You Grow Girl™

A few weeks ago I discovered some clusters of nasty white blobs in my terrarium. At first I thought they were insect eggs. So I removed them and forgot about them. Well on Friday night I discovered that overnight the terrarium had become infested with them. White clusters of something or other were everywhere in the soil and could be clearly seen through the glass of the tank. Davin and I did a closer inspection that was about as scientific as poking them with sticks and decided they were a fungal growth since they kind of disintegrated upon contact. Our reasoning was that eggs would be slimeier.

I spent hours that night researching the possibilities and the solutions. The strange thing is that bacterial and fungal growths are often caused by too much humidity. My terrarium has ample breathing space in the back of the lid. It wasn't overwatered. As far as a possible insect infestation goes I haven't seen insects in or around the tank. The plants have been thriving and show no signs of any kind of damage whatsoever.

Hours of searching came up completely empty. With no answers and only questions I started thinking again about the possibility of scraping the whole thing and starting a desertarium. I've never been overly thrilled by the progress of the terrarium. The tillandsia were the only plants I was interested in keeping in there. I am more excited by cacti and succulents and the idea of developing a mini arid habitat seemed more appealing than trying to save a terrarium possibly infested with some unknown organism.

I woke up Saturday morning with the fear that overnight insects had hatched from the countless clusters of white blobs in the tank and had infested our living quarters. I don't have a bug phobia but clearly I have seen one too many horror films of the 'insects take over the world' variety. That pretty much decided it for me.

On Saturday afternoon we went out to run errands. I stopped in a plant store I had never been in and bought a lovely Gymnocalycium cactus (I think) with five red, flower buds. A few hours and already I was stocking up for the new desertarium setup. I don't need many excuses to indulge. I just wish I had purchased a nice looking opuntia I had seen on Friday afternoon. But that was before I knew I'd have a whole tank to fill with plants.

Saturday evening I bought several bags of cactus soil and began the brutal task of cleaning the terrarium. I'll spare the details but it basically involved removing the plants, soil, rocks and wood. I then cleaned the rocks of soil and washed them several times in hot water followed by a long soak in oxygenated bleach. I then cleaned the tank and sterilized it. This procedure actually took me until Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon I washed fresh gravel and lined the bottom of the tank with it. Since then I haven't done much else. There is soil in there now and a few plants but I don't have a real grasp on a design yet so it's kind of bland right now. Currently I plan on waiting until I find plants I like and slowly building the setup into something nice. I need to decide on a background but I don't want to use one of those cheesy plastic aquarium backings that depict desert scenes. Or maybe I do... I can't decide between kitsch and realism.