Ditched the drainage layer entirely, got better results

Everyone said you need gravel or LECA at the bottom. I tried that on 5 builds. Moss always died in 3 months. Switched to straight soil with a false bottom using a plastic grid from the hardware store. Cost me $4. No water pooling, plants are thriving after 8 months now. Anyone else skip the pebbles?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagesingh1mo ago

4 drainage layers I killed before I wised up. Honestly, the gravel just turned into a swampy death pit for roots every single time. Tbh, I think all the fancy LECA is just a gimmick to sell you more stuff you don't need. That plastic grid trick is genius, I'm stealing it for my next build for sure. Ngl, the terrarium gurus probably just don't want to admit their expensive method is worse than a $4 trip to the hardware store.

skyler5161mo agoMost Upvoted

dude I had a similar thing happen with a jar i tried to make into a closed terrarium. used gravel at the bottom cause thats what every blog said to do. then all the moss got moldy and died within like 2 weeks. took it apart and the gravel had this nasty black sludge all through it. now i just use a cut up plastic produce container as a false bottom and its been going strong for like 8 months. sometimes i think we overthink this stuff way too much when simple works fine