A five-plant tropical terrarium
Seven litres, five plants and five heights: a layered jungle under a cork stopper.
- Intermediate
- 1 h 30 to 2 h to set up
- 4 pieces
- Ø 25 × H 26.5 cm
The steps
Eight steps, in building order. Work on a clear table, with the plants out of their pots next to you.
1. Prepare the bottle and the plants
Rinse the bottle with clean water, no detergent, and let it dry completely: a drop left at the bottom dirties the whole build. Unpot the five plants, remove some of the soil and line them up in front of you by height: palm and fern, then coffee plant, then the two fittonias.
20 min
2. Pour in the drainage
Pour the clay pebbles in an even layer at the bottom, then the activated charcoal in a thin layer. Your hand fits through: level them with your fingertips or the tamper, without touching the glass.
10 min
3. Build the relief
Moisten the potting soil, then spread it about 4 cm deep, building it up towards the back. Dig a small valley at the front: with five plants, the relief is what gives the landscape depth.
15 min
4. Plant the background
Start with the palm and the fern, at the back, on the high ground. Dig, set the root ball, close the soil and press with the tamper. Offset them slightly from each other: two plants in a line make a wall.
15 min
5. Plant the middle and the foreground
The coffee plant goes in the centre, set slightly back. The two fittonias go in front, on either side of the valley, lower down. Leave three fingers' width between each plant: in a few months, the foliage will meet.
20 min
6. Lay the moss
Lay the three cushions green side up and press so they follow the relief. Tear them by hand to fill the gaps between the plants. Leave the valley as bare soil: it gives depth.
15 min
7. Clean the glass, then close
Wrap a piece of paper towel around the tip of the tweezers and clean the inside of the glass from top to bottom. Mist ten to fifteen times, then fit the stopper. Watch for two to three days before leaving it on for good.
10 min8. Follow the first months, then trim
Lasting condensation in the first week is normal; if it still hides the glass after ten days, open for half a day. After that, one trim a year is enough: cut the fronds and palm leaves that touch the glass with scissors.
10 min per month
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 7 litre wide-necked bottle, planted like a fragment of tropical forest: palm, fern, coffee plant, two fittonias and a carpet of moss.
Learn more
Five plants in one glass take real composition work: a background, a middle ground, a foreground, and enough room for each one to grow without smothering its neighbour. In return, the closed volume gives a stable climate: once stoppered, the terrarium lives for months with almost no attention.
This project starts from the Small Eden Jungle kit, in its With tools version: a 7 litre recycled glass bottle (Ø 25 cm, 26.5 cm high) and its cork stopper, a palm, a fern, a coffee plant, a white fittonia and a red fittonia, three cushions of fresh moss, 1.75 L of potting soil, the clay pebbles and the activated charcoal. The tweezers, the mister and the tamper are in the box.
The neck is 12 cm wide: your hand fits through, which makes the build easier than it looks. The challenge lies elsewhere: placing five plants without crowding them, then trimming once a year so the landscape stays readable.
The same project, done differently.
- Essential version
The same kit without the tools, if you already have long tweezers and a mister: the bottle, the five plants and the filling.
Intermediate - LED stopper version
The Tropical Coffee kit: an 8 L bottle with LED stopper, a coffee plant and two fittonias. Three plants instead of five, a more open scene and less trimming. The 9.5 cm neck is worked with tweezers.
Beginner - Large format version
The Zen Bonsai kit: an 11 L bottle with LED stopper, a ficus ginseng bonsai with a calathea, an asparagus fern and two fittonias at its feet.
Intermediate
FAQ
Your questions about this project
Five plants in 7 litres, won't it overflow?
No, if you trim once a year. The palm and the fern grow the most: shorten them as soon as they touch the glass.
Can the bottle be fully closed?
Yes, after two or three days of watching. If the condensation is still excessive after ten days, open for half a day, then close again.
Is the stopper lit?
No, it is a plain cork stopper. For an LED stopper, see the Tropical Coffee, Woodland or Zen Bonsai kits.
The moss is turning brown in places, is that serious?
Browning in one spot often comes from too much direct light or a lack of humidity. Move the bottle out of the sun and lightly mist the area.
