David Latimer – Terrarium – A Bottled World of Its Own!

In 1960, David Latimer planted a garden inside of a bottle and sealed it shut. He opened the bottle and watered the plant in 1972 and sealed it for good. It has been a self sustaining ecosystem for 60 years.

Latimer planted the terrarium garden on Easter Sunday in 1960. He placed some compost and a quarter pint of water into a 10-gallon glass carboy and inserted a spiderwort sprout, which is not typically an indoor plant, using wires.

The only thing fed externally to the ecosystem is sunlight. Without it the plants wouldn’t be able to get enough energy to create their own food and continue to grow.

The bacteria in the compost eats the dead plants and break down the oxygen given off by the plants, turning it into the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis that the plants need to survive.

It is an entirely self-sufficient ecosystem, with the plant and bacteria in the soil working together.