Hello, in near future i plan to make 2 or 3 isolated Latimer Gardens - similar to what Mr. David Latimer did couple years back. (For those who doesnt know what im talking about: google "latimer garden"). So, the thing is i have no knowledge nor experience in biology/botanics (my education in that field ended in high-school) - thats why i decided to ask here for advices. Im sure there's more than enough experts who'll find no problem helping me. I got few questions: 1. Would it be possible to have several different types of plants in that isolated garden? Or should i rather expect that sooner or later one species will eventually dominate the ecosystem? Maybe u have ideas for some nice symbiosis? 2. How much soil, water, fertilizer should i put to lets say 25-30l carboy? 3. Would it be good idea to blow some CO2 inside? I heard that its enough to increase CO2 amount twice to make plants grow 3 times better. Or maybe there's a better way to put CO2 in there than blowing with my lungs? :D many thx in advance for all suggestions and advices
I'm not answering the question, just adding a link, which shows a carboy, a term I didn't know. 80-Year-Old Man Hasn’t Watered This Sealed Bottle Garden Since 1972 And It’s Still Alive
Some homebrewers of beer and wine will off-gas fermentation CO2 into planted aquaria. I have not made a concerted effort to do so, but people have been doing it for years with anecdotal success. Second item is about Latimer's carboy. This is something that is similar to the Walstad method of planted aquaria. She's been doing low-tech tanks for many years and is published on this. If you search the 'net for Diana Walstad, Walstad method, or her book's title, _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_, you'll find lots of news and discussions about this. She does not do a closed system, which Latimer did. She's a microbiologist. You are going to have to understand some of the chemistry to get your closed system balanced properly. Because of an old German-American scientist uncle who died a long time ago, I've always been interested in what I've found to be a fairly common German Victorian approach to aquarium gardening. They often did natural planted tanks with fish and just adding filtered water from time to time. Wabi-kusa, emersed plants, natural tanks, native tanks, terraria, paludaria, etc. are all in this minimal interference style. There are folks who are doing these things, but we don't get news on when they fail or what went wrong. I would think that a variety of species would be advantageous, especially as you learn what isn't working. Each plant would bring its own bio-load even if you are using sterile media. A mono-culture of a single species could be heart-breaking if it all dies at once. Different plants might give you time to correct whatever is wrong. Just my thoughts...
