With the increasing population and industrialization, conserving the biodiversity has turned into a necessity. And, so is the necessity to bring forward new methods for building sustainable ecosystem to combat the evil aspects of climatic changes. That’s where bottle gardens come into existence.
For people like us who live in a world with tiny living space and busy lifestyle, bottle gardens are the best substitute to satisfy our inner gardener soul. A bottle garden is a container like a terrarium in which life size plants are grown.
They usually consist of a plastic or glass bottle with a narrow neck and a small opening, with plants growing inside them that can have no or little connection with the outside environment, and can be contained indefinitely inside the bottle if properly illuminated.
History
Historically, they were used to transport plants from their native countries to other countries where ordinarily they would not be able to survive in the new conditions.
As time progressed they became more widely available to the public and this allowed house plants to be protectively grown under glass or plastic even though they were surrounded by unfavorable conditions. The first terrarium was developed by botanist Nathaniel Bag Shaw Ward in 1842.
How Bottle Garden Works?
Bottle gardens work in such a way that their sealed space creates an entirely self-sufficient ecosystem in which plants can survive by using photosynthesis to recycle nutrients. The only external input needed to keep the plant going is light, since this provides it with the energy it needs to create its own food and continue to grow.
Light is absorbed by proteins containing chlorophyll (a green pigment) of leaves. Some of that light energy is stored in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The rest is used to remove electrons from the water being absorbed from the soil through the plant's roots.
These electrons then become 'free' - and are used in chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates, releasing oxygen. But the eco-system also uses cellular respiration to break down decaying material shed by the plant.
In this part of the process, bacteria inside the soil of the bottle garden absorbs the plant's waste oxygen and releases carbon dioxide that is often reused by the growing plant. Mostly the reaction takes place at night. Because the bottle garden is a closed environment that means its water cycle is also a self-contained process.
The water in the bottle gets taken up by plants’ roots, is released into the air during transpiration, and condenses down into the potting mixture, where the cycle begins again. Photosynthesis creates oxygen and puts more moisture in the air.
The moisture built up inside the bottle released back on the plant. And, the dropped leaves rot at the bottom of the bottle, creating the CO2 also needed for photosynthesis and nutrients which it absorbs through its roots.
How to Make Your Own Bottle Garden
They are very easy to set up and then look after going forward, you can grow many different plants that would ordinarily be quite difficult in the home.
Steps:
- The bottle or a terrarium to be used should be thoroughly washed as a dirty exterior or interior can cut off the light needed for survival. Recycling soda bottles or other glass wastes by using them as bottle garden can be a good form of waste management.
- Filling up the bottle garden is done in such a way that there are two layers within the base of the container. The first layer should be a very porous material such as gravels, pebbles or sand, you can also add a thin layer of activated charcoal at this point if you want. The second layer is the growing medium such as soil compost. It needs to be quite a thick layer.
- Although bottle gardens allow you to grow most kinds of plants, it is often advised to avoid flowering plants. Your chosen plants need to be reasonably slow growing so not to take over the others, they will all need similar light and water requirements.
- This is the hardest part. You will need to revert to long handled spoons, long chop sticks or something similar, to enable you to dig out a small trench and then to help you lower the plants into the newly created hole.
- The final thing to do in terms of the preparation is to water by slightly rotating or letting the water run down the slides.
- With the requirements, watering and fertilizing is done to gain better results.
Conclusion
Bottle garden is extensively used as a form of decoration, or as a substitute garden in areas with little space. Being easy to create and maintain, bottle gardens are also used in schools as an economic way to study miniature eco-systems. They can also be used as a control mechanism.
Bottle gardens have also been used for vegetable production in dryland areas, allowing water to be conserved. This process is one reason why NASA was interested in taking plants into space.
‘Plants operate as very good scrubbers, taking out pollutants in the air, so that a space station can effectively become self-sustaining’. ‘This is a great example of just how pioneering plants are and how they will persist if given the opportunity.
Written By - Nidhi Verma
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