THIS WEEK'S FUN LEARNING AT HOME

For this week’s activity let’s build a terrarium!

BUILD A TERRARIUM A terrarium is a clear container meant to hold and grow plants.   Terrariums are self-contained miniature ecosystems, and a provide everything a plant needs with very little maintenance.  Plus they’re a great learning tool to showcase how a plant lives and grows!  This week, we’ll make a terrarium using a recycled two liter bottle! Materials: Clear Plastic 2-Liter Bottle Scissors Gravel Activated Charcoal Soil Small Tropical House Plants Small Decorations (optional)

Step 1 – Clean Rinse and clean your 2-Liter bottle.  Remove the label.

Step 2 - Cut About 5 inches from the bottom, cut across the bottle to separate it into two pieces.   The bottom piece we will use to pot our plants, while the top piece will slide into the bottom piece to enclose your terrarium!

Step 3 – Drainage Add an inch of small rocks or gravel to the bottom piece of your bottle.   Excess water will fall through the soil and prevent your plant roots from being waterlogged and rotting.

Step 4 – Charcoal The next layer is activated charcoal.   Place a thin layer of charcoal on top of your gravel.   Activated charcoal will help purify the water in your terrarium and prevent mold!

Step 5 - Soil On top of your charcoal layer, add the soil.   You’ll need about a 2 to 3 inch layer of soil for your plants to grow.

Step 6 – Plant Trim your plants to fit your bottle.   You can safely cut the foliage to get to the proper size, you can also safely cut off some of the bottom roots so your plants can sit nicely in your soil layer.   Don’t worry, they’ll grow back!

‌

Step 7 - (Optional) Decorate If you have small decorative stones, sand, moss, or miniature figurines; add them now to your budding terrarium!

Step 8 – Water Your terrarium is a self-contained ecosystem – in other words, once you put the cover on it, the plants should have everything they need to survive without assistance from you!  But, to get that started, we’ll add a tiny bit of water that will circulate within your terrarium to help the plants live.   Add one teaspoon of water for each plant you added.

‌

Step 9 - Cover When your plants are planted, your terrarium is decorated, and the plants are watered, it’s time to cover it!  Take the top and slide it inside the bottom half – this allows any water condensation that forms to drip into the soil and not outside the terrarium.

Step 10 - Observe Keep your terrarium in a bright lit, indirectly lighted location.  Too much direct sunlight will greatly increase the temperature inside your terrarium and overheat your plants.   Monitor your plants and watch closely if they need more or less water.  If you have too much condensation forming in your terrarium, take the cover off and let the soil dry out for a day.  If your plants look wilted, they either need more water or they need less direct light because they’re too hot.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FBBG MEMBERSHIPS   We are continually processing memberships! You will receive a temporary card in the mail as we process your packets. Membership questions? Please contact Dkoepsel@fbbg.org JOIN TODAY! You can easily purchase a membership on-line by clicking here. THANK YOU!

We’d love to see your creativity! Tag us on:  Facebook (Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens)  Twitter (@FBBG) or Instagram (friendsofbbg)  to show off your terrarium or any of our weekly activities!

Continue to watch for our weekly fun activities for all ages to enjoy!