mahogany Fern I think this is such
a cute little Fern and this one will do
really well ferns tend to do really well
in terrarium type situations because
they like more moist soil and um they
like the humidity so I'm just going to
plant this one toward the
back like
that and then I'm going to go in with my
pepper roia here now these ones tend to
like a tiny bit drier soil than the
ferns and that's the beauty of watering
with a syringe I can control how much
water kind of makes it to each plant so
when I'm watering my Fern I can put a
little bit more on this side of the fern
than I would toward the peperomia side
so that I can keep this one tiny bit
more
dry I love how the fern the folage just
is so gracefully arching and I think it
kind of mimics this container I think
it's just perfect okay so now what I'm
going to do is I'm going to do my
decorative layer which will be moss and
the pine cones and stones and then in
the end I'll be sticking my little um
airplant in there kind of like that on
top of the decorative layer and this one
will be watered separately from these
plants I'll be able to take this one out
since it's loose and it'll just be
sitting on the top I can take it out and
water it independently from these other
plants all right so I'm just going to
layer with
moss
I should probably mention that this Moss
is not alive this is a Super moss brand
I have
it this is Super moss brand mood Moss
it's just preserved sheet moss and it
maintains its nice green color but you
don't have to water it you don't have to
keep it constantly moist to keep it
alive because it's not alive I get asked
that question quite a bit so thought I
would touch on that I need a little
more all right I brought a towel out
with me so I could kind of clean the
glass off on the inside when I got my
soil all settled just wipe that
off right now a couple larger
rocks and then I'm going to finish it
off with some smaller dark colored rocks
because I think that it will contrast
the airplant really
nicely
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all right I think that that is perfect
I'm going to put my airplant
in and it looks so pretty so the
airplant I will pop out of this
container once a week and submerge it in
water we're in a really dry climate here
in eastern Oregon so I actually have to
it doesn't work just to miss airplants
here you have to submerge them for 30
minutes once a week is what I do and
then I give them one misting or maybe
two in the hot summer months um as
supplemental watering throughout the
week and that way they stay nice and
healthy that's how we do it here I know
every climate's a little bit different
in more humid climates you can get away
with simple misting which is really nice
but um they do really well here as long
as you submerge them so I think it
turned out wonderful and I think the
best part about this type of terrarium
is they're so easy to put together they
make a really great gift it's right
before Christmas so if you know there's
somebody on your list who is either hard
to buy for or you haven't found the
perfect thing these are so fast and
inexpensive to put together like this
one right here I think I'm under $10
because I did have this like the
supplies the soil and the charcoal and a
lot of us gardeners who do projects like
this we have those supplies around so
I'm not including that in the cost but
um that for the plant and the container
under $10 this one is a little more
spendy because um you know the
container's bigger two plants the
airplant this is kind of a a more
specialty airplant so that one was right
around 11 or $12 to buy but um but I
think I'm still under $30 for this
larger one which I think is really
really reasonable um so if you wanted to
put together a quick gift for a teacher
or a friend or something like that these
are just so easy to put together and you
can choose plants for lower light
situations like these ones here so that
you don't have to worry about if you're
giving the gift if they don't have a
really sunny place to put it it's still
okay I always air on the side of giving
low light plants as gifts so that
they'll be happy wherever that person
puts them so anyway you guys that's how
I do terrariums and the reason why I
don't put gravel at the bottom um and
you know to each their own on that I
think you can have success either way um
I realize that if you have a layer of
gravel as your um drainage area you can
actually see how much water is pooling
down there which is I mean that can be
helpful but the goal is to not ever have
that so just air on the light side when
watering any kind of terrarium and just
have fun with it they are so fun to put
together and try different combinations
new combinations of plants so thank you
guys so much for watching and we will
see you in the next video
bye
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n