Building A Biosphere

Building A Biosphere

Materials needed:

· One gallon clear glass jar with lid

· ¾ inch depth of small stones, the size of a pea

· Crushed gardener’s charcoal

· 3 cups potting soil

· Stocking, cheesecloth, or burlap

· Wood chips

· Spray bottle

· Spoon

· Measuring cup

· Scissors

· Small plants

Suggested plants found at local hardware stores: Laua’e, Ae’ae, Goosefoot,

Sphaghum moss (soil cover).

· Rubber gloves

Procedures:

1. Wash the bottle and jar inside and out. (If you are using a food jar,

soak it until the label comes off.) Rinse well and dry.

2. Put ¾ inch of small stones in the jar for drainage.

3. Put a spoonful of charcoal over the stones. Charcoal is used to filter,

purify and humidify the soil and water of the terrarium.

4. Cut up the stocking or cheesecloth into a circle to fit inside the jar.

The cheesecloth should cover the charcoal. The cheesecloth allows water

flow yet keeps the soil and filtering medium from mixing.

5. Measure 1 ½ cups of soil. Pour it on top of the cloth.

Spread it around so it is even.

6. Put the potted plants next to each other on a table. Place them in a way

that the student would like to see them inside the jar, with the tallest

planted first and the ground cover going in last.

7. Take a spoon and dig a hole right down to the cloth.

8. Hold the stem of the tallest plant between your index and middle fingers.

Turn the pot upside down. Hit the bottom of the pot lightly with a spoon.

After a few taps, the plant will come out of the pot.

9. Put the plant in the hole you dug. Pack some soil around it to keep it in place.

Do the same for the other plants, except the ground cover.

10. Measure 1 ½ cups of soil. Spread it around the plants. Press it down

lightly with your fingers.

11. Take the ground cover out of its pot. Dig a small hole in the soil with

your fingers. Put the plant in the hole with some more soil around it

and pack it down.

12. Now put in the rocks, wood chips, and other things you picked.

Move them around until you like the way they look.

13. Measure ¼ cup of water and water the plants.

14. Clean off the inside of the jar with a paper towel.

15. Put the lid on the jar and take it home.