Terrariums: Open-top and Closed-top

Terrariums

Terrariums are really cool and here at Those Plant Guys we were interested in taking a more in depth look at this popular office/home trend. At their core, all terrariums are trying to mimic or imitate the same thing, a complete environment with everything needed to sustain itself just as it would in nature. These terrariums come in all shapes and sizes. In some even house animals are used for wild animal tanks such as frogs, lizards, and turtles. There seem to be two different types of terrariums that you are probably familiar with; open-top and closed-top.

Open-Top

These types are reserved usually for the succulent arrangements due to the loss of humidity by having the top open. The plants don’t require much humidity and usually follow a desert or arid theme. These open-top terrariums usually use a lot of sand and rocks or stones. They need very little water and are the go to for the less involved.  

Closed-Top

The closed-top terrariums are more complicated and have more botanical needs.  The plant selections are way broader and usually have higher humidity needs. These plant types usually include ferns, mini-orchids, cyclamens, violets and many more. They can also contain many different varieties of moss and air plants. With all of the aforementioned plants together they often look like mini rain forest - very cool environments can be developed!

How They Work

Successful terrariums all have great hygiene, water quality, and plant selection.  We start out with a layer of stones at the bottom that will act as the foundation/aquifer for our little ecosystem.  Then we layer on top with some carbon; this helps with keeping the air clean especially over time. We follow that with some moist moss, then soil.

Now that our sub-level has been filled, we can start adding plants and moss. Decorative rock or stone can also be added to complete our terrarium. We must water the terrarium around every 3-4 weeks and very little depending on where its placed. The main reason for this is condensation.The fact that its mimicking an ecosystem means that the water that was in there in the beginning is being recycled. Terrariums should be placed in a location where it receives light but never directly. It is also very important that the  container for closed-top terrariums are opened at least once a week to allow it to get some fresh air.

Not only did we explain what terrariums are, we also broke it down so you can make your own! Use our advice and build your own. Please share with us what you’ve created! Below is a list of materials used for open and close top terrariums. If you’d like to purchase one or would like more guidance please feel free to reach out to us!

Materials List

Closed/Open Container

Tank/Terrarium Stones

Activated Carbon

Sphagnum Peat Moss

Soil

Small Plants/moss

Distilled Water   

Microgreens: A superfood

Let’s start off by explaining the difference between microgreens and sprouts. A microgreen is a vegetable or herb grown to just about the release of it’s first true leaves. Microgreens grow in about 14-25 days and only have one set of true leaves. They are excellent to grow at home and are a very profitable crop due to their minimal requirements. A sprout has no leaves and has a short growing period of 5-7 days. Typically sprouts are grown in water not dirt unlike microgreens that can be grown in either.

There are many different types of microgreens that can be grown, from broccoli and kale to melon and squash. Most microgreens are extremely aromatic but most importantly they are all nutritious. They have 40 times the nutrients compared to a matured vegetable or herb. Microgreens usually contain high levels of zinc, potassium, magnesium, and copper. They are also abundant in antioxidants. Microgreens are very helpful in fighting diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and specific types of cancers.

Eating microgreens is generally safe, however,  to ensure 100% safety there are certain steps that must be taken to ensure a clean and safe product everytime. Here at Those Plant Guys we use all Food Grade Plastics and Metals for our grow trays and racks. Using these products prevent the chemicals that is on the plastics and metals to transfer to the microgreens. Not using these products overtime exposes the element breakdowns and leech byproducts into the microgreens. The microgreens themselves are grown in a soil less fertilizer free coco noir sheets.  We do this to have a complete organic and natural product that is free from anything nature didn't intend. The only thing we didn’t dive into thoroughly during this post is perhaps the most important, the quality of water. You want to use a very clean and pure water source for your seedlings. If all these steps are followed then the product is deemed safe!

Microgreens have four to six times the amount of certain nutrients like vitamins A, C, E, and K than the adult version of the plants!

Basil: A culinary herb of the mint family

As you saw from our earlier posts, we started out with a tray of different Basil varieties.  We have Cinnamon, Dark Opal, Greek, Leaf Lettuce, Genovese, and Lemon Basil.  All of what we planted is already germinating – stay tuned for pictures!

Due to this I thought it would be cool to discuss different uses for basil. If you feel I missed any which I’m sure I will, please reach out to us with your tips, suggestions, and recipes that involve basil.

In my opinion, when it comes to basil – most herbs in fact – it’s always better to pick them. Did you know that picking the basil yourself emits a delicious fragrant and it is useful for the herb? It encourages the plant to grow more. Personally, I like to pick 1/4 to 1/3 of the plant from the bottom of the surface.

As you have probably noticed, basil is a main ingredient and is paired in many foods. We see it in pesto, on top of our pizzas, and even as a garnish in our beverages for a little extra pow to the senses! Did you know it also has very powerful medicinal properties as well? That’s right, basil has very potent anti-inflammatory properties not to mention many more health benefits.  Essential oils are one of the many ways people use basil as medicine. It has been shown to help with indigestion, nausea, constipation, and even respiratory problems. Basil even has muscle relaxing properties! People also allow it to dry and then pulverize the basil to make a nice powder. This powder can be used from everything from food flavoring to toothpaste.

As I said a previously in the post please feel free to share your uses and recipes for basil as I am sure there many not covered in this post!

Planting Seeds

Seed Selection

Now that we have our medium ready and our grow location set up, we’re ready to select the seeds we are going to grow. For this grow we want to focus on our goals and stay on task! One of the main goals for our grow is to fill the green house with life so we have a variety of herbs and vegetables to choose from. The herbs, tomatoes, and peppers we grow will be for sale. We will use the seeds our grow produces to plant more! This is just the start, we will soon have many different varieties of each to offer for sale. Then the fun comes, choosing the seeds of herbs and vegetables we will grow.

Seeds

It’s very important to have a legitimate source for seeds, whether they are from a personal collection, store, or online catalog. The seeds need to be collected properly from healthy well taken care of plants and they need to stored and sealed correctly. The seeds can be top notch and grade A quality but remember storage and sun exposure can ruin them. Damaged or sterile seeds are not useful!

Luckily, I have collected quite an impressive collection of seeds and will only need to purchase a few to broaden our collection.  If you don’t have any seeds or friends who save seeds, we are working on offering them for sale but in the meantime, I would recommend www.seedsnow.com. They are a very reputable company and all seeds are sourced non-GMO as well as thoroughly tested. They also label their seeds with the purity and germination percentages which can be very helpful.

Before we begin, we need to be aware of the species we intend to grow as some have special procedures. For examples, some seeds need to be soaked before planting. These include a variety of peas, beans, corn, pumpkin, and many more.  In our case we are working with common kitchen herbs, tomatoes, and peppers so we can skip this step and are now ready to begin.

Sowing

For this post and grow we will be using two different techniques. For both herbs and vegetables, we’ll be using seedling trays with a self-watering reservoir as well as domes for extra humidity.

Herbs

We’ll start by using the materials discussed in our last post.  Our sun dried bleached soaped trays and pots are now ready to be used. Not to mention our custom seedling starter blend.

Custom Blend:

• 1 part peat moss

• 1 part vermiculite

• .5 part worm castings

First, we fill up trays to the top with our medium moist soil leaving about have an inch of space.  We want it moist but not water logged.  You should be able to squeeze water out of the soil but you should not see the water.  We then gently pat down each seedling cell to make sure that its nice and tight. This allows for better moisture and heat distribution.

You should then tap a .5 inch hole with pen or pen top into the medium moist soil.  This will make a little bowl for our little seeds! The trays are now ready for our seeds.  We did a few different varieties of Basil for our first tray. For Basil, I like to plant 5-8 seeds per cell. This gives us a nice little bush per cell.  With this strategy we don’t even need to even cover the seeds with soil.  We then simply place the plastic hood and put it in our green house.  The only thing to worry about with our Miami sun is making sure that our greenhouse doesn’t get too hot. We must keep a close eye on those seedlings once they pop.  That is also where the self-watering trays are helpful – this depends on where you live as well as sun/humidity exposure.

Tomatoes & Peppers

For our tomatoes and peppers, we will be using a variation of the bulk seed method to maximize plant yields with a minimal space requirement.  For these peppers and tomatoes, we must take into consideration that each seedling will require transplant into a new much larger pot.  So, with this technique we are planting about 50 tomato seeds in one seed cell and then right before the first true leaf is formed we will split the cell up and give each individual seedling a home.  I say variation because we are not doing about 50 per seed, perhaps a little less.

We start off the same as we did with the herbs. We fill the seed trays with our moist medium and then proceed to spread our seeds, about 50 or so in each cell.  Tomatoes and peppers are slightly different, once we’ve planted the seed we will use our hands to sprinkle medium soil and top it off – just for added moisture and heat on the seeds themselves. 

Greenhouse Ready

Finally, we’ll place the tomato, pepper, and basil trays in the greenhouse. Let the growing begin!