Guides
A terrarium is a closed argument about water. In a sealed jar the same water evaporates, condenses, and falls again indefinitely, which is why one can run for years untouched. Almost every terrarium that dies does so because the wrong plants were put in the wrong kind of container, and no amount of care afterwards fixes that.
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Closed or Open: The One Decision That Sets Everything Else
Every subsequent choice - plants, substrate, watering, position - follows from whether the vessel has a lid. Choosing the wrong one is the reason most first terrariums fail.
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Building It: Layers, Substrate, and Planting
The layered structure is not decoration. Each layer solves a specific problem created by putting soil in a container with no drainage hole.
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Keeping It Alive: Condensation, Mould, and the Common Failures
A terrarium tells you what is wrong through the glass. Here is how to read fogging, mould, browning, and stretching, and what each one actually requires.