I have recently obtained a couple of Pinguicula primuliflora from one of my members from the Green Culture Singapore discussion forum. It is the species with the intriguing habit of being able to have babies growing out from the tips of its older leaves. When laden with lots of plantlets on its leaves, the plant looks somewhat like a Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe sp.).
Because I am growing these plants under artificial lights where the ambient environment can get quite dry, I constructed a little terrarium for them. I went to IKEA at Alexandra where I bought a hemispherical glass bowl as well as a black flat-bottom round dish for this little project.
As you may have already expected it, the concept of this terrarium is very simple. The black flat-bottom round dish serves as the growing container while the hemispherical glass bowl is turned over and used to cover the plants.
I grow my Pings in just pure sphagnum moss although there is a plethora of different types of media that one can concoct and grow plants in. Because Pinguicula primuliflora is a species that like it really wet, I actually add enough water to make the sphagnum moss soaking wet but without flooding the container.
With the high humidity conditions that exist in the air space inside the terrarium, one can already see the dew being secreted on the leaves of the Pings. When I grew these plants without a terrarium cover, I could hardly see any dew drops on the leaves as the moisture in the air is too low, which gets even lower after the lights are switched on.
What you need to make this terrarium that I have thought of to grow my Pings. The pair of forceps was used to take the plants out of their original pots and to position them in place later on.
Wet sphagnum moss was then heaped into the bottom dish which served as the growing container. After that, plants are positioned on top of the moss. We are almost done.
To complete the terrarium, all you need to do is to cover the plants using the clear, hemispherical glass bowl which acts somewhat like a greenhouse dome.
Note that this terrarium is not suitable for growing any type of plant. As we all know, a sealed terrarium like this one will trap heat inside it and if it is placed in direct sunshine, plants grown inside the terrarium will get cooked! For my Pings, because they are grown under the much milder and less intense fluorescent light tubes, heat is not quickly built up inside. I occasionally lift off the top cover to ‘air’ the terrarium, which allows heat to dissipate as well as to let in fresh air.
