As adviced by people here, i went for the gooey stuff in branches to gather some critters, and my god there are so many…. Saw sludge shrimps hiding in the bottom of the jar, what i believe are several dragonfly larvae, and other tiny forms of life. All of that in a jar that must be close to 1L of volume. Should i try to find them a biggrr jar than this one ? Or just let things play out and see how it goes ?
by _bapt
3 Comments
It’s probably too much plant-mass to throw into the jar at the get-go. It’s better to start small and let the ecosystem grow in. I predict there will be gas imbalances and plant die-off, leading to an ammonia/nitrite spike.
The point is to let the jar settle into its own system. Things will sort out
The wood will cause problems if you close it off, being a constant source of CO2.
(I’ve had cork-like bark go ok because it was extremely slow to decompose)
Dragonfly nymphs should be put back where they came from; they’re extremely unlikely to survive once they’ve eaten everything else.