Many people ask the question of watering the terrarium before and after it is created. How often and how much water to spray are common questions, and many people overwatering their terrariums end up killing the plants. Let’s discuss how to water the terrarium plants and what tool we need for this purpose.
The most important tool for watering your plants in terrarium is a spray bottle, or mister. It often has two different spraying powers, a light mist and a more powerful spray.
Terrarium watering technique
The main technique to remember with watering the plants in your terrarium is to never aim at the surface of the plants or their leaves. This can easily destroy your plants as they are fragile, or ruin their positioning and design. The correct technique for watering is to spray water to the sides of the plants and on the soil, stopping every time to check how wet it is.
Terrarium and condensation
Make sure not to water your terrarium plants when there is condensation on the glass surface. This is because plants breathe, and during the photosynthesis they produce condensation which also increases amount of heat inside the terrarium (especially in closed ones). This means that this condensation will eventually leak down to the soil and water it again.
If you have made a mistake and poured too much water on the soil, you should correct this as soon as possible. You can use paper towels to absorb the excess water from the soil. Another option would be to place your terrarium under the sun, to accelerate the process of water evaporation.
You should always ventilate your closed terrarium by opening the lid and letting the air come out and condensation disappear. Watering also depends on type of the container, for example you should not water your closed fish bowl terrarium very often, but you need to water open fish bowl terrarium regularly .
With closed fish terrarium you should wipe out the condensation, let it ventilate and then close the lid again. You should also mist plants glass bowls or glass globes and water plants in closed jars.
Apothecary vases do not need much misting and cloche dome bell jars require both wiping and watering every 2-3 weeks. Wardian cases create excellent design and have a window which can be opened to let the air for removing condensation.
Make your own decisions…
Watering your terrarium depends on the season, too. Don’t go too much on watering your plants and always make your own decisions based on how wet or dry the soil is. Remember that terrariums do not have any drainage system, and the excess water can’t be removed.
Try keeping the soil moist and not too wet, without any water leaking. This will help to keep your terrarium healthy, but overwatering your plants will cause root damage, rotting and death of your plants. It is always a good idea to underwater rather than overwater your plants.
Plant types
Different types of plants need their own way of watering. Air plants like light spraying, so do not squirt them with a high-powered stream of water. Succulents can handle a higher stream sprays, but not on their leaves either. Also consider the size of a container, the larger it is, more water they will need.
Succulents and watering.
Let’s review how much water you need for your succulent-based container terrarium. Please remember to ventilate your succulents from time to time. For succulents, spray them with water every 7-10 days (every 10-15 days in winter).
Summer months is an active time when succulents grow, which means they need more water, every 7-8 days as necessary. There is no need to water your plants very often in winter and you can stick to watering your terrarium once in 10 days to 2 weeks.
How much water to pour? You can follow my guideline, which is around 60 ml of water for small sized containers (13-20cm). Another tip would be to pour around 10 ml of water under each plant. For medium sized container (20-25cm) pour around 120 ml of water. Large containers (25-35cm) with succulents would need around 225 ml of water.
Signs of overwatering and underwatering succulents in terrarium
Succulents can be easily underwatered or overwatered in terrariums and you need to watch out for the signs of both. Underwatering symptoms include falling leaves. If you also notice brownish spots on leaves, make sure to increase the amount of water to revive the plants.
Overwatered succulent has weak yellow or white leaves. The main symptom of overwatering is dead roots due to lack of oxygen, so take out your plant and check it for rotting roots.
If you find any black roots, remove them and plant it back to the terrarium. Then, reduce amount of water given and see if it revives. If it doesn’t, take it out from the terrarium and plant a new succulent.
Air plants and watering
I would highly recommend a misting technique for watering your air plants. This is the best technique as you do not to take your plant out, as it’s often connected to some other parts in the terrarium. For this, use the mister and spray the water on the entire surface of your air plant.
Do not worry to spray some water on its leaves, too. The same rule with watering more frequently in the summer months applies. Water them less in cold weather and winter. How often to water air plants depends on indoors temperature, but aim to do it around 3-5 times a week.
Air plants grow in warm climates and air ventilation is also massively important for them. So, when keeping them in a container terrarium make sure to ventilate it well.
One of the popular air plants are tillandsias. Even though tillandsias take in moisture from the environment, it is still important to spray them with water. Please do not forget to mist them few times a week, as misting technique does not provide these plants with big water supply to last longer than few days.
Overwatering and underwatering of air plants
Symptoms or plants being underwatered are bent and brown leaves. If there are still healthy leaves and you think that you can save the plant, submerge it into the water for 6-7 hours and then leave to dry.
If the plant becomes healthy again, all is fine, but if it continues to lose leaves then you should remove the plant from the terrarium. Overwatering does not happen too often with air plants, as they tend to use as much water as they need.
But still, make sure to check if plants are dry before watering them again. Rotting can happen with any plants and you should not water them too much.
There are other methods for watering large or embedded air plants, which is by submerging. Submerging works by soaking the plant in the water for around 30 minutes. This technique will help you make sure that your air plants gets enough water. Fully submerge your plant and shake it a little so it takes all the water it needs.
You can also rinse the air plant. For this, take it out from the terrarium display and rinse it under the tap water for few minutes. After that make sure to shake it gently so that no water is left on the sides or leaves. Then, place the plant back in after it has dried.
Watering your plants in the long-shaped thin containers can be quite hard. For this, use the simple method: take the thin funnel and put in on the top of the soil. Then, run around 20 ml of water down the tube and repeat if needed.
Carnivorous plants in terrarium and watering
Carnivorous plants make the terrarium look interesting. Plants, such as Venus flytrap or pitcher plant also require frequent watering directly to their roots.
Make sure to pour clean water (distilled or bottled) on the soil so it reaches their roots. Water them around once a week (less in winter). Avoid using tap water as these plants react badly to water pollution.
Watering of open vs closed terrarium plants
Stick to watering times discussed above, with open terrarium plants. However, plants in closed terrariums require less watering because of the building up heat and condensation that happens inside.
Again, use your own judgement, but I would highly advice to check the soil first to feel if it’s dry or wet. I would recommend to water closed terrarium plants every 2-3 weeks. Also remember to open the lid once in a while (every 2 weeks or so) to let some fresh air inside the terrarium.