Self-Sustained Ecosystem in a Carboy

About a year ago, I read an article about a self contained ecosystem that hasn't received water since 1972. I've always been a fan of nature and its forces, and I finally decided to pull the trigger and try to make one of these for myself. I searched all over the internet for jug similar to the one in the picture above, but they were into the hundreds of dollars range. Seeing as this was my first attempt at this sort of thing, I settled on a forty dollar carboy (a glass jug for fermenting alcohol) I found on Amazon.com. I'm a very mechanically oriented person, but this is my first time entering the realm gardening and planting things. This project may be filled with errors, but other than the original story I read, I couldn't find much by anyone else who has built a self sustaining ecosystem of this scale. Hopefully this project succeeds, and this blog can help others who may be interested in doing something similar. Enjoy :)

If you have any questions, feel free to email me: MendicinoB@gmail.com

March 27, 2014 
My five gallon carboy arrived well packaged and intact. I was worried at first that a piece of glass this size would show up broken, but this piece came wrapped inside a box which was wrapped inside another box, so everything was groovy. 

March 29, 2014
I officially began the project. I started by laying down about two inches of gravel substrate. I chose a river rock style from Home Depot. The system in the pictures of the original story I read appeared to not have a substrate base, but I thought it wouldn't be a terrible idea to allow for an area where water could drain if the soil ever becomes over saturated.

The next step was adding the soil. I went back and forth between using potting soil from Home Depot and running the risk of it not working well after several months, or using dirt from outside that was already established. The original article I read said nothing about the type of soil, and I ended up going with an organic potting mix of the shelf. I put in just over five pounds of the soil.

Here is a side view to help visualize the ratio of substrate to soil. Using some 1/4" pvc pipe, I was able to disperse seeds around the carboy. I laid a bunch of seeds down before adding an additional half inch of soil. The original article stated that the species of plant used was "Spiderwort". I read through hundreds of comments on various sites, and no one seemed to argue it. I ended up going up with something called "Prairie Spiderwort". I put in roughly 30 seeds. I  don't anticipate them all to germinate, and if several do and they start killing each other, I like to think the most hardy plant (the one I'd want) will prevail.

April 2, 2014
The first sign of life started to emerge from the soil. It is still very tiny, but the process is working. Fingers crossed for longevity. I plan on finally plugging the bottle once the plant is well established, just like the man in the original article did. 

April 7th, 2014
There was still only one sprouting seed (that I could find). The soil had settled much more than I had anticipated. The soil dropped about an inch and a half since I first laid it. Some of it began seeping into the gravel substrate I placed at the bottom. If you make only of these, you may want to opt out of that step. We'll see in time. I think I also forgot to mention earlier that I dropped three garden worms into the carboy the day after I planted the seeds. They all burrowed, and it might be possible that their tunneling about also contributed to the soil compacting as much as it has. 

April 9, 2014
A second plant finally started to emerge from the soil!












May 4, 2014

It's been about a month since my last update, but blame that on the plants, not me! Everything seems to be going smoothly. I've counted 22 sprouted seeds. This does concern me a little. I fear that there might be too much competition for resources. But we'll see as time goes on. About two weeks ago, I did notice something completely unexpected. I noticed small orange spheres appearing on the surface. They began to grow, and I now have a thriving mushroom population living alongside the spiderwort. I'm not sure if this will prove to be a bad thing, but I'm remaining optimistic. It's all part of the experiment. I was curious as to why mushrooms would have started growing. After doing some reseach, I've come to find that internet is filled with gardeners asking the same question. Turns out it's pretty common in orgainc potting mix. I've read that the mushrooms are not harmful, and you can just pick them out if you wish. Unfortunately, I can fit my hand through the one inch opening at the top of the carboy, so those mushrooms better be in it for the long haul!! There is no sign of the four worms I put in at the beginning of this experiment. I am assuming they are all dead. I made another carboy with a Lilly of the Valley plant in it shortly after I started this one. I put just a single worm in that one, and I see it on a daily basis even a month later. 

Below is a picture showing all the nice green. This was the best photo I could get. It can be tough because of all the condensation on the glass. 

I will continue to update this blog as time goes on.