The Green Emporium wants you to be confident with your terrarium care thus providing you with relevant info to look after your new plant baby.

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What is a terrarium?

Terrariums provide a unique method of indoor gardening enabling both the seasoned green thumb and the novice to enjoy nature's greenery in a capsulated form. Landscaped and scaled to the size of the container, an enclosed terrarium controls its own atmosphere, sustains a rain cycle, and stabilizes interior temperatures. There are many products on the market claiming to be terrariums but if it's not creating its own water cycle it's not a terrarium. Plants, planted in a fishbowl or any type of glassware with a large opening are just plants in a bowl and are not terrariums.

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​To properly maintain your terrarium you must first understand the plant process. Two independent processes, photosynthesis and respiration, take place throughout the life of a plant. The products created during one process are used in the cycle of the other process.

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The photosynthetic process - the sun or other light source provides the energy for the plants to thrive. Bright indirect light is the most important element to keep your terrarium healthy and happy. Carbon dioxide is taken from the air in the container, and moisture is constantly being replenished by the rain cycle. Since slow plant growth is desired in the container, the limited amount of nutrients present in the soil layer is sufficient.

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The Respiration Process - once sufficient moisture is introduced into a closed terrarium, a rain cycle is established. Moisture is taken into the plant through the root system, passes through the leaves by transpiration (the process in which water vapour is given off from leaf surfaces), then evaporates into the air. since the limited atmosphere cannot absorb this excess moisture, the moisture is condensed on the container sides, "fogging" the glass. When the moisture builds up, it behaves like miniature clouds, "raining" the moisture back into the soil layer. This process is continually repeating itself. Freeing the terrarium owner from daily checks.

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Different Types of Terrariums require different types of care and placement.

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