Lamp Terrarium Plant Buying & Propagation Guide

Your complete planting experience: Visit the Photosynthesis Experience Centre for build videos, artistic inspiration and care help.

Thanks for choosing a Photosynthesis Lamp Terrarium Kit! Here’s what to get and how to turn your terrarium into a little propagator while your plants establish.

What arrives with your kit

  • Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Australian Capital Territory: plants are included.
  • South Australia: soilless plant cuttings are included; no moss is included. Use the propagation steps below to establish your cuttings.
  • Western Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory: your kit comes with a plant guide and purchasing information so you can source your plants locally; live plants and moss are not included.

What to buy locally

Ask a local nursery or garden centre for small terrarium plants. Buy healthy, pest-free starter plants rather than large specimens that will crowd the glass. You do not need all three types: start with a small selection and leave room for growth.

  • Fittonia (nerve plant): a compact option with colourful leaf veins that suits humid terrariums.
  • Ficus pumila (creeping fig): choose a small-leaved form and use short stems; trim regularly to keep its spreading growth in proportion.
  • Peperomia: choose a small tropical, terrarium-suitable type. Ask the nursery to identify the variety; not every peperomia likes the same conditions.

Use these names on plant labels or when asking your local nursery. A locally based online nursery is another option; check that the seller delivers the selected plant to your address before paying. Moss is optional for the finished look, not required to root cuttings.

Trim your plants and prepare cuttings

  1. Use clean, sharp scissors. Select healthy, non-flowering stem tips. For fittonia, around 5 cm is a useful starting size; keep other cuttings small enough to sit comfortably inside the glass.
  2. Cut just below a node—the point where leaves join the stem. Remove the lowest leaves so none will be buried, keeping a few leaves at the tip.
  3. For the parent plant, shorten overlong growth just above a node and remove dead or damaged leaves. Keep the healthy trimmings for propagation.
  4. For peperomia, use stem cuttings only where the plant has a suitable stem with nodes. Rosette types may need division or a variety-specific leaf-cutting method instead.

Use the terrarium as a propagator

  1. Follow our Lamp Terrarium build video to arrange the kit’s layers. Lightly moisten the planting mix; do not flood it.
  2. Make small planting holes and insert the cuttings with a bare lower node in contact with the mix. Firm gently. Keep leaves above the surface and give each cutting space.
  3. The glass helps retain moisture around the cuttings. Use the kit’s normal enclosure as designed, keeping electrical parts dry and unobstructed. Place the terrarium in bright, indirect light, away from direct sun and overheating.
  4. Check regularly while rooting. Keep the mix lightly moist, never waterlogged. If the glass stays heavily fogged or mould appears, increase ventilation and remove decaying material. Peperomia is particularly sensitive to excess water.
  5. Allow time for roots to establish; timing varies by plant and conditions. New growth is encouraging, but avoid pulling cuttings up to check. Once rooted and growing steadily, leave them in place as your finished planting, or gently move them into your final arrangement.

Keep it in shape

Trim stems before they crowd the glass or neighbouring plants. Reuse healthy trimmings to grow more plants. Check moisture before adding water rather than following a fixed spray schedule.

Further growing advice: RHS fittonia guide and RHS peperomia guide.