How Do You Maintain a Terrarium?

Creating a terrarium is easy, but caring for one properly can be another story. While terrariums are pretty low maintenance, there are things you can do to ensure your enclosed plants thrive. 

In this blog, we’re going to cover common terrarium maintenance practices to make caring for your Urban Born terrarium a breeze. Let’s go! 

1. Check for humidity. 

Closed terrariums mostly care for themselves, given that they have been adequately watered. You’ll know that your terrarium is well watered if you see humidity on the glass. 

If you’re not seeing any water, it may be time to mist your terrarium. Just make sure you check the soil to see if it’s wet or dry first. 

2. Pay attention to your watering. 

Your terrarium is much at risk of overwatering than underwatering. Before watering your terrarium, check the soil to see how moist it is. If it’s dry, heavily mist the plants and soil, if the soil is damp, give your terrarium a light mist, and if the soil is wet, hold off on watering for a few days until it dries out. 

You don’t want your terrarium to have too much water, or your plants will develop root rot. 

3. Pay attention to lighting. 

Proper lighting is essential to the success of your terrarium. Be mindful of what kind of lighting your terrarium is receiving. Most tropical plants love bright indirect sunlight. (Bright indirect light is light you can comfortably read in but not feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.

If your plants are getting too much or too little sunlight, they’ll tell you. Just check for brown leaves. 

If your home does not have the light your plants need, you can always use a grow light to keep your terrarium plants happy.

4. Check for mold. 

Mold loves hot, humid environments. So it will feel right at home in your terrarium. If you see mold growing on your terrarium, you can clean it up with hydrogen peroxide and a q-tip. 

5. Remove dead leaves and dying plants. 

Terrariums lack the organisms needed to help break down dying plants and decaying material. 

When you see dead leaves or dying plants, remove them as soon as you can to keep your terrarium clean and healthy.

6. Trim overgrown plants. 

It’s exciting to see that your plants are growing! However, when placed in a terrarium, it’s best to give plants a trim every now and then to keep things looking neat and to proper scale. Keeping your terrarium plants trimmed also keeps the terrarium’s ecosystem happy so that one larger plant isn’t overcrowding smaller ones. 

7. Keep your terrarium glass clean.

Dirty terrarium glass can hinder the sunlight your plants receive. Every now and then, it’s a good idea to clean your terrarium with a microfiber rag and warm water. 

If you do these things, we’re confident your terrarium will thrive!