In the previous part we made the various parts of the terrarium and it is ready to go. In this installment we now add the plants, soil and other things needed for an actual terrarium.

Part 1 of this tutorial is here.

Ok, we are going to do the little terrarium first. And the process is exactly the same for the bigger outer terrarium. You just need more of the materials for it.

Step 1: We add a layer of pebbles into the terrarium. This is for drainage. It forms a reservoir at the bottom of the container for excess water. And some excess water is good. It will circulate in the container.

Step 2: Add activated charcoal. Just a little bit will be quite fine. In this pic it just needs to be spread even over the pebbles. This is for purification of the water as it cycles through the terrarium.

Step 3: Add Sphagnum Moss. This is a layer of separation that keeps the soil separated from the pebbles so things don't get muddy. This picture shows it all balled up. We tamp it down with something so it forms a kind of blanket.

Step 4: Add Potting soil. Here you can see we made a nice little tamping tool to pack the soil and sphagnum down a bit.

ADDING THE PLANTS

We are going to add plants and some moss to both our terrariums. Our plants we bought real cheap and in little plastic pots. (I have a list of plants that do well in a terrarium right here)

You take it out of the pot and remove most of the soil. You can just keep the roots, and even trim them. Or you can leave a bit of root ball.

A bit difficult to see here. But now you dig a little hole in your terrarium soil and plant the plant in it. Use some kind of a tool like a coat hanger or your tamper to do this.

Now we are going to add a little bit of moss to the terrariums. We broke it into clumps and removed a lot of the underneath soil.

The moss can be pushed into the soil. Dig a hole only if it is right for the aesthetic of the terrarium and how the moss sits.

Now we add a few details including some cobblestones that we made out of clay.

And in the bigger terrarium we added a pool of pebbles for accent, right underneath the hanging terrarium.

And that's It! Your terrarium within a terrarium is complete. Water it moderately and keep a close eye on it for the first week or so. If you put a cover on it (which encloses it) it can go long periods of time with no watering needed.

Making a frog terrarium
This is a professionally made frog terrarium and it gives you some great tips on how to make one. How to form the landscape, what materials to use and more. The 80 gallon Frog terrarium with landscape and fogger

Make an Air Plant Terrarium

Want an easy to maintain yet attractive terrarium? Or maybe you are new to terrariums and want to start out with something simple? An Air Plant terrarium is all of these things. Attractive and easy to care for. Check out more here.

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