Congratulations on bringing home your new Fairy Garden Mother® terrarium!
Your terrarium comes to you with a mixture of live plants and preserved mosses and will continue to be a wonderful focal piece in any room as long as you follow a few tips on watering, lighting and trimming.
First, the plants in your terrarium are selected to require similar lighting and watering needs. This keeps care simple and assures longer life for your new plants. Most of the plants, with the exception of orchids and succulents, are arranged to need lower light. These plants will still benefit from diffused light but do not require any placement near a window. Orchids and succulents will need some bright indirect light, but because they are encased in glass containers, should not be placed into direct sunlight because they could burn. The glass can magnify the sun’s rays.
Water your plants using a target watering
(it isn’t necessary to water the moss since it isn’t alive) with about an ounce of water for each plant at each watering. During the dry months they may need to be watered about three times weekly. More humid months of summer may only need twice weekly.
THE GOLDEN RULE
Check your plants by placing a finger into the dirt near the base of each plant. If it is damp, you don’t need to water it. Two things kill plants most often: over watering and under watering. So this is important. This extra care during the first two weeks after bringing your terrarium home will help keep your plants strong and healthy for a long time.
Trim your plants.
Almost all plants on the “Ideally suited for terrariums” lists grow to at least 6-12 inches. Several plants in our terrariums can even grow to several feet high if they are not trimmed. Plants can easily grow too large and before you know it, your terrarium will look more like the plants are making a break for it if you do not keep them trimmed. To trim, look for a place on the plant where the branch comes off the side at the height you wish to have. Trim at about 1/4” above the joint.
If the plant does not have joints or small branches, it probably sends shoots from the base. Simply find the base of the stem and trim the taller shoots at the dirt level, one at a time. Be careful not to trim the fiber optics if they are near the plant. Trim often and early to keep your plant looking naturally miniature and proportionate to its original environment.
Plants in terrariums are for decorative use only. They are not for consumption.
The lighted bases use HIGH POWER MAGNETS
Terrarium Care
by Fairy Garden Mother