Thriving since 1960, a garden in a bottle: Seedling sealed in its own
ecosystem and watered just once in 53 years. David Latimer first planted his bottle garden in 1960 and last watered it in 1972 before
tightly sealing it shut 'as an experiment' The hardy spiderworts plant inside has grown to
fill the 10-gallon container by surviving entirely on recycled air, nutrients
and water. Gardeners' Question Time expert says it is 'a
great example just how pioneering plants can be'
For the last 40 years it has been
completely sealed from the outside world. But the indoor variety of spiderworts
(or Tradescantia, to give the plant species its scientific Latin name) within
has thrived, filling its globular bottle home with healthy foliage.
Mr Latimer, 80, said: ‘It’s 6ft from a
window so gets a bit of sunlight. It grows towards the light so it gets turned
round every so often so it grows evenly. ‘Otherwise, it’s the definition of
low-maintenance. I’ve never pruned it, it just seems to have grown to the
limits of the bottle.’ The bottle garden has created its own
miniature ecosystem. Despite being cut off from the outside world, because it
is still absorbing light it can photosynthesise, the process by which plants
convert sunlight into the energy they need to grow.
Bottle gardens work because 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 shining on the leaves of the plant is absorbed by proteins
containing chlorophylls (a green pigment).
Some of that light energy is stored in the form of adenosine triphosphate
(ATP), a molecule that stores energy. 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. This photosynthesis process is the opposite of the cellular respiration
that occurs in other organisms, including humans, where carbohydrates
containing energy react with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, and
release chemical energy.
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 releasing carbon
dioxide which the growing plant can reuse. And, of course, at night, when there is no sunlight to drive
photosynthesis, the plant will also use cellular respiration to keep itself
alive by breaking down the stored nutrients. 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, condenses down into the potting mixture, where
the cycle begins again.
Photosynthesis creates oxygen and also
puts more moisture in the air. The moisture builds up inside the bottle and
‘rains’ back down on the plant. The leaves it drops rot at the bottom
of the bottle, creating the carbon dioxide also needed for photosynthesis and
nutrients which it absorbs through its roots.
Water with extreme care (your jar won't need much) and place the finished
mini garden in a well-lit spot, but not on a hot south-facing windowsill. Into a cleaned out ten gallon carboy,
or globular bottle, which once contained sulphuric acid, he poured some compost
then carefully lowered in a seedling using a piece of wire.
He put in about a quarter of a pint of
water. It was not until 1972 that he gave it another ‘drink’. After that, he greased the bung so it
wedged in tightly... and has not watered it since. The bottle stands on display under the
stairs in the hallway of his home in Cranleigh, Surrey, the same spot it has occupied
for 27 years after he and his wife Gretchen moved from Lancashire when he
retired as an electrical engineer.
He added that this process is one reason
why NASA was interested in taking plants into space.‘The only input to this whole process
has been solar energy, that’s the thing it has needed to keep it going.
Everything else, every other thing in there has been recycled. That’s
fantastic.’
If you can’t see the point, you can’t
smell it, nor eating it. You can try to have a cola bottle short-term garden instead.
Prepare a cola bottle and punch holes on the bottom
Cut out the top part
Soak the green beans for more than 8 hours to get little white sprouts
Put the sprouting green beans in the bottle and covered with a wet cloth
Put the whole bottle in the dark, and covered with a black plastic bag
Water them 2 times/day, wet and drench
Ready to harvest and get ready for next run
