The Upside Down Terrarium

This is a neat little terrarium project that just came to me. I have no idea where the idea came from but it is kind of fun to have a terrarium that is upside-down. But it was quite a challenge to figure out how to do it right. I wanted the Terrarium glass to be nice and clean with no soil or dirt on it at all. That was the challenge.

I tried quite a few different ways to do it until I came up with a good solution. Filling it with the materials like soil, stone and seeds then flipping it over real quick didn't work. The sides got dirty. I even tried blowing up a balloon right inside it but that didn't work either. Finally I figure out the solution and it worked like a charm.

I used pretty much all the standard terrarium making materials. It includes soil, seeds, spaghnum moss and pearl stone for drainage. The trick is getting them in the top of the bottle or jug without getting dirt on the sides!

Here is how I Did it. I filled the jug half way with water then froze it to a solid block of ice! After it was frozen solid I added all my terrarium materials in a backwards manner.

first a thin layer of soil, then some seeds, all the rest of the soil, spanish moss then finally the stones for drainage.

I capped it and flipped it over and allowed it to melt. I let it stay uncapped in the upside down position for a full two days to let the ice melt and a lot of water to drain out.

Safety Precautions: If you use a glass jug there are risks involved. The expanding ice can cause it to break or shatter both when you are freezing it or thawing it out. I recommend you use plastic. If you go with glass get an adult to supervise and clear everything out of your freezer, then put a pan under it so if it does crack all the water is collected.

I also broke up the sheet of ice that was forming about every 20 minutes. This allowed it to expand upward without putting too much pressure on the sides of the glass. And freeze it slowly!

Wear safety gloves and safety goggles when you are handling this, even after the ice is completely frozen. It is not safe until the ice has melted.

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The Upside Down Terrarium

The Result

The Materials

The Video of this Terrarium