How to Care for your Mini Moss Terrarium / Orchidarium

Caring for your mini moss / orchid terrarium 

Your mini cloche mossy mountain / orchidarium is quite easy to care for. 

There are a few important things to be sure of but other than that you can sit back and watch as your living art grows and thrives. 

These mini terrariums make great gifts for that plant lover in your life or the person who is difficult to shop for. They are unique, fun and exciting as well as beautiful and exotic. The mini orchidarium/ mossy terrarium is also very easy to care for! 

Step 1 - Placement Lighting 

• Place your terrarium in a room that gets nice bright light daily, if you don't have a room that has bright light then you can use an LED, fluorescent or other type of bulb that is suitable for growing plants. 

• *** You do not need to buy one of the marketed “grow lights” but you can and I will make another blog post about artificial lighting** 

• Make sure you NEVER place your orchidarium in direct sunlight - this is a sure fire way to kill everything. The dome acts like a greenhouse and with direct sun you not only are you providing all of these low light plants with the means to sunburn but the inside of the dome will quickly become too hot for their survival. 

Step 2 - Placement Temperature 

• Place your terrarium in a comfortable room. Any place in your home that is comfortable to you year round. 
• The plants respond positively to the summer / winter temperature gradient so it's perfectly fine that your house is cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer. This will induce blooming on many orchid species. 

Step 3 - Watering 

• Your orchidarium / moss terrarium only need be watered roughly once a week. The longer you have your terrarium and observe it you will begin to recognize when water is necessary and when it's not. 

• The bottom moss area will need less water than the moss and orchids that are mounted to the rock and wood. So you may need to mist the orchids (at the roots)  as well as any moss that is mounted more frequently than you mist the base. 

• You can tell when your moss needs water because it will turn a light green color and feel dry to the touch, it should feel soft and be a more vibrant green. 

Step 4 - Other maintenance 

• Condensation may cover the glass of your cloche, you can take a towel and wipe this down at any time. 

• Mold, if you notice any mold growth DONT PANI! You have two options to deal with it. First I recommend taking hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol and soaking the tip of a Q-tip. Apply the soaked q tip directly to the mold and nowhere else. Repeat this daily until your mold is under control. You can also make a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water in a spray bottle. With this mixture you can lightly mist the mold and terrarium daily until your mold is no more. 

Important information - 

• Both moss and orchids are very slow growing plants. Within a few weeks you should begin to see new root growth from your orchids. They will be small green tips that will attach to the rock and wood, never try to remove or redirect these roots; they are essential to the plants health. 
• Although orchids are slow growers and I only use miniature orchid species, eventually your orchid may outgrow the mini terrariums. This will take upwards of 5 years but it's important to note. When this happens your orchid will be healthy and mature which means it will be fine to grow without the cloche dome on it but it will require more frequent misting.