Growing plants in glass containers serve many purposes for the regular plant enthusiast, promising an aesthetically pleasing look and void of contributing pollution to the environment. Not only that, compared to using plastic vessels, glass jars, and containers also promise minimal waste, which puts them on a higher eco-friendly standard by default.
However, one might wonder how using glass vessels can benefit indoor plants since these vessels won’t generally come with holes for drainage, and it is also not ideal for the plant roots to be constantly exposed to light.
Given these concerns, you will find the plants most suited for thriving in a glass environment and the numerous straightforward methods that can be utilized in the broad term of glass containers!
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How Can I Grow My Plants in Glass Containers?
You can grow your plants in glass containers by ensuring proper drainage, watering, and indirect light. You also need to decide whether or not you want to grow your plants in water, as they could die out if you don’t maintain your plants in the container.
1. Ensuring Adequate Drainage
You must be aware of the fact that glass pots don’t have drainage holes. You must make a proper drainage hole for your glass pot. To begin with, you have first to add a suitable layer of non-degrading drainage material. The coating must be thick so that the roots don’t directly get all of the excessive water.
If the layer is thick, the water will automatically come up with the capillary force when it gets drier. Another method you can use is drilling a hole in your glass jar. You must remember that it will be slightly complicated to prepare the gap in your container. Once you do so, you will have to put the substrate on top of the new layer.
Doing this will allow all of the excess water that will be in the substrate to go over down the drainage layer.
2. Proper Watering
When growing your plant in a glass planter, you must be careful with watering it. You must remember that in glass pots, the water cannot escape, and there is no evaporation either. So, for the given reason, you have to water your plant much less than you would water a regular pot plant. If you water your plant too much, then the root of the plant is most likely to rot.
3. Utilizing Indirect Light
You must also take care of how the light is facing your plant. Now, your glass planter should be placed somewhere that it gets its light indirectly since a few plants only need direct sunlight.
If you make your glass pot face too much light, then it will lead the plant to get green algae proliferation. When this happens to any plants, there is a green and slimy layer on the inner section of your planter.
On the other hand, if your glass planter gets direct sunlight, it will cause you to overheat the farmer and badly affect the plant’s roots. Cover your glass planter with a wrap or put it in another pot to overcome these problems.
If you cover it, you have to make sure that the covering is dark and non-transparent. However, this method will not work out for those who want to show off their glass planter.
4. Growing Plants in Water
When you put plants in water, you do not have to worry about drainage and watering. However, you still have to take care of how the light reaches and maintains the plant properly.
Now, when you grow plants in water, you need to check the minerals and nutrient levels of the plant. If you take good care of these two things, your plants will have a high chance of living longer.
5. Regular Maintenance
For regular maintenance, you have to clean the plant regularly.
You have to watch out for periodic limescale and green algae on the plant, and if you see them, you should clean up the plant at once. However, if you clean the plant regularly, you do not have to worry about it.
6. Selecting the Suitable Species To Grow
The last and most important thing you must know is to select the suitable species to grow in your glass vessel. You should always try to plant plants that do not have tremendous growth and are not sensitive to more than necessary water.
If you follow the tips before choosing a plant to grow in your glass vessel, you will surely do well.
How Can I Grow Plants in Glass Terrariums?
You can grow plants in glass terrariums by first singling out the best species. After that, you will need to water your chosen plants according to a limited schedule since terrariums don’t like too much water. Similarly, you also need to keep the lighting level adequate.
– Choosing the Best Species
The most important thing that you have to do is pick the best species to start with. The main conditions that are given for a small, enclosed ecosystem are that it has limited space in it. Next, it needs to have an ideally low level of airflow going through it as well as a high level of humidity.
Now, as you must remember, all plants can’t bear these conditions, but the ones that can also thrive in the chosen environment for a long time. Therefore, you must be careful with which type of terrarium plant species you pick.
– Watering
You must be careful with the watering of the plants since; terrariums are extremely sensitive to a lot of water. If you add a lot of excess water, it could lead to poor evaporation, and it is also harmful because glass planters have limited drainage. You must add the water in carefully; however, if you see many condensation drops on your terrarium, it is best to leave it open for a while. Leaving it open will allow the water to evaporate into the air.
– Lighting
It is essential for plant terrariums to stay in a bright spot but with the light indirectly acing them. It is necessary because the drainage layer has a humidity tray, and when the terrarium is left to face direct sunlight, the evaporation levels are increased non-stop. As the evaporation levels increase, heat and humidity will build up. Moreover, this could also stem the plants and badly damage them.
How Can I Grow Plants in Glass Planters?
You can grow plants in glass plants by ensuring that there are holes in the pot for proper drainage. Another thing you need to take care of is the amount of watering, as watering too much or too little can damage your plants significantly.
– Drainage
All of the glass planters have the same problem: they all lack drainage holes. Even though you can make the drainage yourself, it needs the accurate skills and tools that not all people have.
However, the easiest solution to this is that you have to add the appropriate layer of drainage material. You must remember that the coating has to be thick enough. After that, you have to put coarse gravel on the end of the planter work, and if you don’t have it, you can put clay pebbles instead.
– Adequate Watering
When you decide to grow your favorite and ideal plants in your preferred glass planter, you need to take care of the frequency of watering. You must remember that just like not watering enough, watering your plants more than necessary can be hazardous to their overall health; this is especially true since the drainage system might also not be the most flexible.
Therefore, it is ideal to check just how saturated the surrounding soil is before you decide to water the plants even more. Once you have a proper idea of exactly the amount of water already present, you will be able to cater to the plant’s watering needs more appropriately. This will enable you to take care of your plants and ensure their longevity.
How Can I Find the Right Plants To Grow in a Glass Vessel?
You can find the right plants to grow in a glass vessel by choosing the ones that can survive in conditions with lots of moisture and thrive in indirect light. You would do well to avoid susceptible plants that require high maintenance.
These factors are quite important to consider because you cannot place glass vessels directly in the sunlight as the surface area will be too greater. The plants will absorb more sunlight than what is required, and hence they will grow abnormally.
Similarly, it is obvious that there are no pores or openings for the passage of water hence it will accumulate in the container. In this case, if the plant doesn’t require much water for its growth, it will eventually rot.
– Best Plants for Glass Planters
The best plants that you can use for glass planters can be either plant that is grown in soil or water. Cacti are some of the types of plants that are suitable to be developed in glass planters. Some of the varieties are Bunny Succulent, also known as “Monilaria”, and Angel Wings Cactus, also called “Opuntia microdasys”.
Astrophytum myriostigma, better known as “Bishop’s cap cactus”, is quite suitable for growing in glass vessels. Another choice is the “Mammillaria” species.
– Best Plants for Glass Terrariums
When it comes to sorting out the best plants for Glass Terrariums, it, most importantly, depends on the size of the terrarium that you want to grow a plant in, and then accordingly, you will have to find that size of the plant.
So, if you are going to need small terrarium plants, then you should go for plants such as the Nerve plant that is better known as “Fittonia” and the Starfish plant is also called “Cryptanthus bivittatus”. You can also use the Hypoestes phyllostachya, which is easier to pronounce with the names “Polka Dot Plant” and “Soleirolia soleirolii”, simply called Baby Tears.
For medium-sized terrarium plants, you can use “Pellaea rotundifolia”, another name for Button Fern, and “Epipremnum aureum”, commonly called Golden Photos. The Prayer Plant, “Maranta leuconeura”, is also a good option for medium-sized plants.
– Best Plants To Grow in Glass Jars
Some of the plants that are the best to root in water in glass jars are Golden Pothos, also called “Epipremnum aureum”, and the African Violet, which is sometimes called “Saintpaulia sp.”. Some other examples are Impatiens, known as “Touch-me-not”, and Schlumbergera, also regularly called “Holiday cacti”.
You can also try to plant a “Coelus” plant and the Swedish ivy that can be called “Plectranthus australis”. Both of these plants are highly suitable for rooting in water.
Conclusion
When you want to look for a more creative and aesthetic manner to display your favorite plants, then using a glass vessel might be precisely the vibe you are looking for, especially with all the different designs they are available in. While there might be slight problems when it comes to proper care of your plants in this style, and it could also be a bit tricky to find which plants are best suited to be in that environment, you can revise the solutions, in the summary points listed down here:
- If you want to grow your plants in glass vessels, you have several options, including glass terrariums, glass planters, or glass jars.
- To ensure the plants will grow properly, select the ideal plant species for the new environment setup you are planning on.
- It is crucial to create a drainage system in your glass vase, as excess water can damage the health of the present plants.
- Temperature and light are critical factors you must maintain when growing plants in glass vessels.
- High levels of indirect lights and high temperatures can damage your plants the same way low levels can.
If you are an enthusiast who loves to display their plants in the most surreal ways, you can use a glass container and use the points of our guide and summary above to know how to take care of them adequately. Now that you know what to do, go ahead and purchase your ideal glass pot and tweak it to turn it into the new home for your favorite plants!
