The easiest way to make a terrarium

Hello everybody, today I'm going to show you the easiest way to make a terrarium and not just any terrarium but an incredibly attractive one that looks just like this using only four materials. Here's what you're going to need. A clear container with a lid. The container would ideally be glass because plastic scratches easily but either works. I'm using a fishbowl vase I got from my local florist and because it didn't come with a lid I bought a clear acrylic one from Simply Plastics. You can measure the opening, put in the dimensions on their website and they cut it to size and send it to you. Very simple. Water in a spray bottle. It's best to use filtered, bottled, distilled or de-ionised water because it doesn't leave stains on the glass. Chemicals from tap water can also build up in the soil which isn't good for your plants. Terrarium soil. This is very important. You can make your own and I have videos showing you how to do so but I got this from Grow Tropicals and you can use code terrariumven for 10% off. Let me be super clear here, regular compost or garden soil is a bad idea and it doesn't work well in a terrarium. Plants. I'm using these three because they're easy to find and work well in a terrarium. They're called Peperomia rotundifolia, Pilea glauca and Fittonia alba venus. First thing you do is add the soil into the jar. How much you add is totally up to you but you'll need to give the plants enough substrate for their roots to grow in while being mindful that too much substrate can spoil the overall aesthetic. Arranging the soil on a gradient helps with this and it also means that more surface area is visible from the front. And don't be afraid to be drastic with the gradient. The soil will stay in place once you water it and when the plants root into the substrate it will further secure it. Now I want you to spray your terrarium until the soil is slightly damp. Check the sides and once it's changed colour around half way down it's time to stop and let gravity do it's thing. I said this would be easy and I wasn't kidding. Rather than take the plants out of their pots and plant them directly into the terrarium I'm going to take cuttings and here's why. These plants are grown in cost effective soil that holds onto a lot of moisture and in my experience adding plants in whole increases the chances of failure. Each one will root in the humid environment. Using good soil is key here. If you're using compost or garden soil it will hold onto far too much moisture and will likely result in the cuttings rotting. Here are the cuttings that I'm going to use today. Planting the terrarium is simple. All you have to do is push each cutting into the soil until the first set of leaves comes into contact with the substrate. I find that it looks best to place the larger cuttings at the back and the smaller ones at the front and I'm also going to mix up the planting here so we don't have blocks of each plant in our terrarium. Repeat this until the surface of the soil is covered. We're nearly finished now. Give the terrarium a final light spray with some water and place the lid on top. Here is how you care for your terrarium. This is so important but terrariums need light. Place your terrarium near a window that doesn't get direct sun or use artificial lighting like these under counter warm white LED bars that I got from Amazon. As terrariums have no drainage holes it is vital that you don't over water. Keep an eye on the soil and when it starts to lighten in colour then it's time to water. You may be waiting weeks or months but that is totally normal. I find that some of my terrariums need watering more frequently than others and the only sure way to tell when they need a drink is to observe the soil. While some terrariums have succeeded being sealed up I've found that introducing fresh air on a frequent basis improves your chances of success considerably. To do this simply open the lid from time to time. I open mine once every few days for half an hour or so but do whatever suits you, just don't leave them totally sealed up for prolonged periods of time. That is how you make a super easy terrarium but before you go I would like to personally invite you to join my beginner friendly Facebook discussion group. It's called Terrarium Group and the link is in the description below. We're about 4,000 people strong now and I'd be delighted to have you with us. As always thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next video.