Help creating a terrarium!?

Question

where do you find ferns and lichens and how do you plant ferns lichens clovers and moss together into a terrarium?

Answer 1

If you live in Australia you should be able to buy ferns from a garden centre or a hardware store which has a gardening section. You may be able to pick up a limited amount of lichens there too, but I have found that they are hard to buy unless you could find a specialist nursery for your needs.

Ferns and lichens usually grow in protected areas such as rainforests naturally and planting them in a terrarium is a good place to grow them domestically.

From memory you can use any sort of large glass container such as a purpose made terrarium, right up to a large fish tank or aquarium, so if you know someone with an unused aquarium you can use that too and even the grow light if they have one and you do not have sufficient light to grow your plants - they will still need filtered light to grow as do all plants have light needs

Put a layer of charcoal or some sort of medium on the bottom to assist drainage of your plants and put a layer of other medium depending on the plants you choose - the medium needs to be something suitable like an orchid type mix or similar with perhaps a little organic compost type material in it.

Arrange your plants in this in an order that is pleasing to your eyes and tuck them into the medium. Ferns surrounded by lichens or mosses - I don't think the clovers will be suited to this setup. Give it some water but do not drench it - put the lid on and if using the aquarium the light and sit back and watch your little jungle grow - if its doing well it may take off after a while and you may need to do some gentle pruning or trimming of your plants to keep them looking good - perhaps you can use some of them to start small terrariums for friends - I have even seen large glass wine flagons used for the terrariums but they are more difficult to plant . Generally you should not need to add any more water unless the terrarium leaks or you leave it uncovered and please do not put it in direct sunlight as the glass will cook your little garden  

Answer 2

well you could check your local pet store for the supplies or you could search the internet and buy them online.the plating instructions should be on the package

Answer 3

Regarding ferns and lichens you can either purchase them online either through EBay or simply google ferns and lichens sold in the nearby area. You have to first decide what type of terrarium would work best in your local environment. Humidity and type of light are key. Make sure though that you get sand as a base for your terrarium then place charcoal over that to prevent algae from growing at the terrarium's base then as a top soil use a good mulch or nutrient rich soil for the ferns, mosses, and lichens. Done correctly, you'll have a thriving terrarium that shall provide you with hours of joy and minimal care fascination. Though before you do anything plan out the type of terrarium you want to achieve and plant the tall plants at the back and the smaller plants at the front for optimal aesthetics.

Cheers

Answer 4

I don't know what area you live in. I live in the Pacific Northwest where there's an abundance of rain forest, ferns, moss & lichens that are easy to obtain. Black Jungle is an online store specializing in terrarium & vivarium (a terrarium with living creatures) supplies. They have ferns & whatnot under their Live Plants section, as well as decent substrate & other supplies (and no, I'm not affiliated in any way).

To plant ferns, you'll want a dark, rich, well-draining soil. A nice mix is topsoil (organic is best as there are less chemicals), horticultural sand (or playbox sand), leaf mold (humus) and peat moss. If you want to get really fancy you can add worms or worm casings to keep it all nicely aerated. The key to keeping ferns is to spray them daily; not drowning them but keeping them moist. For lichen it's the same. I drape lichen over rocks & keep them misted. They'll eventually start growing over everything (which I like).

There is advice below suggesting that you create layers of charcoal, gravel, moss, etc on the bottom of your terrarium. This is good advice, but it won't help you if you let the water line get above the soil line. Especially true if you're going to have a waterfall in your terrarium like I do. You'll drown your plants! So, if you're building it out of an aquarium you might consider building a "false floor". This is done by cutting a plastic grate (found in the lighting sections of hardware stores, or cut out of those plastic grate boxes) to fit the length & depth of your aquarium, then raising it 3-4" above the bottom using 3" pvc pipe cut to that height. On top of that you put a layer of regular old screen (to keep the soil from falling through), then your charcoal then your soil mixture.

I'm just sayin'...