Soda Bottle Terrarium
Culinary Arts
By Maria Fernanda López Martínez
One 2-liter bottle of soda (with cap)
Potting Soil
A handful of small stones or pebbles
A Marker
Scissors
Seeds
Seedlings (small plants). This is optional if you want to start right out
with plants in your terrarium
Extra: If you want to make a really good terrarium you would also use activated charcoal and spaghnum moss. More on this below.
Here is how you arrange the materials in your
bottle from the bottom up: ( the red items
are optional)
1. Pebbles
2. Activated Charcoal
3. Spaghnum or Spanish Moss
4. Soil
5. More moss
Draw a line around the bottle about six inches up. I use a neat little trick to
make a nice straight line. I rest the marker on the top of an upside down
coffee cup then I rotate the 2 liter bottle. It makes a nice straight line.
Cut the bottle along the line with a pair of scissors. You may need to start a
small hole in the bottle before you can cut it with the scissors. Please ask a
parent or adult to help you with this cutting of the bottle.
Place a handful of stones in the bottom half of the bottle. About 1-2 inches
deep should be good.
Place your other materials in the bottle. The charcoal then the moss then
the soil. If you are not using charcoal or moss then put just the soil in. Fill
it to about 1 inch from the top.
Now plant your seeds! You should plant 6 to 10 seeds and later as they grow
you can pluck out some of the weaker ones and leave the 2 or 3 best ones.
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