Here's my original Rob's Lucky Charm plant before I cut out the crown. It has pleasant small purple flowers and as the plant is a little slow to grow and stays a true mini for me so far, it's ideal for terrariums. The opening on this glass bubble is 6 inches.

Hyn, are all of those plants in hidden pots? Or not? Did you remove the violet before you decapitated it? How do you manage things when the various plants start getting larger and crowd each other out?

Sorry if this is OT in the violet forum but it looks so beautiful the way it is I wonder how often you have to take stuff out and start over again? I love that it is a nice balanced mix of colorful leaves and flowers. Does it grow under lights?

You sure do have a lot of things in a small approx 7 to 8 in bowl! Rosie

Oops,,,,forgot to say your chimera is just too cute! Wish I had propagation luck like that! Rosie

Hyn, might be useful for those who wish to try your bowl/globe method to know:

1) What kind of media you have found to work well (at least in your conditions)?

2. How do you know when to water and how much?

Bowl garden looks lovely, btw. :-)

Good questions, Paul. I do all of my terrariums with a thick layer of coarse perlite on the bottom. If it's a bowl, maybe an inch or a little more depending on the size of the bowl, and if it's my big 75 gallon terrarium, then a couple of inches in front and three or more in the back. That allows me to /see/ how much water is standing in the bottom and whether roots have reached down into that layer. If you get too much water in there then it's easy to slip a siphon down to that layer if a huge terrarium and suck out the excess. If it's a bowl, just tip it and the water will pool to be siphoned out easily.

I use my standard potting mix over top of that, which is roughly 1/2 Miracle Grow potting mix and 1/2 perlite. To that I add charcoal, a touch of lime, worm castings, and insecticide granules. In terrariums I then always top dress that with moss, dried leaves, wood, plants, and course sand or gravel so nothing washes around when watered - and it makes it look much more natural and pretty than bare soil anyway.

Two things are key. Start with /sterilized/ materials. I sterilize my soil mix by baking it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour if it's thick layers, 30 minutes if thin layers, covered with aluminum foil. Be careful of steam. Once cool, it will be free of mold and fungal spores should you choose to do a sealed system. Mine are usually open with some air circulation but it still cuts way down on blooms of unwanted molds, etc. I also wash my plants carefully with dish soap (not anti-bacterial) and if they are hardy enough, a brief 105 bleach soak, roots and all, for five minutes, then rinse. Epsicia however are a bit too tender and can't take the bleach well. It is however a standard phyto laboratory plant sterilization method that is safe for most plants. Wash out the terrarium as well with 10% bleach water and you are good to go. Always wash your hands before you mess with it so you don't bring in mites, mold, etc when you open it up.

Here's a photo of the 75 gallon terrarium I had going last summer. Mostly episcia and corytoplectus cutucuensis planted in there. I hope to set it up again at our new home this next year.

As to when to water, usually I check once a week. If things seem to be a little dry and there isn't any standing water I can see in the perlite, I water. Come back and check your perlite again later and if you over watered, see siphoning above. Usually I use about half a cup for the medium sized bowl and a gallon for the 75 gallon tank photoed above. But humidity and temperature can effect how much water you need to add and how often so some weeks it might be more in hot summer, or much less in cooler spring.

So much information! Thank goodness for spiral notebooks and ink pens! Thanks! Rosie

I'm lazier than that. I copy and paste things into files I save and sort into folders on my computer. All that hand writing! ;)

I do that sometimes. The problem is, when I am doing this type of "play", I don't like to get my computer near the water, soil etc. I know I can print it out, but then I have to print it out and I may not have all the info so back to the computer I need to go. Nah,,,,I would rather take short notes in my handy dandy spiral notebook! That's just me I guess! And I do love to write. I want to keep writing as long as I can. Getting older, tremors etc so I need to keep writing as long as I can! lol Rosie

Those are all valid points, especially the last one! Keep it up as long as you can. ;)

Thanks! But my family won't let me handle sharp objects! lol Rosie