Making a succulent terrarium has been on my bucket list for a while now, and I finally got around to making one today! It turned out like a miniature garden that I have set right next to my monitor, and I love the green energy that it brings to my room! It was super easy to make, so I’m really excited to share with you how to make a succulent terrarium.
Back in February, I went to a flower market up in Seoul to buy some succulents. They cost between $1~$2 a piece, which was cheaper than the flowers shops that had them marked for $5-$6. They looked a lot prettier back in February, but after the inanely humid Korean summer they have sprawled out all over the place, looking very messy indeed. After seeing terrariums of succulents for sale at outrageous prices that started at $75 and hiked to an upwards of $110, I decided it was high time to make my own terrarium of succulents for a fraction of that price. All you really need is an empty container, some succulents of your choice, and a succulent potting soil mix. I got a 2L succulent potting soil mix and some decorative white pebbles; both of which cost less than 2 bucks each. The actual glass terrarium cost me around $35 including shipping. It wasn’t cheap, but it was practically half the price of buying a ready-made terrarium of succulents. I think I may try making one in a mason jar, or perhaps an empty salsa jar once I can get my hands on one.
You don’t need any fancy gardening equipment, just a spoon. A gardening spade would be a bit too big for dealing with succulents anyway. I forgot to fill the bottom with the pebbles first, and just shoveled the potting soil directly into the terrarium. Hopefully this won’t cause any problems down the road, but if you have any pebbles to fill the bottom, you may want to do that first! I read somewhere that it’s important not to firmly pat down the soil, so just lightly shovel the dirt into your container of choice.
If you have succulent seedlings, then you want to carefully take them out of the pot and avoid brushing off too much dirt from the roots.
Scoop a small hole in the dirt and place the succulent into the hole, then fill in the rest of the hole with dirt.
If you have succulents that have sprouted up like a beanstalk, then it’s time to do some trimming!
I basically cut off the top part, and then plucked off the two “petals” on the stem. Keep these “petals” since you can grow these too (more on that below)!
Then I stuck the whole thing into the dirt as if I were planting a flagpole (another reason why you shouldn’t pack down the dirt firmly to begin with). Don’t worry about it not having any roots. They’ll sprout out of the stem like this:
Now, if you have extra “petals” that you plucked off while pruning or have some that have fallen off on their own, you can actually plant them and watch them grow! All you have to do is fill a shallow empty container with potting soil, and place the petal flat on the surface of the dirt. The trick is to not stick them in the dirt upright. You basically just toss the petal on top of the dirt and it’ll sprout roots after a couple of weeks or so. It’s very important that you don’t water anything for at least a week! They need some time to adjust and settle down into their new home. After the first week you may just want to spray them lightly with water, rather than pouring a lot of water on them. After the second week you can start giving them a bit more water, but the rule of thumb is to water the succulents when they look a little shriveled and thirsty. Otherwise they’ll start shooting up like Jack’s beanstalk!
After a few more weeks, you’ll see a new succulent growing out of the same end the roots grew out of. The original petal is basically being used as a nutrition package to grow the succulent. So you can place the original petal and the roots into the soil, with just the new succulent peeping out of the dirt. They’re super cute when they’re just starting to grow, because they’re so tiny and shaped like a mini flower!
All the while I was doing my gardening, Kip was sitting next to me looking out the window on watchdog duty. He didn’t really care for my succulents because they were too small to mark, and they didn’t smell anything like food. There’s an overpass bridge nearby our apartment and he’s very particular about who crosses “his bridge.” He doesn’t like it when people are carrying black plastic bags for some reason.
Your Turn ♥ Have you grown any succulents or plants before?
