A terrarium made entirely of moss
No plant to trim, nothing sticking out: hills of live moss under a lit bottle.
- Beginner
- 45 min to set up
- 5 pieces
- Ø 17 × H 25 cm
The steps
Seven steps, in building order. Work on a clear table, with the plants out of their pots next to you.
1. Choose soft light
Moss likes indirect light: a bright room, away from direct sun, which bleaches it and heats the glass. A shelf two or three metres from a window suits it very well.
5 min
2. Lay the drainage and the charcoal
Pour the clay pebbles 2 cm deep, then the activated charcoal in a thin layer. Press down with the tamper without shaking the bottle: clay dust sticks to damp glass.
10 min
3. Add the soil in relief
Moisten the soil in a bowl: cool to the touch, without dripping. Pour it 3 to 4 cm deep and shape one or two mounds. The moss follows the relief of the ground: that is what makes the hills.
10 min
4. Prepare the cushions
Take out the five cushions. Remove the soil and debris stuck underneath. Cut by hand any that are wider than the 10 cm neck: a cushion cut in two grows back without a trace.
10 min
5. Lay the moss
Lower the cushions one by one, green side up, and press them onto the soil with the tamper. Pack them tightly together to hide the soil, but without pressing them against the glass: moss stuck to the wall stays soaking wet and turns brown.
10 min
6. Mist and close
Give the moss five to eight sprays, no more, then fit the stopper. The next morning, light condensation should cover the glass and disappear during the day.
2 min
7. Read the glass in the first weeks
Glass dry for several days: mist. Glass permanently streaming: open it for a few hours. Moss that turns pale is thirsty; it turns green again as soon as it is rehydrated. Use soft water, rainwater or filtered.
2 min per week
Care, afterwards
- LightNear a window, never in full sun: the glass heats up fast.
- WaterMist only if the condensation has not come back for several days.
- CondensationThere all day long: open the cork for a few hours, then close it again.
- PruningCut the leaves that touch the glass and remove dead leaves with the tweezers.
The guides for this project
All guides
The project
A 4.5-litre bottle with an LED stopper, five cushions of live moss and the complete filling. The calmest closed terrarium to look at, and the easiest to look after.
A moss-only terrarium hardly grows at all. No plant touches the glass after three months, there is no leaf to remove, no trimming. What you build on the first day is, more or less, what you will be looking at a year later.
This project brings together a 4.5-litre recycled glass bottle with its cork stopper with LED, a refill with moss, sizes S and M (two cushions, soil, clay pebbles, activated charcoal), and an extra bag of three cushions of live moss. Leucobryum glaucum forms dense domes: set side by side, they draw hills.
The neck is 10 cm wide. The largest cushions can be cut down by hand before they go through, and a cork tamper helps lay them flat on the soil.
The same project, done differently.
- Mini dome version
The 3-litre two-part dome, the same refill and a single bag of two cushions: a hill of moss under glass, on a desk.
Beginner - Large format version
A bottle in size L or XL, the refill with moss, sizes L and XL, and two or three bags of cushions: a wider moss landscape, with valleys.
Beginner - Version with a plant
Add a single fittonia in the centre: the moss makes the ground, the plant makes the relief. A fittonia stays compact, around 10 cm.
Beginner
FAQ
Your questions about this project
Is the moss alive?
Yes. It is fresh Leucobryum glaucum, delivered in cushions ready to lay. It is not preserved moss: it needs light and moisture.
Do I need to water it?
Almost never. In the closed bottle, the water goes round in a cycle: a few sprays when the glass stays dry for several days are enough.
My moss is turning yellow or pale, what should I do?
It turns pale when it dries out: mist it, and it turns green again. If it turns yellow despite the moisture, it lacks light: move the bottle closer to a window, out of direct sun.
Are all the cushions the same size?
No. The pieces measure 6 to 15 cm depending on the delivery, and they can be cut by hand without harm.
