Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #49 - Terrariums: Ecosystem In A Bottle | Cass [PlantWithCass]

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#49 - Terrariums: Ecosystem In A Bottle | Cass [PlantWithCass] · The Shed Organics Show

0:00
Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode
0:03
of The Shed Organics Show. My name is Jordan.
0:07
Today, my guest is Cass from Plant with Cass, and she is a
0:12
terrarium expert. She's very interested in what it
0:16
takes to build one of these beautiful ecosystems inside a
0:21
glass container. And now recently, she was
0:23
actually on Michael's podcast, The Gardener's Lodge.
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I was also a guest on the Show Fabulous podcast.
0:31
You should definitely go and check it out.
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But Michael went through with Cass all the basics of what a
0:36
terrarium is, how you might think about the plant selection,
0:41
the medium in which you're growing, and also the
0:45
environment, where to place it, how to think about where it goes
0:48
in your home and the care of a terrarium.
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So some of those interesting but basic sort of elements are
0:55
really important to understand. So I highly suggest you go and
0:58
check out that episode. Michael's done a fantastic job
1:01
of facilitating that conversation and there are some
1:04
really interesting points that you may or may not hear in this
1:08
discussion, so I'll link that down in the description below.
1:11
So don't check that out. Maybe prior to this episode,
1:13
there may be a little bit of crossover, but for the most
1:15
part, I tried my best to try and work around what she's already
1:20
been thoroughly discussing on her workshops and all of the
1:24
things that she does on social media.
1:25
So go and follow her, check her out.
1:27
The links are in the description for Cass and everything that she
1:31
does. So you can go and follow along
1:33
and find out much more about how to build your own fabulous
1:37
terrarium at home. So without further ado, let's go
1:41
straight into this conversation. Here is Cass from Plant with
1:45
Cass. Yeah.
2:02
So with a closed lid terrarium, what we're essentially trying to
2:06
think about is the ecosystem. How is the ecosystem going to
2:12
work in a closed lid terrarium? It's obviously very different
2:16
from an open terrarium because there there is some type of
2:21
ecosystem in an open terrarium, but it's not a complete
2:25
ecosystem. So with a closed lid terrarium,
2:29
it's really all about thinking about the plants.
2:33
The types of plants that go into a closed lid terrarium are very
2:36
different to an open terrarium. I do get asked, can I put
2:40
succulents in a closely terrarium?
2:42
No, you cannot put succulents in a closely terrarium.
2:46
They're very different plants. They live in very different
2:48
environments. So it's really important around
2:51
the choices of plants that you put in a closely terrarium.
2:55
I have found as well that I do need to think about in terms of
3:00
a closely terrarium and the plants.
3:02
Some plants thrive very well in a closely terrarium and some
3:06
plants thrive good in an open terrarium, but may not the the
3:11
the plants that thrive in open throne may not necessarily
3:15
thrive well in a closed lid room.
3:18
So you need to really think about that when you are making a
3:22
closed lid terrarium. And I have learned that through
3:26
sort of my own testing with terrariums and closely
3:30
terrariums, what plants work, what plants don't work?
3:33
And that's sort of what I then bring into my workshops and
3:36
explain in my workshops as well around the plants.
3:40
And then, you know, I go into spring tails.
3:42
So we put bugs in the terrariums and that obviously helps the the
3:51
environment. You know, the spring tails have
3:53
a job in the closely terrarium as well.
3:57
And yeah. That's really good that that
4:00
kind of gives me an idea because immediately you've
4:04
differentiated between closed and open lid.
4:07
And my first thought when you were talking about plants and
4:10
choosing plants is that a closed lid system would have much
4:14
higher humidity, right. So we're thinking greenhouse
4:18
style where like you might have all your seeds and things in
4:22
sometimes in little humidity domes and things like this, what
4:27
we might do for the garden, because you want that increased
4:29
humidity, you want some of that moisture in the air.
4:32
And then, you know, you're getting that moisture
4:34
evaporation that's hitting the roof, hitting the edges of it,
4:37
coming back down and then watering the system again.
4:40
And, and kind of having that, that full enclosed loop.
4:43
Whereas the open one, you're, it's basically a pot of some
4:48
sort right where you've got an open lid.
4:50
So all of the environment around us dictates what plants would
4:54
work well in there. That's correct.
4:57
Yeah. So I've got this.
4:59
Oh, I want to read you this. This is really interesting.
5:01
So you've probably heard this because you're all over
5:05
terrarium. So you know exactly what's going
5:06
on. So there's this guy, right, who
5:09
I found out about a while ago called David Latimer.
5:12
I'm going to read off this this screen.
5:13
And you would have heard of him in the 60s, right?
5:16
He plants. This is for my listeners who
5:18
haven't heard this. He planted a few seedlings in a
5:21
big glass bottle, added a small amount of water, sealed it and
5:25
put it under his stairs In the UK.
5:30
It went on to be completely self-sustaining this ecosystem.
5:33
And he only opened it once in 1972.
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So that's maybe like 12 years later to add a tiny bit more
5:39
water. And then after that, it's been
5:42
sealed for decades and he's not opened it and it's self
5:46
perpetuating and continuously, you know, moving around and just
5:51
doing its thing within there. To me, like that's a fascinating
5:56
story in itself, the fact that it's been a terrarium for 50
5:59
years. And I think, let me have a look.
6:01
I think the main plant in here is a spider wart plant.
6:07
Yes. Something like that, a
6:10
tratascancia, is that right? Yeah.
6:13
So, so he's got, he's got that plant in there, but it's it's
6:16
kept going for that long, which is just incredible.
6:19
And you know, when we look at outside into the real world,
6:23
something that I'm really big on is mimicking nature, mimicking
6:26
natural cycles, looking at our ecosystems out there in the
6:29
world to then recreate. That must be such a scientific
6:35
job, right? Tell me about the, the way in
6:39
which you would observe what nature does and then bring that
6:43
into the terrarium that you're building.
6:46
Closed lid, should we say? Yeah.
6:49
So I guess the way that I look at it and, you know, observing
6:55
nature, observing, you know, our own wealth and ecosystem that we
7:00
live in, and then bringing that into a closed terrarium.
7:06
Something that I explain in my workshops is that you've really
7:11
got to think about keeping the lid on.
7:13
A lot of people, they want to take the lid off and oh, should
7:17
I water it once a week? And I'm like, don't water it
7:20
once a week, don't take the lid off.
7:24
And I basically explain when you need to take the lid off, when
7:28
you need to water it. And what I explain is that you
7:32
need to think of it as the, you know, basically the world that
7:36
we live in. And you know, they talk about
7:39
the ozone layer and the whole ozone layer and how that's
7:43
actually changed our weather cycle and how that's changing
7:46
our weather cycle. And I explained that by taking
7:50
your lid on and off all the time, it's a very similar
7:53
concept to the hole in the ozone layer because you, the
7:59
environment doesn't know how it's meant to be living because
8:02
you're taking lid on and off, giving it water, don't giving.
8:05
There's no it. It can't create any cycle.
8:08
And that everything just starts dying in the closed lead
8:10
terrarium because it's like, I don't know what world I'm meant
8:14
to be living in. Yeah, we're playing God in a
8:16
way, aren't we? We're coming in and just going.
8:18
It's gonna rain now or you're gonna change the humidity and
8:20
all of that. Exactly, exactly.
8:23
And that sort of, you know, something that I observe in in
8:26
nature and how I explain that and bring that into closed lead
8:30
terrains, especially when I'm talking about, you know, when to
8:35
take the lid on and off, how off to take, to take the lid on and
8:38
off. Why it's important to keep the
8:40
lid on, because then the environment starts to understand
8:45
how everything should be growing in there.
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And it creates its own ecosystem.
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And we only need to give it a little bit of a helping hand
8:53
every now and then with a little bit of water, just like how our
8:57
gardens need some rain. And that's basically how I
9:02
bring, you know, and, and how I think about our environment and
9:07
our ecosystem and how I bring that into a close lit terrarium.
9:11
Yeah, it's basically like our world but in a bottle and well,
9:15
a, you know, a glass bowl with a lid and you said you you have to
9:21
add a little bit of water. But this guy is David has only
9:25
watered it once in 1212 years in and then not since that to me
9:32
says that it's got itself, it's it's adapted to what that
9:37
environment is in there. It's understood it as you said,
9:39
it's like become accustomed to the humidity levels, the oxygen,
9:44
well, actually oxygen, yeah, oxygen levels because it's self
9:46
giving itself oxygen and carbon dioxide and then it's reusing
9:51
that moisture. It's literally the definition of
9:54
sustainable in terms of water saving and all of that kind of
9:57
thing. What do you think?
10:01
How do you think people can get it to that point where they can
10:05
literally not touch it? Or is it a little bit at the
10:07
start, a little bit of fiddling around until you get it to that
10:11
right sort of place with the plant selection to then let it
10:15
do its thing? Or are we sort of just, you
10:17
know, throwing it in and just watching and observing?
10:21
So I guess in the beginning it is it does come down to, you
10:25
know, what plants you put into the terrarium.
10:28
There is a slight, you know, there is a little bit of
10:31
maintenance in the beginning, but then as the ecosystem
10:36
develops, it really starts looking after itself.
10:40
And the bigger that the terrarium, the, the, the bigger
10:43
that you make the terrarium, like whether it's tanks, whether
10:46
it's just, you know, a bigger glass vessel, the more plants
10:50
inside, the less you actually need to water the terrarium.
10:54
So the smaller the terrarium, the more you or more frequently
10:59
you might need to give it a little bit of water.
11:01
When I say give it water, I mean a few sprays don't start.
11:05
I tell people don't start pouring water in there.
11:08
You're just. Gonna.
11:09
Kill it. And basically, and as I said, so
11:13
the bigger the terrarium, the more plants are in there, the
11:15
more oxygen and carbon dioxide and moisture that it's creating,
11:20
the less you have to water it. So I made a terrarium.
11:24
It's more than two years ago now.
11:28
It's it's quite a decent size and it sits on my buffet.
11:32
And I kid you not, in the two more than no, no, it's probably
11:37
coming close to three years now, but I've had this term, it'll be
11:40
three years in December. I have watered it maybe four
11:44
times. Wow, that's.
11:47
Crazy over the face of almost three years.
11:50
Yeah, wow. And that's because of the size
11:52
too. Right.
11:53
Yeah, because that's that's what I was just going to touch on.
11:55
So the, the plants themselves obviously within the selection
12:01
that you know, you that you go for, there's so many plants that
12:03
you can select as well. They obviously would be humid
12:08
loving plants. They really enjoy that.
12:12
Tell me a little bit about the water cycle within that within
12:17
like how the plants are using that water and how the over
12:22
watering, like you said, the pouring of water in there.
12:25
What are we doing? Are we drowning the plant when
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that happens? Yeah.
12:30
So basically when you're pouring water in, you are effectively
12:34
drowning the plant or the plants because there's nowhere for the
12:39
water to escape. There's no holes at the bottom
12:41
of the glass for the water to escape in.
12:43
It's a closed lit room. It can't evaporate into the
12:47
atmosphere. So you can't really be pouring
12:50
water in because you can pour too much and then it just
12:54
oversaturates. You know, the roots get soggy
12:57
and everything just starts dying.
12:58
And I've had quite a few people that have actually brought
13:01
terrariums back to me to remake them because they have said, I
13:05
think I've ordered it a little bit too much.
13:07
And I'm just like, OK, that's fine.
13:10
And then they learn and then I give it back to them.
13:12
And then, you know, the second time and they're like, it's
13:15
fine. I'm doing, I'm doing exactly as
13:18
you know, you've said. And, and sometimes these people
13:21
haven't bought the terrariums from me, you know, they've
13:25
bought them externally and then they've basically brought them
13:27
to me and said, can you remake it?
13:29
Yeah. So, yeah.
13:31
So just touching on that then the when you're bought like, so
13:36
for me as a big soil person and like this is the part that I'm
13:40
really interested in getting in with you is choosing the right
13:46
medium to have your plants in obviously is kind of crucial,
13:50
right? And then this goes in hand in
13:53
hand with this drowning of the plant.
13:55
So if you have a soil or a medium that does get waterlogged
14:00
easy and it doesn't allow the gas exchange that we want in a
14:03
good soil with that carbon dioxide and oxygen flowing
14:06
inside and outside, you're then stifling that.
14:10
You're then going to stop the plants from having that natural
14:13
transpiration of oxygen and carbon dioxide that's
14:16
symbiotically joined to the soil.
14:19
And ultimately the whole thing will be falling apart, right?
14:23
So can you go through soil for me?
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And is it soil that we're using? And what are we actually trying
14:31
to create in terms of a medium that sustains itself in that
14:35
manner? Yeah.
14:37
So like you've mentioned, the soil is really important in a
14:41
closely terrarium. It has to be nice and airy.
14:45
It has to be loose soil. It can't be soil like that is
14:49
going to clump together and hold together because then there's
14:54
again, there's nowhere for the water to escape.
14:56
The roots just get waterlogged and then everything just dies in
15:00
the terrarium. So the soil is very important.
15:03
I actually mix my own soil up for the closely terrarium, so
15:08
I've got all these different elements that go in.
15:12
I was mixing it by hand when I first started my business almost
15:16
four years ago, about a year and a half in, I was like, I'm
15:21
getting too busy. I can't mix all this soil by
15:24
hand. So then I ended up buying a
15:27
cement mixer to mix all the soil and just Chuck all the
15:31
components in. So, so yes, I guess the
15:33
components are very important when it comes to a closely term,
15:37
making sure it's nice and airy, making sure that some of the
15:40
components are still a little bit water retentive.
15:44
But also as well, you know, I also add nutrients in there to
15:47
the soil, you know, to help the plants sort of thrive and grow.
15:52
As well. Yeah, perfect, perfect.
15:54
So just quickly on that again, that the soil that we choose has
16:01
to be or the the medium that we choose because you're putting
16:03
together your own one has to be a good quality.
16:06
So if you know when I'm talking about it, I talk about some sort
16:10
of aeration component. So something that's going to
16:13
allow some sort of drainage through it.
16:15
I talk about like a base water retentive style component, which
16:21
you might use cocoa or peat or something like this, some sort
16:24
of Moss, which is usually often really good.
16:27
And then I've got my say, compost as my third part, which
16:32
is a lot of the organic matter. It's got the life in it.
16:35
And then it's also going to be feeding that plant long term.
16:40
Now when I talk about soil in, in terms of our garden beds, our
16:44
pots and, and all of these types of things, I'm thinking about
16:47
how we, again, observing nature have this mulch layer that gets
16:52
created on the top of the soil. So from falling leaves, dead
16:56
insects, things like this become this mulch layer.
16:59
And then that's basically being broken down by the life in the
17:02
soil and turned into nutrients. So that's how nature self
17:06
sustains itself. Have you seen that in
17:10
terrariums? Is that something that you you
17:12
can do or achieve? Presumably this guy David did
17:16
this by having his plant just feed itself.
17:20
Have you seen that? Is it possible?
17:24
Look, when it comes to I guess, dead leaves falling into a
17:28
terrarium on the soil, what can happen is the leaves can mold
17:37
because it's a closed lid system.
17:40
The leaves can actually mold and then it then creates mold
17:45
through the terrarium because it's it's so high humidity.
17:50
And again, there's nowhere for the moisture to escape.
17:53
So I always encourage people with their terrariums, if
17:57
they've got dead leaves, whether they're, you know, yellow and
18:01
dead and you know, they haven't fallen off or they have fallen
18:03
off, to actually take them out of the terrariums, right?
18:07
Although in saying that, depending on how many spring
18:10
tails are in the terrarium, they do come along and start eating
18:15
at the dead, decaying leaves, which is obviously their
18:18
purpose. So they do help in the terrarium
18:23
as well, which is great. And that's why I put them into
18:26
all of my terms that I make and also in the workshops I, you
18:31
know, allow people to put them into their terrariums as well
18:35
that they make. Yeah, cool, because that's
18:37
adding in a little bit of life that's helping do some jobs for
18:40
you. That's not necessarily, you
18:42
know, it takes away some of that maintenance and that kind of
18:44
thing. I'm really interested how that
18:47
works and obviously so and you know, sorry for trying to pick
18:51
your brain on a nerdy part of the soil.
18:53
So just do what you can and the, yes, when you've got it down and
18:58
there's this high humidity level, I can totally see how it
19:01
would get a little bit, you know, yeah, fungal dominant.
19:05
It starts to really kind of go a little bit mouldy.
19:08
That's what you're trying to avoid as well, because then that
19:11
stifles the soil. There's no oxygen, carbon
19:14
dioxide exchange again. So then in terms of feeding your
19:20
terrariums, are you putting this in as part of your spray
19:25
watering? Are we adding in a liquid?
19:27
Are we just prepping the soil so it's got enough for a long term
19:31
project? What's sort of the feeding
19:33
schedule for your terrariums? So yeah, so it's quite
19:37
interesting. I do get this question asked
19:40
quite a bit in my workshops. And because of what I put in the
19:45
soil, it doesn't necessarily need any feeding once the
19:49
terrariums are mate. So I don't encourage people to
19:55
feed the terrariums with any type of liquid or fertilizers.
20:00
It can then, I guess ruin the balance that the terrarium is
20:05
making as well inside the inside that closed ecosystem.
20:11
You when I make the you know, the terrariums that I sell or
20:16
custom terrariums. Before they go out to the
20:19
customers, I do spray them with a special spray that actually
20:25
comes from Japan. Wow.
20:28
So, yeah. So basically this special spray
20:31
does give a little bit of nutrients to the plants and the
20:35
Moss that's inside, and then that should be enough for when
20:41
people take them home. But in the workshops, you know,
20:43
I don't spray the terrariums and they're fine.
20:47
Like I've had people come back to me, you know, a few years
20:50
later and that have done my workshop, you know, 2-3 years
20:54
ago. And I've said my terrarium is
20:57
thriving, and they've come back for a second, third workshop to
21:00
make a different, you know, glass jar.
21:02
Yeah. So yeah, so really there is no
21:06
feeding when it comes to the terrariums.
21:08
That's super interesting because obviously it's sorting itself
21:11
out. It's like reusing what it is and
21:15
also like the cycle of the nutrients within that enclosed
21:19
system or so you get those again as well.
21:22
So like the, the plant will grow bigger, some of it will drop the
21:26
miniscule bits. Obviously you can take away some
21:28
of the stuff so that you can monitor it so it's not getting
21:30
too mouldy, but some of it will drop feed the soil.
21:33
But you're also getting, you know that water cycle which is
21:36
carrying a lot of it as well. So you would never add any
21:39
compost, any worm castings or anything like this into the soil
21:43
layer? Say if what happens if it was
21:45
like 10 years old? Do you do you think that there
21:48
might be a place for it down the track or not so much?
21:53
Look, there may be a place for it down the track.
21:56
At the moment I don't have any terrariums that are 10 years
21:59
old. So I guess you know that my
22:02
terrarium that is 3 years old, it's still going strong and I
22:06
and I do monitor it. I I look at it every day and I
22:10
barely even touch it and it's just.
22:14
It's thriving. That's.
22:14
Fair. So yeah, and and and obviously
22:16
in my soil I put worm casting through the actual soil mix
22:22
itself. So cool.
22:24
So you've got all that nutrition in there.
22:25
It just like, it just really interests me.
22:27
And then I can imagine after say you've got a 10 year terrarium,
22:31
I would be so petrified changing anything about it because it
22:33
would just like you've got this thing that's growing for so long
22:36
and then you don't want to ruin it.
22:38
It would just it would be a nightmare.
22:41
That's that's super interesting. Interesting about that.
22:43
OK, so then, gosh, this has got my mind really going about all
22:47
of this kind of thing. I love the idea because the the
22:50
idea of a self-sustaining ecosystem is just something that
22:53
we take for granted, I think in in the real world.
22:57
And then the science of having to put it all together inside a
23:01
a bottle is just bizarre to me, But it works.
23:04
It works so well. So there's a couple other
23:06
factors that we we haven't really mentioned, one of them
23:10
being lighting, right? I presume because it's a closed
23:16
system, the air inside will heat up very quickly.
23:19
So direct sunlight, especially for a lot of these tropical
23:23
plants will be a no, no. So what sort of lighting are we
23:28
needing some supplemental lighting?
23:30
We needing just a nice sort of dimly lit spot in your house.
23:34
What are you suggesting for lighting?
23:37
So yeah, so you are correct. Direct lighting, you know,
23:41
direct sunlight onto a terrarium is a big no no.
23:46
It heats up the terrarium, it sweats and everything just dies
23:50
because it it just heats up too much.
23:53
So basically what I say when it comes to closed literariums is
23:58
indoors, They must be kept indoors.
24:00
People have asked me can I put them on my undercover veranda
24:04
outside? No.
24:06
There's too many weather elements out there.
24:09
So indoors, usually in a medium to brightly lit space without
24:14
putting it in direct sunlight. And I always tell people to
24:18
avoid putting it on a window sill right up against a window,
24:23
because again, the heat then ricochets off the window glass
24:27
onto the terrarium and still creates a problem when it comes
24:31
to heat in the terrarium because there's nowhere for the heat to
24:35
escape too. True, yeah.
24:37
You want consistency, don't you, In, in terms of like, well, at
24:40
least consistency in your environment because big
24:43
fluctuations will just 'cause even more stress inside there.
24:48
And what about like moving it around your house?
24:51
So if you've got it in one spot and you do a bit of a Renault or
24:54
you do a bit of a move house or something, are you looking to
24:58
try and recreate the spot as quickly as well as possible if
25:00
it's been thriving? Because I presume changing it
25:03
all the time again is going to throw a spanner in the works
25:06
possibly? Yeah, look, it could.
25:10
It could throw a spanner in the works when you are sort of
25:14
moving it around in different environments, but you want to
25:19
look for something quite similar in terms of lighting to where if
25:23
if you're going to move it. So if you're moving it to sort
25:26
of a medium to brightly lit space, that's fine, But I
25:29
wouldn't be, you know, having it sit for a year or two in a
25:32
medium lit area and then you go and put it in a low light space
25:37
because it's going to be like, oh, where's all my light gone?
25:41
So and, and look and you know, and if you do have, or you know,
25:45
you live in an apartment or you live in a, in a house that
25:48
doesn't get a lot of lights and a lot of your spaces are quite
25:53
dark, you can supplement it with other lighting as well.
25:59
Like with just a small grow light you can put sort of in the
26:02
space or over the top of the terrarium, but you don't want to
26:07
have that grow light on any more than sort of six hours or so.
26:12
So six hours is probably the Max.
26:15
And that's what I do with a lot of my terrariums that I make and
26:20
sell because I need space to put them all on shelves.
26:24
So I've got shelving organized with all grow lights sort of
26:28
under the shelving. And then they all, all the terms
26:31
are sort of lined up. And that's sort of how I keep
26:33
them going until sort of a customer comes to.
26:37
Yeah, perfect. That makes a lot of sense.
26:39
And yeah, I mean, all of this comes down to just observation
26:43
really being able to understand like, hey, just like with any
26:47
plant, you've just got to watch how it's doing and, and monitor
26:51
it and kind of just treat it nicely.
26:54
You don't want to intervene too quickly, I suppose as well.
26:59
I want to talk about the the other thing that I wanted to to
27:02
touch on is, is the plant selection a little bit more.
27:05
Now again, I'm aware that you have covered this plenty of
27:08
times before, but I want to talk about succession.
27:12
And what I mean by succession is that you might plant some plants
27:16
in there. Some are taller than others,
27:18
some are going to be bushing out.
27:20
We've also got the Moss under there as well that that is such
27:23
a crucial part, presumably filtering some of the water and
27:26
all of this cleaning it. So when you're thinking about
27:30
plant selection in that way, how far into the future are you
27:34
thinking about what those plants will look like?
27:40
Yeah, it's, it's quite interesting because I have sort
27:43
of tested different types of plants over the the years that
27:48
I've been making terrariums, which which is quite a long time
27:51
now. You know, I would say probably
27:54
I've been making terrariums for about 8 years.
27:57
So I was making them before I even started the business.
28:00
So and you and I guess that's how I learnt about what types of
28:05
plants to put in, what they're going to look like once they
28:08
actually grow in the terrarium. You know what, you know, there
28:12
could be a plant that really looks nice in the beginning and
28:14
then as it grows, it starts to look quite leggy or thin as it's
28:20
growing and then it sort of doesn't look very nice.
28:22
So you then need to trim it down.
28:25
So yeah, you see, you do think about it a little bit.
28:28
But in saying that, yeah, yeah, I guess so I'm just trying to
28:33
really trying to think about it, I guess.
28:35
Yeah, it it's just I, I do think about the types of plants that
28:39
I'm actually going to buy and what it they're actually going
28:42
to look like in the terrarium at the beginning.
28:44
And then as they grow and then with, you know, the plants as
28:48
well as they grow, you need to make sure that when you trim
28:52
them back, they're then going to look still nice once they're
28:56
trimmed back. So you need to think about all
28:58
of this when when I'm selecting what plants, you know, Ioffer in
29:04
closely terrariums or in my workshops, it it is quite
29:08
important because, you know, you could have some plants that you
29:12
know, they grow really tall and thin.
29:14
So you've got this really thin long stem and then the leaves
29:17
are up here and then they're touching the lid.
29:19
And then you're like, oh, but I need to trim it because it's
29:21
touching the lid and then you cut it off and then you just go
29:23
stalk. Yes, exactly.
29:25
Yeah, I can totally imagine. And the, the, the reason that I
29:29
say that is because as you just said, a plant that you put in
29:33
could grow and fill that space. What that's then doing with an
29:37
increased canopy size, more leaves, all of this, it's
29:40
blocking more light, it's creating probably, you know,
29:44
slightly more humidity in certain areas of it.
29:47
It might be then providing a better environment for a plant
29:53
underneath to fill that space. Is there room over the course of
29:58
a terrarium, say if you've got one for, you know, a fair few
30:00
years, is there room to kind of watch that happen and then go,
30:05
OK, there's this little gap there, I might go and fill that
30:08
with a little plant that might just sort of fill out underneath
30:11
that section or alright, let's try and build a little bit more
30:14
Moss around there. Is there room for that as you
30:17
go? Yeah, I I think there is
30:20
depending on what plants you've actually used in your close lit
30:24
terrarium there, there can be some room later on down the
30:28
track to add to to your terrariums.
30:32
Yeah, but mostly you're going to be trying to when you set it up,
30:36
you want to set it up for the long term, right, So that.
30:38
You pretty much. You're essentially not going to
30:40
be touching it because I'm, I'm bringing this gardening mindset
30:43
into like this kind of set and forget thing.
30:48
So then yeah, is there. Hey guys, really quickly jumping
30:52
in. I just want to remind you, if
30:53
you are not subscribed to this show, that is the number one
30:56
thing that you can do to show me your support.
30:59
So if you're finding value from this conversation and you're
31:02
deeply engaged, I would love you to hit the follow or subscribe
31:05
button. All right, back to the show, in
31:07
terms of the plants that you're choosing, can you go through a
31:11
couple that you just that you do like that you want to use?
31:14
And then I want to touch on Moss separately.
31:16
So we'll just do that the the other plants first.
31:18
What are some of the ones that you go to for that?
31:21
Yeah, sure. So my ultimate go to that I tell
31:26
everyone when they come to my workshops are petonias.
31:30
So petonias are one of the best plants that you can put in a
31:36
terrarium. They come in a variety of
31:40
different colours. And even when I run the
31:43
workshops, I have, you know, a range of different colours of
31:46
petonias and people are just so excited because they're like, Oh
31:49
my God, there's just so much colour.
31:51
Like do I go for pink? Do I go for red?
31:53
Do I go for, you know, green with a splash of pig?
31:57
Like it's just endless when it comes to petonias and the types
32:00
of colours and, and they're very Hardy in plants.
32:03
And when they grow in a terrarium, they don't just grow
32:06
up, they tend to grow out as well, like a little bit.
32:11
So they tend to start to spread a little bit.
32:14
So I've got terrariums that I've got on my shelf that, you know,
32:19
two years old and I'm actually starting to, to trim them back
32:25
and reuse those petonia cuttings to then replant them in other
32:29
terrariums. Cool.
32:31
Because with Petonias, you can also take cuttings.
32:35
So you, you know, for your listeners that don't know that,
32:40
you know, you've got a node which is the thicker part.
32:42
So you're basically cutting just above the node.
32:46
Sorry, no, sorry, just below the node.
32:49
Then you can replant that into sort of another terrarium and
32:53
then the roots, you know, in a month or so will just start
32:56
slowly growing. And then they're just great for
32:58
Tony's are just great. So they're probably my go to
33:02
plant. Yeah, OK.
33:04
And like you said, when when you're replanting them in there,
33:09
anytime I've ever cloned anything, it requires a lot of
33:12
humidity. So it's perfect.
33:14
You're just sitting in the soil and it's like a perfect little
33:17
cloning station. So it's just going to do really,
33:20
really well. Yeah.
33:22
Any others that you go to before we touch on Moss?
33:27
I I do sort of look at some of the the pothus range, but the
33:33
small sort of the the snow queen pothus I use quite a bit in some
33:38
of the my larger terrariums because they look quite nice.
33:41
There's a bit more space and once they start growing, they
33:44
look quite nice as well of as well as like your pilias,
33:48
because they can sort of grow, you know, long and grow like a
33:53
little bit of a vine depending on what type of pillar you're,
33:56
you know, you're putting in. So so they're quite good as all.
34:00
They're probably more of my go to and also the button button
34:04
Fern button ferns are quite nice in terrariums as well.
34:08
They can though start to grow a little bit leggy sometimes and
34:15
then you just sort of just trim the tops off.
34:17
But it doesn't matter if you trim the tops off, they still
34:20
look sort of nice down the bottom, so.
34:24
I imagine the legginess, for the most part, would come from
34:28
lighting differences. That's just my guess.
34:33
But then, yeah, so you're choosing all of these plants.
34:36
And it does get dictated by the size of the terrarium,
34:40
obviously, because you've got to use fewer or more plants.
34:44
Or you can go for something that's going to be a little bit
34:46
bigger if you've got a bigger space.
34:48
And that makes a lot more sense. Let's talk about Moss then.
34:52
So Moss seems to be included quite a lot in terrariums.
34:57
Do you have any idea as to why that is and what are the
35:00
qualities of Moss or what what are some of the good things that
35:05
Moss brings into a terrarium? So with Moss, it does make the
35:13
terrarium look like part of nature.
35:16
So you're really again bringing in that green and that nature
35:20
feel into a terrarium. So it just feels like this mini
35:24
mini Weld inside a glass jar that you've just, you know, put
35:28
on your coffee table for example, and it just brightens
35:32
up the space. So it just brings that natural
35:36
element into the terrarium. But also as well with the Moss,
35:41
it does create a little bit of humidity in there as well, you
35:46
know, rather than just putting all rocks in there.
35:49
So it's just plants and rocks, which is still quite nice.
35:52
Yeah, the the the Moss brings some level of humidity into the
35:57
terrarium as well. Yeah.
35:59
And like what I know about Moss is that it's a very good
36:04
filtration system. So the the moisture that goes
36:07
through the Moss will get cleaned out.
36:09
So it's going to help a lot with the cleaning of it.
36:13
Obviously you've going to you're going to have a lot of life into
36:15
in that soil medium in the water and all of these types of things
36:18
that are again, helping to combat your fungal spores,
36:22
things like this that are going to create problems.
36:24
And it's a good ground cover. So it's kind of keeping the
36:28
moisture at the right sort of level in the ground.
36:30
It can use some of it if it needs to.
36:33
And I, I really love the contrast, as you say, of that
36:36
beautiful green. Is the Moss one of the hardest
36:40
parts about it, or is it an easy part?
36:42
Because I imagine growing Moss is quite difficult.
36:45
Yes. So growing Moss is quite
36:47
difficult, I find. Yeah.
36:50
I. Have Yeah I've I've attempted it
36:53
and failed to grow. Moss.
36:56
It's hard. It is really, really hard
36:58
because you have to have the right environment for Moss to
37:02
grow and you have to have a like a really good set up, you know,
37:07
in your backyard or whatever space you have.
37:09
You have to have a really good set up where water is basically
37:13
constantly flowing in that space.
37:16
So it's really, really important that you have, you know, a
37:21
proper space set up to grow Moss.
37:24
And you know, I may attempt it down the track when I have time.
37:28
I haven't actually had the time to, you know, to really invest
37:32
and yeah, and really invest. And I would love to and really
37:36
invest in, you know, growing Moss.
37:39
But at the moment I either, you know, collect it myself,
37:43
obviously not from national parks, yeah, you know, from
37:47
other sort of waterways or streams.
37:50
Or if I'm falling short then I do order from a Moss supplier as
37:55
well. Yeah, beautiful.
37:57
I reckon it's just such a integral part of these types of
38:00
systems and it seems to be used quite a lot, which is really
38:04
cool because it is an underappreciated plant or
38:08
Organism. I'm not even sure what the cross
38:11
of the two that that brings a lot to the ecosystem itself.
38:15
So that one's really cool. The next question I have, I'm
38:20
sorry if I'm jumping a little bit all over the place, is the,
38:23
is the container itself right? Can you just, can you use just
38:27
about anything? Does the shape of it matter?
38:30
I've seen so many of them obviously are in in bowls like
38:33
what be like a fishbowl with the lid.
38:35
Does the shape of it matter? Apart from, the only thing that
38:39
I can think of is the fact of where the water condensates.
38:44
So the shape doesn't matter so much.
38:49
What matters is the lid that you're using the, the clarity of
38:54
the glass. So the clarity of the glass
38:56
actually matters because if your glass is, you know, frosty or
39:00
it's like bubbly, the, the way the light's coming through, it's
39:05
going to filter that light coming through.
39:07
So it's not going to be the same light.
39:08
So the clarity of the glass is important and it can't be like a
39:11
dimply glass or anything like that.
39:15
So the shape, shape doesn't matter so much, but the lid.
39:20
So the lids are really important.
39:22
And this is something else that I speak about to customers is
39:27
that I always say to steer away from timber lids, bamboo lids,
39:33
they mold. So regardless, I've tried
39:36
everything from painting, you know, the lid with a clay, you
39:40
know, mold repellent, lacquer, it will still eventually mould
39:44
because of the moisture, the high humidity.
39:47
So I always tell you know, customers glass lid, cork lid.
39:52
You can use perspec lids as well, especially with a lot of
39:55
those fish bowls. People use Perspex lids,
39:59
although each lid will work differently with the ecosystem.
40:04
So if you're using a glass lid it the the terrarium.
40:10
Holds the moisture in a lot better, whereas if you're using
40:15
a cork lid, the cork is porous so water can evaporate a bit
40:20
quicker through a cork lid. Still works, but in anything
40:25
with a cork lid may need a little bit more frequent
40:29
watering than a glass lid. Glass really holds the moisture
40:32
in. Then you've got your perspex
40:34
lids. They're not too bad as well.
40:36
The Perspex lids and again with the Perspex lid, it depends on,
40:41
you know, does the lid fit over and just past, you know, the
40:45
shape of the bowl. Because if it doesn't and it's
40:48
too small and it doesn't sort of sit nicely and you've got like a
40:52
gap, then again, air's getting through, so you're going to
40:57
potentially have to water it a little bit more.
41:00
Right, that makes a lot of sense.
41:02
The the actual ceiling of the environment is so important
41:08
because that is the number one probably thing that you're
41:13
trying to control in this instance.
41:16
Because everything else is doing its own job within Like you
41:20
said, you can only just come in, do a little trim here and there,
41:23
a little bit of top up of a couple of sprays.
41:25
But for the most part, if you have a little bit of a gap in
41:29
there or something like this and you're just going to be, you
41:32
know, button your head up against the wall most of the
41:34
time. Yep, this is this is really,
41:38
really good information in terms of I want to then bring it now
41:43
to your role as a facilitator in workshops and educating people.
41:50
I've heard a little bit about your story and I really love
41:52
your story. And again, I'm going to be
41:54
pointing people over so that they can go and hear a little
41:56
bit of that on Michael's podcast on the Gardener's Lodge.
42:00
But in terms of your experience now working with people, what do
42:06
you think it is about terrariums that really fascinate people?
42:10
What do you think it is that brings so much joy out of when
42:14
they when they see one or when they can create one?
42:17
I think there's just something special about them that people
42:20
seem to just absolutely love. And me included.
42:24
Yeah. So I guess with a lot of the
42:27
people that come through the workshops, they, they just want
42:31
something that's easy to care for, you know, not much
42:35
maintenance. They can go away on holidays and
42:38
not have to worry and then come back and it's still alive.
42:41
Maybe their house plants are, you know, slowly withering away
42:45
because they haven't had water. But the terrarium can literally
42:48
just thrive with very minimal care.
42:51
So people are looking for easy to care for plants.
42:55
They can sort of just sit and forget also as well.
42:59
People like that sort of that feeling of bringing nature
43:03
inside. So some people that come through
43:06
my workshops, they are basically creating or trying to mimic, you
43:11
know, a rainforest or, you know, something that they've seen on a
43:14
bushwalk, for example. So, so they try and sort of I
43:18
guess mimic that in a sense and yeah, and, and bringing that
43:23
then indoors into their space. Yeah, they're getting a piece of
43:27
the outdoors and kind of getting to watch it unfold in front of
43:30
them. It's like having a nice window
43:32
into a nice natural backyard, but really it's just right there
43:36
on your coffee table or something like that.
43:38
Yeah. Exactly.
43:40
What about kids do you have a lot of kids come through?
43:44
I have a few kids that come through, probably not as much as
43:48
as the adults. I do run some, you know, kids
43:52
workshops here and there. I, I probably run more adult
43:55
workshops, I'd say than kids, but I'm looking to run a little
43:59
bit more kids workshops next year.
44:01
So that is, that is the plan. And I guess the kids that have
44:06
come through the workshops, they've loved it to them.
44:08
It's like, you know, making, I guess, something from nature,
44:13
making it in a jar. It's fun.
44:15
It's getting involved, especially the older kids, I
44:18
guess it's learning about or putting into practice what
44:22
they've learned in class about ecosystems and about plants.
44:27
And so that they find that fun. And then you've got sort of the
44:30
little, little kids that just love, just enjoy just to make
44:33
something. And to them, because you know,
44:36
when you're making terrariums, you're using all these really
44:38
long tools and kids are like, oh, it's like the game operation
44:42
that we play. So then there's that fun element
44:47
for the the younger ones as well.
44:48
Yeah, definitely. And they can get, you know, get
44:51
involved in and design it too. Like the as you said earlier,
44:54
there's so many different colours and things you can put
44:58
in your terrarium. I presume a lot of the fun for
45:01
you is that creative aspect of being able to make something
45:04
look really beautiful. Is that hold true for you?
45:08
Yeah, I believe so. I, I really love I I guess
45:11
that's why I love creating terrariums is sort of making
45:14
something beautiful that someone can, you know, take home or even
45:19
give us a gift. And, you know, people like, oh,
45:21
wow, this is just amazing. Like, this looks beautiful.
45:25
And as much as, you know, as a gift you can give, you know,
45:30
flowers, they're gonna die eventually.
45:33
So with the terrarium, I guess that's what mine, what I get and
45:38
the enjoyment that I get is that people can take it home or give
45:41
it as a gift and it will stay alive for years to come.
45:45
And yeah. And it's also relaxing as well.
45:48
Like I find making terrariums quite relaxing, especially when
45:52
you know, it's not, you know, when I'm not sort of churning
45:55
out, you know, the the same terrariums which is in my
45:59
collect, my, you know, my usual collection.
46:01
But if someone comes to me and they're like, I want you to make
46:04
a custom terrarium for either myself or a customer, and, you
46:08
know, these are the colors that I want, you go forth and design
46:11
it. I trust your design.
46:13
And I'm like, great, this is I I love it when people come to me
46:16
and they're like, I just want these color elements.
46:18
I trust your design. Go forth.
46:21
Yeah. Because then I'm really in my
46:22
element. And an example of that was a
46:25
couple of years ago for a wedding.
46:28
So I had a customer come up to me and they wanted a big display
46:33
terrarium for their wedding at their wedding reception.
46:37
So and so this was a basically a large fish tank.
46:41
And you can actually see it on my Instagram page.
46:45
I have pictures from a couple of years ago on my Instagram page
46:49
in front of this fish tank. And I had to actually design it
46:53
on a design program first because it was so big.
46:56
It was for a wedding. I'm like, I need to actually
46:59
design this first on paper or, you know, on a program before I
47:04
actually make it into a large scale.
47:08
And that's basically what I did for this really large sized
47:11
room. And I, and it was, it was quite
47:13
fun because, you know, they gave me a little bit of what they
47:17
wanted. You know, they wanted a bit of a
47:19
rainforest. They wanted all Moss and just
47:22
sort of elements of like big rocks, which I use dragon stone.
47:27
So they're like really nice big rocks with some nice sort of, I
47:32
guess tan, brown colors in it. And yeah.
47:35
And I really enjoyed making that terrarium.
47:38
It was, it was really fun and, and the customers loved it.
47:42
And they still have it as their, you know, in their house and
47:46
they've kept it as a memento from their wedding.
47:48
And they even put like a little trinket inside in inside the
47:53
terrarium from from the wedding. Oh, now it makes me wish that we
47:57
did that. I'm going to get, I tell my wife
48:00
we need to get married again. I'll build a terrarium.
48:03
That's such a cool idea. But it is, it's less memento
48:06
that you can keep. It's a living memento of like,
48:09
you know, your whole marriage, your whole existence and all of
48:11
this moving on. That's really, really beautiful.
48:14
And they've given you creative license.
48:15
I totally understand what you mean by that, because you, you
48:19
know, as a creative myself, like through music and things, I used
48:22
to get a lot of people asking for specific things that I would
48:25
then create for them. And it's so difficult when
48:28
someone comes and they have, they know what they think they
48:31
want and they're trying to sort of force you into making, not
48:35
necessarily force you, but like twist your arm into making that
48:39
for them exactly how they want it.
48:41
And they go, ah, but this all but that.
48:42
And it takes away all of your creative expression away from
48:46
you. So when someone comes in with
48:47
that trust and they go, yes, I love the type kind of work that
48:51
you do, just do you. But like, these are the kind of
48:54
elements that we like. And then sprinkle a bit of that
48:57
in as inspiration. Then you can really just let
49:00
your creative juices go and like just go and go to town with it.
49:03
Do you find that as well as that kind of hitting the nail on the
49:06
head? Yeah, that is that.
49:08
That's very much so. It's the same for me.
49:10
Yeah, Cool, cool. I yeah.
49:12
It's just something that's like, you know, in any creative
49:15
element, you just really want to be able to express yourself and
49:18
do your thing. And this is obviously a way in
49:22
which you you find that. So do you have any other cool
49:25
stories about terrariums that you've come across before?
49:28
Obviously I referenced that one of this guy for 50 years that's
49:31
done one and barely opened it. But any other ones that stick
49:35
out as ones that you've made, ones that you've seen while
49:37
travelling or you know, just heard about or anything like
49:41
that? What are some of the things that
49:42
really excite you about terrariums out there?
49:47
Yeah. So I guess one story that I can
49:50
talk about is Japan. So yeah, Japan is amazing.
49:55
Like I went to a place called Adalab ADA Lab and they're in
50:05
Japan. They've got a few stores around
50:08
Japan and I first found it about two years ago and it was just
50:14
amazing. This store is amazing.
50:15
And and they, I guess do fish tanks as well as sort of
50:19
terrariums. And they also do what's called
50:21
paladariums, which is a little bit more water inside the
50:25
terram. And they're built a bit
50:26
differently. Yeah, paladariums are a little
50:30
bit different to a close LED terrarium, but they're still
50:32
really cool. And just going into that space
50:36
and, and that shop in Japan and having a look at how they
50:40
actually create terrariums sort of started to give me ideas and
50:44
inspiration of how I create terrariums.
50:48
Yeah. And so I so I brought that
50:51
knowledge back with me when I, when I visited.
50:55
And then only just this year, I went back to Japan again and I
50:59
went back to the store because I'm like, I need to go back
51:03
there. Like it's just amazing these ADA
51:05
lab stores and what they do is just absolutely really amazing
51:09
how they create terrariums and and and and the plants that they
51:14
use. So some of the plants that they
51:16
use, we can't get here, which is very annoying.
51:21
Like can I just put you on a plane and take you home with me?
51:25
And you can't because of the fire security?
51:28
But yeah, so if if I always say to people, if you ever go to
51:33
Japan and you really love plants and terrariums or even want to
51:39
get into paladariums, go to add a lab in Japan.
51:44
They've got a few stores around and you, you're just mesmerized.
51:49
I've seen you. You're absolutely right.
51:51
The Japanese do things to this insane ability, like they've
51:56
just got this fine detail that's just incredible in so many
52:00
things that they do. And my friend Steve actually has
52:04
this really cool book that's from this Japanese guy and it's
52:07
all about, I'm going to call it a fish tank terrarium.
52:13
I've no idea whether that's the right thing, but it's
52:14
essentially basically fish tank styles.
52:17
But they're all just plant ecosystems in there, some with
52:21
very minimal water, some full of water, obviously a complete
52:24
aquatic like plant system. And the, the design, the
52:28
attention to detail, some of the plants in there is just
52:31
incredible. It looks just like a work of
52:34
art, but it's this living thing. And I can imagine, yeah, going
52:40
there, seeing all of that inspiration and just being like,
52:42
Oh my gosh, I want to come back and just do all of this to mine
52:45
and create all these different things.
52:47
But it comes along with a a science in terms of just how
52:52
they've really thought about each plants relationship with
52:57
each other. And you know, yeah, how it will
53:00
progress over time and all of this type of thing.
53:05
It is a work of art when you're actually looking at it and
53:07
you're just going like, Oh my goodness, how is this even
53:10
possible? One thing I did notice with
53:12
those as well is that quite a few of them had like wood or log
53:18
elements like break say like a piece of driftwood or something
53:22
like this. Yep.
53:24
What you said before with wood and things like this could
53:28
potentially have that rotting feature.
53:31
Do you ever use wood in your terrariums?
53:34
Do you ever use wooden features? And is there anything to be
53:37
careful of when we're thinking about that?
53:41
Yeah, so my display term that I've spoken a few times about
53:46
now that has wood inside, but you have to prepare it before
53:54
you actually put it in a terrarium.
53:57
So and and it's basically driftwood that you that I bought
54:01
from an aquarium. What you actually have to do so
54:05
it doesn't mold over. And I've tested this because I
54:09
was like when I first bought the driftwood and I'd read about,
54:14
oh, you need to pre prepare and I'll, and this is like a few
54:16
years ago and I was like, oh, I'm just gonna Chuck it in there
54:20
and see what happens. And sure enough, it just got
54:24
this green mold all over it. And I was like, yeah, that's
54:29
what So I had to pull it out. And anyway, so, and pretty much
54:35
what I do now with any wood driftwood that you're going to
54:40
actually put into a terrarium one, if you're collecting it
54:43
from your garden, you know, they do recommend to pre boil it
54:48
first to take out any impurities and, and whatnot and bacteria
54:53
that's in the wood that you may be then bringing into a, a fresh
54:57
terrarium. But when, when, when I buy the
55:00
driftwood from the aquariums, I then have to still pre prepare
55:05
it. So I actually soak it in a
55:08
bucket of water for about two weeks or so.
55:12
And what that actually does is it starts getting the wood used
55:16
to being in I guess a high moisture environment, but you
55:21
have to change the water almost every day.
55:24
Wow, okay. Yeah.
55:25
And then basically after the two weeks I lay it out, I dry it and
55:31
then once it's fully dry then I can start using it in
55:34
terrariums. Gosh, that's that's an amazing
55:36
process. I didn't even think about that.
55:38
I would have done exactly what you did and just whacked it
55:40
straight in. I get the idea of this kind of
55:42
quarantine or like getting rid of any pathogens or anything
55:45
like that. You don't want to bring in
55:46
there. This that leads nicely into sort
55:51
of something that I want to touch on lastly is the the
55:54
introduction of the insects that you bring in.
55:57
So remind me which insects that you bring in it?
56:01
You say lace wings? Spring tails.
56:04
Spring tails. Sorry, I don't know why I said
56:05
lace wings, but yeah, so that's OK.
56:07
Spring tails. Tell me about the spring tails.
56:09
Tell me also about anything else that people use in terms of
56:13
introducing any life in their bugs, insects, whatever.
56:17
Worms. Yeah.
56:19
What else can we do? So yeah, so, so we, I use spring
56:24
tiles, as I mentioned in all of my terrariums.
56:26
And the reason for this is spring tiles are like janitors
56:30
for your terrarium. So they basically keep it clean.
56:34
They'll even go sort of crawling along, you know, on the glass
56:39
and make sure they keep the glass clean as well.
56:42
So they really are janitors for your terrarium, which is why
56:45
they should go in all types of closed literiums, not open
56:49
because they're going to start climbing out.
56:50
It has to be closed literarium. And yeah, so, and I've actually
56:55
got a blog on my website if anyone wants to read about
56:58
spring tails. So that is actually on my
57:00
website. But also as well, you can put
57:04
isopods in a terrarium, although with isopods there's a little
57:09
bit more involved. They're not just like spring
57:12
tails where you can just pop them in and they'll do their
57:15
magic and they're fine spring tails if you don't feed them and
57:21
they will eat your plant leaves. Wow, OK.
57:24
So, and, and the ways you can feed them is sterilized leaf
57:29
litter. So you can put sterilized leaf
57:32
litter into the terrarium and that's their food source.
57:36
So then they don't go and eat your actual living plants.
57:39
Because I, I've actually had that happen with one customer.
57:43
They wanted to put isopods in and I said, look, that's fine.
57:46
I ordered the isopods and at the time I wasn't very well versed
57:50
on isopods. I knew about them and I knew you
57:52
could put them in closely terrariums, but and I knew that,
57:56
you know, they needed Leafly to to eat.
57:57
But apart from that, I didn't know much more.
58:00
And then that's how I started to research and we figured out that
58:04
the reason why all the leaves are disappearing is because the
58:07
isopods have no food. So they're eating the leaves
58:10
instead to keep to keep going. So yeah.
58:14
So there is a little bit more behind having isopods in your
58:17
closed lid terrariums. Some people then also want to
58:21
make terrariums for frogs. Oh yeah.
58:25
Again, you need to make sure that the plants that you're
58:28
putting in a safe for the frog and that's again another
58:33
different type of terrarium. And I always say to people, you
58:36
can do it, but you need to research about the frog that
58:40
you're putting in and make sure that the environment and the the
58:44
plants that you're putting in there is going to be safe for
58:46
them and and the frog is going to be fine.
58:49
Yeah, I guess totally. And even giving them like the
58:52
amount of oxygen and whatever and air and all sorts of things.
58:56
Like it's it, there's so much when there's living things in.
58:58
Well, I mean they're all living things, but I just mean when
59:01
you've got these larger living beings and then this goes back
59:03
to what you're saying earlier about the larger the container,
59:07
the the less, you know, problems we're probably going to have the
59:10
most self-sustaining it is you've got a bigger margin of
59:14
error in terms of like, you know, when you're getting the
59:18
container size wrong. And that's cool.
59:21
I like how that there's some living things in there, and I've
59:23
seen ones with fish where you've kind of got this little, I don't
59:26
know, sort of pond thing or like little dish of water where
59:30
there's a couple of fish in it. And then the terrarium sort of
59:32
built on the banks around that. Things like that.
59:36
Again, all of these elements are adding complexity.
59:40
So it's something that the environment then has to cope
59:44
with. It's got to then change around
59:45
and adapt to and all of these types of things.
59:47
So really, really cool though. Tell me lastly, Cass, what's
59:53
what's exciting you next about terrariums?
59:55
What are you trying to look into to level up your terrarium game?
59:59
And what do you think is the sort of the next few steps for
1:00:02
you? Yeah, that's a, that's a hard
1:00:06
one. I've got a lot sort of in my
1:00:08
head that I'm looking at planning for next year.
1:00:13
So I'm, I'm potentially looking at running online workshops for
1:00:19
those people, you know, that may follow me or come across me and
1:00:27
you know, they live overseas or they live Interstate and
1:00:30
basically running online like shops.
1:00:33
So that's I would do 1. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
1:00:37
So, so that's sort of what I'm looking at for next year is
1:00:41
possibly being able to run online workshops.
1:00:43
But obviously with that, you know, I'd have to have a good
1:00:45
setup as you know, as a podcaster, you need to have a
1:00:49
good setup. So maybe I'll come to you for
1:00:51
some tips on the setting up. I'm setting up a room.
1:00:54
But anyway, so that's sort of one, I guess exciting thing when
1:00:58
it comes to what I'm looking at for next year.
1:01:01
As I touched on before, I guess when it comes to my workshops
1:01:05
itself is running a few more kids workshops for next year.
1:01:11
Yeah, which will be exciting, especially for the local area.
1:01:15
And yeah, and in terms of terrariums themselves, I think I
1:01:20
want to attempt another tank terrarium and yeah, look at
1:01:28
really putting my creativity into it, even thinking of doing
1:01:33
maybe a Jurassic Park theme inside this tank terrarium,
1:01:39
which dinosaurs and and whatnot. So that's sort of been on my
1:01:45
mind to do for a while. So there's a few sort of a few
1:01:49
things that are coming up and yeah.
1:02:09
Beautiful. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you
1:02:11
so much for listening. I was thrilled to have cast on.
1:02:15
Like I said, I had heard her episode on Michael's podcast and
1:02:19
it was such a good introduction. I just had to go and ask all of
1:02:22
these questions that someone like me who's really interested
1:02:25
in soil health just absolutely needs to know.
1:02:29
So I hope you enjoyed the episode.
1:02:31
As I said earlier, go and check out the links in the
1:02:33
description. If you didn't check out
1:02:35
Michael's podcast, do so. It's really, really good.
1:02:37
Also, go and follow cast. She runs these incredible
1:02:40
workshops. If you're a Sydney local, I
1:02:43
highly suggest checking them out.
1:02:45
You can go and learn how to build your own and you can take
1:02:48
one home and have this precious ecosystem that you've created to
1:02:52
go and put somewhere beautiful in your home.
1:02:54
And as she mentioned, you get this little piece of the
1:02:57
outdoors, a little piece of nature that you can sort of sit
1:03:00
and watch unfold in front of your very eyes.
1:03:02
So I got a lot of inspiration out of this.
1:03:04
I can't wait to build my own terrarium one day.
1:03:07
And I'm sure you all did as well.
1:03:10
Finally from me, this is the final episode for the year that
1:03:15
you will hear a guest. This is episode 49.
1:03:18
So it's been a crazy year. We've nearly wrapped up 50
1:03:22
episodes, but next episode I'm going to be taking you through a
1:03:26
recap of the year. I'm going to pull out the
1:03:29
highlights, my favorite parts of my favorite conversations, and
1:03:34
I'm going to put them together in a little bit of compilation
1:03:36
so that you get the absolute best of the best of this
1:03:40
incredible first year of the shared Organic Show podcast.
1:03:44
I'm so grateful to everybody that's listened so far and is
1:03:47
following along for the journey. Remember, follow along on your
1:03:52
platform of choice because that really helps the show find more
1:03:55
people, find a bigger audience and get more people as we know,
1:03:59
inspired and empowered to get into the garden.
1:04:03
So that's it from me. I'm very excited to see you on
1:04:06
episode 50, but otherwise, take care and bye for now.