Sunday, January 20, 2019

Making a Drosera schizandra terrarium

Setting a terrarium up for Drosera schizandra with live Sphagnum moss

I’ve been thinking about doing a terrarium for my Drosera schizandra for some time now, and decided today was the day. The above photo shows the materials used – a 45 cm glass bowl from the local $2 shop, some washed scoria in a layer 2 cm deep in the bottom of the bowl, some leftover live Sphagnum from the Sarracenia bog gardens and of course, a D. schizandra.Finished Drosera schizandra terrarium bowl

Here’s the finished product, hopefully set to grow from years to come. I had to use a hammer to break the coffee jar terrarium open, as there was no other way to get the plant out!. Setup was easy – layer the scoria, spread the root mass of the plant across the scoria and cover the roots with the Sphagnum. The finished terrarium uses a glass plate as a lid to seal in the humidity.

Here’s what I’m hoping it will grow into (the below plant is grown by AUSCPS Canberra member Barry):

Drosera schizandra grown by AUSCPS Canberra coordinator Barry Bradshaw

On the Sarracenia front – its hot and miserable outside, with Canberra breaking an all time temperature record with four consecutive days above 40C. The plants are looking pretty miserable as a result, with the red flava in particular all washed out and green. The S. leucophylla will be up next when temperatures cool down in a few weeks, so I’ll probably hibernate ‘till then for the next blog post.