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I'm planning on buying a 5 gallon tank to house some Drosera Capensis (probably 3 or 4) and I want to actually plant them in the terrarium, unlike my three other tanks where I keep the plants in the pots. I've ordered some peat, sphagnum, and perlite from Sarrecenia Northwest and I plan on ordering my Cape Sundews (bareroot) from Cook's Carnivorous Plants once I get everything underway. Seeing as I've never tried this type of terrarium before, I have some questions:

1) How do I mix the soil? I believe I read that sundews prefer a mix of one part peat, one part perlite. I've never actually understood what this means. Do I just make it so half the soil mix is peat and half is perlite?

2) How would I go about watering? Obviously I can't use the tray method of watering, so should I just water from the top? Should I try to not hit the sundew leaves when I water and just aim for the soil around the plants?

3) Would three Cape Sundews be adequate for this size terrarium? The Cape Sundew is by far my favorite sundew and I want this tank to really fill up with them. I've read on this forum and several other places that this plant can easily turn into a weed, which is basically what I want. I would love to see this whole tank fill with Cape Sundews.
 
1: Yes. 1:1 would be half and half. Think of it as how many handfuls/cups/etc. of each type of soil to add.

2: Yep, but occasionally I'll even water directly on the plants. I figured Rain doesn't miss the plants, so it shouldn't harm them.

3: imho, 3 will leave it looking pretty scarce until you get them to flower and drop seed. I have 6 growing in a 18"x7" windowsil box, I think it would look better with more betwen them, and they only take up half of the box already.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Perhaps I'll just double it and make it six. You make a good point about it being bare, especially since they probably won't flower for a while (I'm not even sure how many times a year Capensis flowers).
 
Oh, another question. I'd like to decorate the terrarium a little bit, perhaps with a few rocks and whatnot. Is there anything that I should avoid decoration wise that might poison the soil? I'm also thinking about adding a small fountain and maybe a few aquarium pieces.
 
Also, another question
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Should I line the bottom with anything? I've read before about lining, but I've never been sure when or where to use it.
 
put the rocks in vinegar. no bubbles means you can use it.

i'm not sure what you mean my lining the bottom. back when i had a "classic" terrarium i had put eggcrate on the bottom, the garden cloth to keep the soil out. the eggcrate acted as a resivoir

you'll need really good light if you want good color. why not somethine else like the Queensland Sisters or something?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Should I line the bottom with anything? I've read before about lining, but I've never been sure when or where to use it.

I think the lining you are talking about is lining the sides of the tank with a reflective material to hold more of the light in the terrarium.
 
Well not the reflective material, I have that on all my tanks. I just remember hearing somewhere you have to line it to get good drainage or something...I have no idea, maybe I'm just insane
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