Closed terrarium’s
- Thread starter TopCat
- Start date
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
I've never had much luck with Venus Fly Traps (tbf I am not what you would call green-fingered!) - is the plan that the ecosystem in there will provide enough nutrients through the soil that they won't need prey?
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
I don't know why but I was expecting the bottle on its side.
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Initially there will be plenty of prey. They don’t need much. The garden manure/compost I added was teeming with springtails and other bugs. But if there is not enough prey, they will die and rot and support the other plants with their being.
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
Ah I know you said bugs in an earlier post, wasn't sure which ones though and yes anything that can get within reach should provide a meal!
Good luck with them, I've never been able to keep one going although I do have a love of insectivorous plants, very fascinating.
I am now imagining your Terrarium as "that scene with all the flies on the window from Amityville Horror" vs "Little Shop of Horrors"
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Well it’s been established for two weeks now. Some/all the worms died which gave pause for thought as to the oxygen generating ability of small plants.
Lots of small seeds are sprouting. No idea if random compost seeds or the Venus fly trap seeds I added. Plant roots are clearly penetrating the compost layer.
There is a slight mist of condensation on a third of the glass.
One plant leaf that touches the glass is rotting but that’s it. No mould. No sign of any insects.
I find it really interesting to look at.
Lots of small seeds are sprouting. No idea if random compost seeds or the Venus fly trap seeds I added. Plant roots are clearly penetrating the compost layer.
There is a slight mist of condensation on a third of the glass.
One plant leaf that touches the glass is rotting but that’s it. No mould. No sign of any insects.
I find it really interesting to look at.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
I did wonder about the inclusion of animal life but I haven't read up on this so.
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Smaller creatures with lesser oxygen needs may have survived. Or the worms might have perished for other reasons.
Leafster
.
It's interesting to see the changes that occur in closed eco-systems. Especially in the period when they begin to stabilise. With planted aquariums there's a battle between bacteria, algae and plants as they fight over the super-abundance of nutrients in the early stages.
My Bonsai tank is just coming out of the stage where the algae has the upper hand. It looked a complete mess with algae everywhere! The parameters have now stabilised with the Nitrogen Cycle getting underway and the plants getting the upper hand extracting the nutrients (I added some floating plants to speed up the process). Now there's no ammonia or nitrites I've been able to add some neocaridina shrimp too so they are also clearing up the algae and other detritus.
My daughter used to be into making these. She gave me one that she made from matter in her local forest, so I had a bit of her home forest in our house. It's all dead now though. I put quite a few woodlice in there and they all karked it. Mine wasn't completely sealed though, so if it looked a bit dry, I could mist it if I chose to.
Others she made were quite successful and continued to grow and evolve. Maybe her Scottish foresty stuff just hated English houses
Others she made were quite successful and continued to grow and evolve. Maybe her Scottish foresty stuff just hated English houses
Wookey
Muppet is not a slur
I know earthworms are veggie really, they don't like meat or dairy, or citrus..!
So if you've added lemon juice to the soil, you might have reduced their functionality unto the point of demise? They breathe through the skin, and need moisture to do that, so dryness can kill them, but being overwated won't. But if they're repelled by the citrus you've added, it might be that.
So if you've added lemon juice to the soil, you might have reduced their functionality unto the point of demise? They breathe through the skin, and need moisture to do that, so dryness can kill them, but being overwated won't. But if they're repelled by the citrus you've added, it might be that.
Leafster
.
Something to aim for TopCat
thenatureofhome.com
World's Oldest Sealed Terrarium by David Latimer
In 1960, David Latimer decided to grow a sealed glass bottle terrarium. He never imagined that it would grow into an incredible research study and be dubbed "the world's oldest terrarium." Over the years, David's
thenatureofhome.com
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
Something to aim for TopCat
World's Oldest Sealed Terrarium by David Latimer
In 1960, David Latimer decided to grow a sealed glass bottle terrarium. He never imagined that it would grow into an incredible research study and be dubbed "the world's oldest terrarium." Over the years, David's
Sixty years and thriving. It's great how a little ecosystem can look after itself. It's like a world within a world.
So many lessons could be learned from something so small.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
There's no politicians in the bottle, there's a clear lesson to take from that
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
No humans, tbf...
Silas Loom
Advanced. Forthright. Signifficant.
But life for the individual organisms is presumably nasty, brutish and short. If the small beasts in TopCat’s bottle start worshipping him, they’ll eventually reach a tricky theological point where they need to reconcile his undoubted benevolence with the daily anguishes of struggling to survive.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
You could cram Lozza Fox in a bottle.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
From the looks of him he's already climbed into oneYou could cram Lozza Fox in a bottle.
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
You could cram Lozza Fox in a bottle.
Only if it's going to be dropped into the Mariana Trench mind you, wouldn't want that in my house!
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
TopCat
Putin fanboy
I used lemon juice to adjust the ph to neutral. Organic. Negates the terrible effects of London tap water.I know earthworms are veggie really, they don't like meat or dairy, or citrus..!
So if you've added lemon juice to the soil, you might have reduced their functionality unto the point of demise? They breathe through the skin, and need moisture to do that, so dryness can kill them, but being overwated won't. But if they're repelled by the citrus you've added, it might be that.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
You said earlier they weren't native to the UK.
Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
There are 250 species of them in the UK, some of them native, others introduced, presumably the ones in question are one of the hundreds of species that aren't nativeYou said earlier they weren't native to the UK.
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