Emersed Glosso Terrarium

About a month ago I unleashed my considerable skillz and fabricated a terrarium out of cheap Lowes 3/32" glass. I had a bunch left over from getting some lids cut for my 10g and 20g tanks, so it seemed like a fun thing to do. The end result was a slightly caddy-wampus siliconed mess, but it held water! This was my first attempt at such a thing, so I was reasonably pleased. A little razor blade work cleaned up most of the silicone on the outside and I hid the real mess on the inside by designating that side as the "back".

Unfortunately I didn't pay enough attention during the process and ended up cutting the front and back 20mm shorter than the sides. Initially I wasn't terribly pleased with this, but as it turns out, that mistake resulted in perfect mount for a Finnex Fuge-Ray 12" 5W LED fixture.

I purchased a "pot" of Glossostigma elatinoides from my usual online seller, baked and 1/4" screened some miracle gro organic choice garden soil, and planted it a couple of weeks ago. The glosso was kind of sad when I got it - a decent amount of dead leaves near the rock wool, but it's quite happy now and has really taken off over the last week.

I bought some better glass cutting equipment so I can build more terrariums, especially with how this one's turned out so far.

I'll post more photos in the coming weeks; thanks for looking!

pbmax

April 14 (2 days after planting):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

April 17 (5 days after planting):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

April 26 (2 weeks after planting):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

May 17 (5 weeks after planting):
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

May 25 - Flowers!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Wow, that looks great! The growth has definitely increased, really fast from the two weeks you started that! Very cool, pbmax! I'm excited to see future results!

Thanks Poke!

Over the first week the plants perked up noticeably and turned a much darker shade of green.

Over the last week the leaves have really fattened up and runners are taking off with little white roots dropping from the leaf nodes.

Now all you need is CO2 ;-) . . . . . . aaaaaaahhhhhhh hahahahahaha

Thankfully I have plenty of that already. Beats messing with bottles, tubes, tanks, regulators, diffusers, controllers, bubble counters, etc.

Wow!!!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

LamentalJester, LOLOLOL!!!

Watch JP in 3D last weekend, couldn't help it!

*sigh*

Thats looking pretty sweet, nice growth. Are you using any type of clay in the soil?

Thanks!

Nope, no clay - just the organic choice garden soil that's been sitting unopened in the yard since last summer.

Impressive build! Love how your boo boo turned out to be a big +.

Thanks

pbmax wrote:Thanks

You really made it seem like a booboo man! XD
And now that accident just so happened to turn out into this awesome thing! XD Dude I can't wait wait to see how the rest of your emersed grow setups go man!
Ps... I may need to get a terranium setup from you someday so that I can grow this DHgrass in a better area Where it doesn't take up a tengal LOL

I need to try out my new glass cutting stuff first... hopefully the 2nd try will have much less silicone ugliness. The plants don't seem to care though...

The problem is, the LED fixture cost me $43 The glass was $6.90; I don't remember how much I paid for the silicone.

Updated first post with a new photo at 5 weeks - the carpet is nearly filled in! There are a few yellow leaves, but so far no issues. I mist it every other day, but other than that I've been keeping the lid on.

Edit: I mist it every OTHER day, not every day.

Oh wow! That looks great, pbmax!!

Thanks! So far it's pretty enough that my wife hasn't made me move it from its "temporary" spot on the kitchen counter.

Thats some great growth! How do you fight the fungus?

Nothing really. I cooked the soil for 40 minutes I think before I planted and the lid isn't sealed - there are gaps due to imperfect cuts.

So far I haven't seen any fungus, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

You might try neem oil.

I definitely didnt cook the soil on mine. Microwave? or boil?

I spread it out on a jelly roll baking pan and cooked it in the oven at 325F (convection, 350F normal) for about 40 minutes I think. It did make the house stink a bit (composted manure and pasteurized chicken manure), but opening the windows and running a fan did the trick.

It was somewhat moist when I did this - it'd been sitting outside since last summer.

interesting, I'll try that next time. It'll be like burrito night at my house.

Haha, that's the spirit. I kind of didn't consider the smell before I did it... but really it wasn't too bad - mostly just "earthy"

1st post updated with a photo of a couple of flowers.

I spotted at least 4 in the container, though there could be more. Glosso flowers aren't terribly spectacular, but I'm glad my plants are happy.

Photos?

In 1st post!

pbmax wrote:
May 25 - Flowers!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

THAT LOOKS AWESOME!

Thanks!

My sagittaria subulata is flowering again too - in my 20g walstad.

that glosso is looking awesome!

Thanks!

It's pretty much at the point where I'm thinking about what to do with it... I guess I could try to plant it in my tanks, but I'm sure I'd kill it. Maybe I'll start up another emersed setup and try to sell the stuff? I'm not very good at selling stuff though... takes time and effort. Watching it grow is easy

Well hey, if you do plan on selling some... you know where to find me! It's quite odd. I mean, my tanks are pretty much full with plants now, I don't have anymore planting room, yet...here I am, still on the lookout for more plants. LOL