Hi
Sounds like a fun project Have no experience with the specie you name but would follow natures example. You must have wide variation in day length as well as temps in your location I don't think this is nearly as important as temps for most plants.
I suspect the main problem will be excess humidity.
When I store bulbs in the frige I put them in dry peat to absorb the moisture, Most plants must be dry during dormancy.
What is your normal humidity?? How much variation duuring the year?? This would give you a starting point.
Good luck with your experiment!!
I so much want to try my bonsai bald cypress in a terrarium but it's way to short.Haven't been able to keep the tree under two feet. I think my next terrarium project will be designed around this tree.Like those knees!!
Gary

I have a young Jniper bonsai in my terrarium right now. I think he'll like the increase in humidity and temp from what I was able to give it before.

Sam

Sahoyaref - well you'll just have to get several fridges then, right? :) I kept a few plants in the fridge for a while - an amaryllis, a hyacinth, and some other spring bulbs I was forcing. They all did pretty well - but I didn't have the tops of the pots sealed. I just had them open in the fridge - I think I threw a little bit of saran wrap over the top so nothing would fall into the pots but did not seal it. The soil was pretty dry, also.

I finally got around to making the other terrarium today. I've decided to leave this one outside over the summer just like the other one, but I will still be giving it a fake 'fridge' dormancy and then taking it out and keeping it indoors until it's warm enough outside again in the spring. The reason I decided to keep it outside after all was that I am dealing with purely outside plants. They aren't semi-topical plants that like warm temps all the time (as they would get indoors) and still need a dormancy, but cool-growers. Besides, my other houseplants are outside now and loving it. The light is also much better. I still have not been able to get my parents and their digi over, so you'll just have to keep waiting for pics!

that creeper vine may just come up new every year from seed eh? birds could bring it in or it could just be seeds that stay in the soil over winter until spring. or....it could come back from roots. guess you'll find out! keep us posted on it.

I don't think the creeper flowers (at least I've never seen it do so in the wild), or at least it doesn't flower very much, so I doubt that it comes up from seed again every year. Probably roots, since it's a running type of plant (sends out runners and creepers). And yeah, I hope that it does survive so I do find out! =)

One word: insulate.

If you insulate the bottom and three sides and then leave the top open (or covered in a screen or something that wil let light in) and put the forth side next to your structure some of the leaking heat willhelp the plants overwinter. Also how well drained is the soil out in the forest I think that would be good information to have.

yeah, I will totally insulate the terr that stays outside. I plan on covering it completely, as I see no need for light during dormancy (I'm sure it would be ideal, but I'm also sure it will die if I don't insulate all sides really well). I think I will be putting it in a terracotta pot and surrounding it with dirt, and then wrapping the whole thing in bubble wrap or some other material, and placing it right next to my apartment wall (outside) by the patio door.
I have no idea how well-drained the soil in the forest is. It's not nice and loamy, if that's what you mean. The soil here in general tends to be very compacted and full of clay. In the forest it's probably somewhat better from all the natural leaf compost over the years, but it doesn't really 'squish' when you step on it like nice peaty soil does. What would that have to do with overwintering my terrarium though?

The creeping vine that I took from the forest is flowering in one of the terrariums! This has enabled me to identify it as twinflower, which is native to the Rocky Mountains, and, apparently, farther east as well. Very cute, tiny pink flowers, and yes, there are two of them on each little stalk, hence the name. I had suspected that it might be twinflower, and I was hoping it would be. Now it's for sure!

The juniper cuttings still have not rooted, so I don't think they'll make it through the winter. Probably already dead and just haven't turned all brown yet. Oh well! More of an aesthetic touch anyways, to have something of height in there and make the terrs look more like mini landscapes. The moss isn't growing much, but that's not surprising.

The first flower just faded yesterday, so that's a decent bloom period. I was worried they'd only last a day. . . the juniper cuttings both officially died though. But since I didn't really know what I was doing, I'm not surprised. I found a small branch of lodge-pole pine on the ground when I was camping and took it home, and I've taken cuttings of it (the proper way), so we'll see if they root. August is supposed to be a good time for evergreen cuttings, so we'll see. I really hope they root before winter! Not that lodgepole pine is in short supply around here. . . it's the provincial tree of Alberta! So I could always try again next year. I think they'd make wicked bonsai, too. Nice short, soft needles. Perfect for a mini-tree. Oh, I also found some sweet lichens and put those in my temperate terrs, so we'll see if they die or what. I know that lichens have some kind of symbiotic relationship with something or other, so they may die. One of them is so cool. I found it growing on top of a cut stump where it stayed moist. It's these long grey-green tubes. I'll try to take a pic before fall. . .

You've never heard the great story about lichen?

Seems that this female algae who was, "all-gal" (algal) got together with a fungi who was a very "fun guy"...and they really look a lichen to each other and have been together ever since.

Haaaaaaaaaa. . . no, I've never heard that particular story. =) I knew that it was an algae and a fungus together, but never heard it in those terms. =) Clever! Some of the lichen tubes have bent over, so I don't know if that's bad or not (I hope not!), and since these things grow SO slowly, it's not like you can tell if it's even alive or not, but we'll see. If it's there at the end of winter (next spring) and not just a slimy blob covered in mold, it's probably alive. Or died and dried. . . who knows. . .

I was reading the wikipedia article on lichens just recently. I've been trying to cultivate some lichen given to me from a friend who runs a fern nursery, but my really nifty one with emerald green and orange seems to have faded over the last few weeks. :-(

My brother (who's a biologist in training), tells me you can't really move most of them, as they rely on being closely bonded with their substrate for food. It may not be a problem with lichens that just drape over leaves.

sahoyaref:
I've been reading this post with interest since I was not aware that evergreens could be started from cuttings. I have a couple of Norwegian pine trees (they called them here the island Xmas tree) and wonder if I can take some cuttings and root them. Since they are so slow growing, I would like to put one in my terrarium.
Anybody knows?
Ana :)

Ana
Are you sure your referring to Norwegian pine?? Sure it's not Norfolk pine?? A tree from the Norfolk islands.
Actually not a pine at all but sure looks like one.
If it's a Norfolk they will root from cuttings not sure about pines.
Gary

Ana: My understanding is that it is very difficult to root cuttings from evergreens, but it can be done if done correctly (right time of year, right piece of branch, etc.). However, the success rate is not very high. I would also think that what you have is a Norfolk pine, grown as a houseplant here. It may not like your terrarium unless you have good air circulation. Most (if not all) trees seem to need very good air circulation.

Nathan: The lichens I took were attached to their 'host' One is some 'old man's beard' (edible) on an old pine branch, and the tubular one was attached to a piece of the stump it was growing on. The piece had fallen off naturally, but it is a decent size, so I am hopeful for it's survival. I am facinated by lichens, but have been unable to keep them successfully yet. I'm sure the key is keeping them outdoors, since they prefer cooler temps, but it's hard to tell when they're dead. I used to have a few old lichens that I had collected from forests, and when I put them in my terrarium as 'decorations', they all slowly rotted away. They must have been dead, or at least dormant before, and it would appear they don't like warmth and high humidity.

Well, temps. are definitely dropping, and fall is on it's way! Of course the temperate terrs. are still doing fine. Even the lichens have survived so far! The tubular ones have straightened up again, so I take that as a good sign. The creeping vine never did root in the second terr though, so I took out the dead bits. Now the only thing left in that one is moss! =) Oh well, if the moss survives, it will still have been a successful experiment! I just hope my pine cuttings are rooting. . . Hmmmmmmm. . . what else was I going to say? Oh yeah! I tried some cuttings of golden creeping jenny in my tropical terr, and they did quite well! Too well, in fact, so I took them out again. =) They did loose their golden colour (went more green), except on the growing tips, but if I had higher light I'm sure they would have kept it. The persian shield is still doing very well indeed, and my next experiment will be with Dichondra 'Silver Falls', another annual. It has the most beautiful round silver leaves, and makes a lovely cascading plant. Tiny green flowers as well, very cute! I think it will probably root wherever it touches the soil, as most other 'trailing' plants do, but oh well! If it isn't too aggressive I would love to have it growing in my terr. It is like a waterfall.

I had this strange recollection that true pines won't strike from cuttings, but I can't find any info to that effect. Juniper is certainly fairly easy to strike though.

I think you may be correct, Nathan, because when I looked up info. on propagating conifers by cuttings, I only found info. on junipers and cedars. I will probably just have to buy a small lodgepole pine tree.

FINALLY. . . Ladieeeeeeeeeees and gentlemen, I present to you. . . the pics!!

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Top view of the most successful one. The little vine flowered in this one, and you can see the little tubular lichens.

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Side view of the other one. Sorry about the glass being fogged up, but a top view showed even less! Nothing left here but mosses and lichens.

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Both together in the lovely little set-up I made for them on my balcony. =)

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This is the little tiny one I made that contains only mosses. That 'wood' is petrified, so it will never rot! =) It is my 'zen' terrarium, though I do intend on making it a little more interesting, perhaps with a tiny micro mini sinningia (if and when they ever germinate. . .). It is my test terrarium that contains outdoor plants but is kept indoors, to see if they survive!

So, now that I've finally 'put my money where my mouth is,' what do y'all think? I love them and want to do more. . . =) *maniacal laughter*

There are a couple of ways to prevent fogging: a) heat the glass slightly on the viewing side (In my house this means the side away from the window is naturally hotter :) b) antifog coating. You can buy a wax that you wipe onto the glass that prevents fog from forming (I think it's a non-soluble surfactant which allows the water to spread out into a film rather than forming drops). These compounds are not toxic AFAIK.

Where did you get the glass from?

Gary:
Sorry, it is a Norfolk pine.
Ana :)

sahoyaref:
WOW!!!!! LOOOOOOOOVVVEEEEEEE them!!!
I showed them to my husband and told him: great idea, don't you think?? He just rolled his eyes and said: This Garden Forum is going to put us in the poor house... just kidding!
He loves my plants too... I think I'm going to look for some glass containers and go for it. Question:
What kind of light do you have on them? I would like to have them inside, have some room next to my terrarium, in my kitchen alcove and would like to place them there. They will be getting some light from the window (northern exposure) and some from the terrarium, I wonder if that would be enough, what do you think?
Ana :)

Nathan: thanks, but I don't care about the fogging on these ones. They are just testers, and I can see into them well enough to please myself. The glasses are all vases. The cylendar came from IKEA, the more shapely one came from Michaels (you can find them other places as well, they are the vases being sold as betta bowls with the plant growing on top), and the small bowl came from a thrift store.

Ana: these ones are getting only natural sunlight. The tiny one is in an east window, not great light, but since it's only mosses, it's fine. The other two, being my temperate test terrs, are on my balcony facing west, but will be going into dormancy this winter (to see if that can be done). The cylendar I will be refridgerating, to see if that works, and the tall vase I will be leaving outside, though it will be insulated in a pot with some kind of mulch around it. So they won't be getting any light then, but they won't really need it either, since the plants will be dormant. I will let them go dormant naturally by leaving them both outside as the temps. cool. So as for a northern exposure, you are so close to the equator that that probably doesn't matter a whole lot. It should be fine, as long as you choose your plants accordingly. And I believe that somewhere in the long thread above, I say what plants I have in them.