About seven months ago, I read about the 'ecosystem in a jar'. Curious as I am, I went to investigate the whole phenomenon and decided to try to make one myself.
The intention is that you create a balanced ecosystem in an enclosed environment (like earth, actually). That may sound easy, but it is quite a challenge. When you put too much water in the jar, the plant will rot and die, but when you put too little water in it, the plant will die, too. When the soil you use is in a poorly state, your plant will die of nutrient shortage, and so on.
Until now, two jars survived. The smallest one was the 'test jar'. After I made the plan, I took a small jar to find out if it worked.
I put a plant cutting of a Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) in the jar, together with some moss, and added a small amount of water. After a few weeks, the small plant had grown and the moss was greener then when I put it in the jar. It worked!
This is the jar I created after the 'test jar'. I put a small Sword Fern (Nephrolepsis) in it, together with a mossy branch, moss and alder catkins. As you can see on the label, I closed it in february this year, so that is six months ago. In the meantime, I only opened the jar to smell the musty scent of wet soil. From now on, I will try to never open the jar again, and see what happens.
On the left, the jar just after I arranged it. On the right, the jar it is now.
This is the jar I made today. The previous jar with moss in the lead, flourished about four months. Because one of the pieces started to rot, I removed some water out of the jar and removed the rotten piece of moss. One week later, I added another piece of moss,. Within a week, all the moss was covered with a thick layer of mold. Big lesson: never change something in a balanced ecosystem.
I digress. This jar contains two types of moss, a stone (for decoration), three small twigs (from our apple tree) and a few dried apple leaves. I am very curious about what will happen to the leaves; will they compost, because of the soil and moist? Or isn't it moist enough to rot, and will they just stay there?
This was my blogpost for today. In the next one, I will explain how the plants survive in the secluded environment.
Do you have an idea for a blog post, something you would like to know about plants, animals, the things I do? Feel free to leave a comment or use the contact form on the right to send me a message.
