In the bottle garden, a mini biotope thrives under ideal conditions. The easy-care solution for indoor gardeners with a soft spot for trendy planting ideas. How to properly create a lush garden in a glass jar.

Bottle gardens are mini biotopes in glass containers

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. Bottle Garden How It Works
  3. Buy Bottle Garden ingredients
  4. Create a bottle garden DIY instructions
  5. Bottle garden care tips
  6. frequently asked Questions

    7. the essentials in brief

    • Flaschengarten is a mini biotope in a glass jar, consisting of the components plants, light, air, water, microorganisms, animals and granulate.
    • Room gardeners can buy a ready-made bottle garden or use the ingredients to make a lush mini biotope in a glass themselves.
    • Suitable plants for the bottle garden are bromeliads, ferns, mosses, mini orchids, small-leaved ivy, bonsai, carnivores and cacti.

    What is a bottle garden? - How it works simply explained

    Flaschengarten is a plant composition in a glass as an autonomous miniature ecosystem. Ideally, a bottle garden is created once, sealed airtight and takes care of itself in the future without the gardener having to lift a finger. Ingredients for the glass mini biotope are:

    • glass jar: simulates the atmosphere that envelops our planet
    • plant: provide oxygen, carbon dioxide and build up nutrients
    • light source: either natural sunlight or plant lamp (21.99€) for photosynthesis and oxygen production
    • air: transports oxygen and carbon dioxide for cellular respiration of plants and animals
    • water: important for photosynthesis and protection against drought stress in the ecosystem
    • microorganisms: Bacteria and protozoa process dead plant parts into nutrients
    • animals: produce carbon dioxide and break down dead plant material for microorganisms
    • granules: serves as a plant base and drainage to prevent waterlogging

    The way the bottle garden works reflects the natural cycle of nature. Plants absorb water through their roots and sweat it out through their leaves. The moisture settles on the glass wall as condensation, evaporates or runs into the substrate and is available to the plants again. Incident light drives photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is converted into oxygen and light energy into nutrients.

    digression

    Hermetosphere in the bottle garden for eternity

    In what is probably the oldest bottle garden in the world, the lid has only been opened once in 58 years, the plants have been watered and the container sealed airtight again. Nevertheless, a lush miniature garden thrives inside, because the hermetosphere reigns here. This technical term is made up of "hermetice" (closed) and "sphaira" (cover). In the airtight bottle garden there is a self-contained ecosystem with a perpetual cycle of green life that is not dependent on any external supply.

    Buy ingredients for the bottle garden

    Various vessels are available for the bottle garden

    Bottle gardens have been around for more than 100 years. However, the ingenious biosphere in the glass has so far maintained a niche existence. You can only buy a ready-made bottle garden in local specialist shops because it cannot be shipped intact. For the ambitious room gardener, it is a matter of honor to make the mini garden in the bottle yourself. The following table gives an overview of the suitable ingredients for the DIY bottle garden:

    glass container substrate plant microorganisms/animals accessories/tools
    bottle lava granules bromeliads springtails funnel
    Jar expanded clay ferns White isopods tweezers
    Bonboniere Seramis mosses centipede ball shower
    wine balloon pumice mini orchids bacteria rainwater/mineral water
    carafe Akadama small-leaved ivy protozoa Brush, colander, rag
    Aquarium peat moss bonsai Charcoal/activated charcoal
    glass sphere coconut soil carnivores decorative material

    As this overview demonstrates, there are no limits to your imagination when it comes to choosing pots. There is less scope for your own ideas with regard to plant composition and substrate. The following sections provide additional information on the right components for the perfect bottle garden.

    Glass containers - inspirations

    The purely technical requirements for the suitable vessel are quickly dealt with. It should be transparent and ideally sealed airtight. This means for the selection: Anything goes, as long as these two fundamental criteria are met. A no-frills glass vessel puts the plants in the center. The playful design of a glass biosphere tends to distract from the green beauties in the bottle garden.

    A wide-necked carafe makes planting and design work much easier. Room gardeners with instinct opt for the rustic milk bottle or the elegant wine balloon with a narrow neck. Acrylic glass spheres, which seem to float weightlessly with their green weight on the ceiling, are very popular for the trendy bottle garden at eye level. When cacti are in the limelight in the bottle garden, the hour has come for the disused preserving jar whose lid has been lost.

    Substrate - tips for the right granulate

    The soil for the bottle garden should be chosen with care

    In order for the natural material cycle in the ecosystem to function smoothly, organic elements in the bottle garden should be reduced to a minimum. For this reason, conventional potting soil or compost are taboo as a substrate. Reach for inorganic or almost germ-free substrate qualities in which the plants like to stretch out their roots and are not bothered by mold or similar calamities. The table above names suitable plant substrates that meet the following criteria for a bottle garden in top form:

    • Structurally stable granules with a grain size of 2 to 6 mm
    • Chemically neutral, neither calcareous (alkaline) nor acidic (pH less than 5)
    • Lean without high nutrient levels to reduce growth in tight spaces

    Against this background, the use of lava granules has proven itself over many years. If a thin substrate layer is advantageous for the cultivation of moss, ferns or carnivores, we recommend unfertilized coconut soil.

    Plants - ideas for choosing

    Various plants are suitable for planting in the mini garden

    As the main actors in the bottle garden, plants are of particular importance. Give preference to tropical, short-statured, small-leaved species that thrive in the warm, humid microclimate. Cacti, succulents, houseleek and other succulents are not suitable for an airtight glass container with a hermetosphere and will perish within a short time. The following types and varieties have proven themselves in practice to be excellent for life in the eternal biotope:

    • bromeliads: preferably small terrestrial bromeliads of the genus Erdstern (Cryptanthus)
    • ferns: Maidenhair fern (Adiantum), dwarf clover fern (Marsilea hirsuta), polypody (Polypodium)
    • mosses: Star moss (Hyophila involuta), Pelliamoos (Monosolenium tenerum), Peat moss (Sphagnum)
    • mini orchids: Butterfly Orchid (Phalaenopsis), Kahn Orchid (Cymbidium), Grape Orchid (Dendrobium)
    • ivy: small-leaved ivy (Hedera helix), e.g. B. the variety Green Pittsburgh
    • bonsai: ideally Chinese fig (Ficus Ginseng) or Ficus microcarpa
    • carnivores: Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes), Venus Flytrap (Dionaea), Sundew (Drosera)

    You can conjure up a successful plant community in the large, bulbous bottle garden with Java fern (Microsorum pteropus), Congo water fern (Bolbitis heudelottii), moss fern (Selaginella), mini South Sea palm (Biophytum sensitivum), African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha), Cuba pearl herb (Hemianthus). callitrichoides), dwarf pepper (Peperomia), tender liverwort (Monosolenium tenerum) and the carnivores Cape sundew (Drosera capensis) and bladderwort (Utricularia sandersonii).

    Microorganisms/animals for recycling

    If certain animals cavort in the glass ecosystem, waste recycling is well taken care of. Springtails (Collembola) and isopods (Trichorhina tomentosa) busily crush dead plant parts for microorganisms such as bacteria and protozoa. The latter decompose the organic matter and use it to produce life-giving nutrients for healthy plant growth. Microorganisms find their way into the bottle garden without you having to do anything. The small animals are available in pet shops.

    accessories and tools

    Tweezers help to "plant" the bottle garden

    Useful accessories and practical tools set the course on the way to the bottle garden in premium quality. A funnel provides valuable assistance when filling granules into a narrow-necked bottle. This can be a cardboard tube from kitchen paper or the neck of a PET bottle that has been cut off. A pair of long kitchen tweezers should always be at hand to plant tender plants in the mini biotope or to pluck out dead plant parts later.

    If a plant garden is watered with a ball shower, you can dose the water precisely. This aspect is invaluable in preventing waterlogging. Furthermore, a dirty glass wall can be easily cleaned with this tool. Pamper tropical plants with soft rainwater right from the start. If you don't have the opportunity to collect the rain yourself, water it with still mineral water. Charcoal as an additive in the granules prevents the dreaded formation of mold in the eternal bottle garden.

    Stylish decorative material gives your creative bottle garden the finishing touch. The spectrum ranges from well-formed natural stones to bizarre twigs and pretty minifigures.

    The following video presents a colorful series of decorative design ideas for a bottle garden with a WOW effect:

    youtube

    Create a bottle garden - DIY instructions

    The right approach has never been more important than when starting your bottle garden project. While you can take corrective action at any time with conventional houseplants, an autonomous ecosystem develops best without outside interference. The following DIY instructions explain step by step how to make the perfect bottle garden yourself:

    preparatory work

    Cleanliness is key when you make a bottle garden yourself as a self-sufficient ecosystem. Please pay particular attention to the following preparatory work:

    1. Put all the ingredients on the table ready to hand
    2. Carefully clean the glass container with soap, hot water and a brush and rub dry
    3. Rinse the granules under running water in a colander and allow to drain
    4. Clean the decorative material and let it dry

    create drainage

    Regardless of their preference for humid environments, tropical plants have an aversion to constantly getting their feet wet. By creating your bottle garden with drainage as the bottom layer, you effectively prevent waterlogging. If you have decided on lava granulate (€13.99) or expanded clay (€19.73) as a substrate, the suitable material is already on the table. Alternatively, small, clean pebbles ensure that the roots are not in the water. How to do it right:

    1. Place funnel on glass container
    2. Fill in drainage material covering the ground

    Fill the substrate with charcoal

    In a normally shaped vessel, a layer height of 10% to 20% of the total height has proven to be good for the substrate. For a 30 cm high glass vessel, this results in a 3 to 6 cm high filling as a plant base. So that the subsequent planting is as gentle as possible on the roots, please fill in the substrate in stages. Here’s how to do it professionally:

    1. Mix substrate with charcoal
    2. Pour 2/3 of the amount into the container

    Alternatively, fill in the entire amount of substrate and drill suitable troughs for the plants.

    put plants

    The larger the container opening, the easier it is to create the bottle garden

    To prevent potting soil from getting into the bottle garden, first pre-treat the plants. The actual planting process requires a sure instinct. That is how it goes:

    1. Pull the plant shoots apart with your fingers
    2. shake off earth
    3. Dip the shoots with the roots in low-lime water
    4. Use the tweezers to place the plant shoots in the glass jar
    5. Pour in the remaining granules until the roots are covered

    It is important to note that you use submerged plant shoots immediately. Storage for just a few minutes in the air causes the valuable shoots to wilt.

    place decoration

    A beautiful decoration is the alpha and omega of the Flaschengarten

    After planting, you can model the substrate surface with peat moss, colorful pebbles and other decorations.

    settle animals

    Now it's time to settle the animal residents in the bottle garden. Please place springtails, woodlice or centipedes in the glass jar according to the breeder's instructions.

    Water the bottle garden

    The plants are now carefully watered with soft water from the ball shower. Please adjust the amount of water used to the moisture of the substrate. Granules that have been rinsed beforehand are usually already sufficiently moist or only need a very small amount of water. How to do it right:

    • Rule of thumb: The correct amount of water has been reached in the bottle garden when the granules are wet but no water is visible on the glass bottom.

    Close container airtight

    Finally, close the bottle garden with a lid.

    tips

    Cacti have nothing against living in a bottle garden. However, the glass container should remain open. Excessive humidity is poison for every cactus in the glass. Because a self-sufficient ecosystem cannot form without a lid, the succulents are watered from time to time.

    Bottle garden - care tips

    With good reason, bottle gardens make the hearts of enthusiastic room gardeners beat faster, because the maintenance effort is kept to a minimum. The green mini paradise in the glass is particularly easy to care for when it is sealed airtight. But cacti in an open container also forgive some beginner mistakes. There are only a few care tips to keep in mind:

    • location: shady to partially shaded without direct sunlight to avoid scorching the leaves
    • Rotate: Rotate the glass container regularly for even plant growth
    • clean up: from time to time pluck off the dead parts of the plant with tweezers
    • Open: drops of water keep running down the glass wall, open the bottle garden to allow the excess water to evaporate

    A properly created bottle garden with a functioning ecosystem does not need to be fertilized. On the contrary, a supplementary supply of nutrients causes undesired growth in the tightly dimensioned room volume.

    frequently asked Questions

    Which plants are suitable for a bottle garden?

    Small plants of tropical origin are best suited for the bottle garden. A convincing example is the exotic spiderwort (Tradescantia), which has thrived in David Latimer's famous wine balloon for almost 60 years. In this sense, bromeliads, ferns, mini orchids, carnivorous plants, star moss or peat moss are suitable for plant selection. Also recommended are tropical marsh and aquatic plants such as water chalice (Cryptocoryne).

    The glass wall in the bottle garden always fogs up. What to do?

    If the glass container steams up, it's too humid in the bottle garden

    If the glass wall constantly fogs up, it is too humid in the bottle garden. Under the influence of high humidity, mold growth and plant diseases are inevitable. Open the jar for some time so that the excess condensed water evaporates. From now on, the plants should be watered less often.

    Do plants in the bottle garden need to be fertilized?

    No, an additional supply of nutrients is not necessary in the bottle garden. Once the water is poured into the airtight glass vessel, it evaporates, causing the glass wall to fog up for a short time. Under the influence of sunlight, nutrients develop in the ecosystem as the engine of growth, while photosynthesis produces the vital oxygen. If an open bottle garden is home to frugal cacti, it is not fertilized either.

    Moss and leaves in the bottle garden are turning yellow. Why is that?

    If parts of the plant turn yellow, the bottle garden is too bright. Direct sunlight burns moss and leaves in the glass jar. A change of location solves the problem.The best place for a bottle garden is on the partially shaded windowsill, preferably facing north, north-west or north-east.

    Why do native plants always die in an airtight bottle garden?

    A hermetosphere prevails in the airtight glass vessel, which represents an extreme habitat for plants. Almost 100 percent humidity, no gas exchange, hardly any nutrients and high temperatures in summer significantly restrict the metabolism. Plants that are naturally at home in warm, humid, tropical climates are best equipped to meet these requirements. Native species have nothing to counter this challenge.

    How do I get rid of excess water in the bottle garden?

    If you don't pay attention once and the plants are already waterlogged because too much has been watered. That's no reason to clear out and dry out the bottle garden. Leave the jar uncovered for a few days to allow the water to evaporate.

    Which light sources are suitable for a bottle garden that is not on the windowsill?

    White light is the best option when artificial lighting is to serve as a full substitute for daylight. It contains all light colors that can be used by plant physiology. Unusable light is reflected so that the plants in the glass retain their natural appearance. A disadvantage is that far away from a window, the bottle garden fogs up all around because the container gets warm on all sides. On the window sill, only the cooler, outward-facing glass wall fogs up and gives a clear view of the green interior on the opposite side.

    How do I get a dirty glass wall in the airtight bottle garden clean again?

    There is no need to open a hermetically sealed bottle garden for cleaning work. You can clean a glass wall from the outside with a magnetic cleaner. The practical tool is known from aquarium maintenance and consists of two magnets that are covered with felt. You can buy magnetic cleaners in aquarium shops or make one yourself. You can do this with flipchart magnets from the office accessories, which you stick thinly with felt.

    I want to color light a mason jar as a bottle garden. What color of light works best for photosynthesis and growth?

    Photosynthesis in the colorfully lit bottle garden works best under a red and blue light source. Plants absorb light using leaf greens known as chlorophyll. This dye can absorb and process blue and red light, but not green light.

    tips

    Room gardeners in urban living spaces often have no way of collecting rainwater for the bottle garden. A gardening trick transforms normal tap water into low-lime irrigation water for your tropical plants in glass jars. Simply fill 1 liter of peat into a cotton bag and hang in a 5 liter watering can for 24-48 hours. The result is soft water in rainwater quality.

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Garden design