Hit 30 closed terrariums built this year and one thing stood out

I counted up my projects from January and realized I've made 30 closed terrariums so far. What surprised me was that only 3 of them had any mold issues, and those were the ones where I skipped the charcoal layer. Has anyone else noticed that cutting corners always shows up later?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_gibson21mo ago

That line about "cutting corners always shows up later" really got me thinking. Did you happen to notice any other common thread in those three moldy builds besides skipping the charcoal? Like, were they all using the same type of soil or maybe the plants were too wet right from the start? I'm super curious because I've been experimenting with different layers and I'd love to hear if you found a pattern there.

claire_fisher411mo ago

Three out of four times it was straight up tap water that hadn't been left out to dechlorinate. I noticed it because one guy actually told me he just ran it straight from the faucet and that terrarium went south in like two weeks flat. The chemical buildup with chlorine really messes with the microfauna and that's when mold gets a foothold since nothing's there to eat the decaying stuff. Also two of them were using that cheap big box store soil with the moisture control beads mixed in, which is basically a mold factory waiting to happen lol.