Coke bottle tek: A terrarium technique

[Black Rainbow]

EGA's new guide documents a simple, innovative and recyclable technique that anyone can use to easily grow plants from seed.

 

Coke bottle tek is a modification of the famous 'take-away tek', which uses plastic bottles for raising cacti and succulents from seed. Coke bottle tek is a set-and-forget technique, allowing plants to become more established with less human intervention, better preparing them for outdoor, in-ground environment and reducing the need for up-potting. Coke bottle tek also represents a more recyclable and environmentally friendly alternative to take-away tek.

 

This technique being used to successfully cultivate Trichocereus spp., Lophophora spp., Hylocereus spp., Gymnocalycium spp., Astrophytum spp., Ariocarpus spp., Ferocactus spp., and of course many different trees and herbs.

 

Halcyon and Dr Liam Engel are passionate ethnobotanists and longstanding members of The Corroboree forum.

 

If you find this resource helpful, please support EGA so we can make more!

Download the tutorial here: https://gardenstates.entheogenesis.org/coke-bottle-tek-a-terrarium-technique/

[mcgrath111]

Detailed tek, thank you - I have a few hundred ario seeds to plant, looikng forward to giving this a try. 

[fyzygy]

There was a plastic-bottle terrarium craze in the '80s, when the 2L Coke bottles first came out (with a separate black plastic base, in those days). 

I think there's a SAB tek on using this method to propagate iboga. 

[rottenjonny]

psychotria leaf cuttings maybe?

[waterboy 2.0]

On 29/09/2021 at 4:19 PM, fyzygy said:

There was a plastic-bottle terrarium craze in the '80s, when the 2L Coke bottles first came out (with a separate black plastic base, in those days). 

I think there's a SAB tek on using this method to propagate iboga. 

 

LOL... I feel old again reading that. Had armies of the black based terrariums. 

 

Thats a good resource for aspiring greenthumbs. 

[Halcyon Daze]

LOL, just found this thread, I'll have to add to it when I finish this big exam.

 

[Black Rainbow]

Hey everyone, just a heads up we will be screening a video on the coke bottle technique as part of tonight's EGA microdose webcast. 8pm AEST, tickets are free but donations help us keep keep doing this!

https://www.trybooking.com/BUTZP

[Black Rainbow]

A video outlining the bottle tek technique

 

[fyzygy]

The original plastic Coke bottle (2L) with the black plastic base, eliminated all of these flange-interlocking dramas. Just saying. Maybe they should bring it back. The plastic was thicker, in those days. Sigh. 

 

I think the tall chamber might be good for growing iboga and other cuttings. Khat perhaps. Sally? In other words, reverse the order of tall/short, air/medium. Thoughts?

 

Do people bother microwaving their media for sterility? Maybe the activated charcoal works better (is rather expensive but)...

 

One advantage of this bottle container over the takeaway tek, is that the takeaway container base is too flexible. You can get miniature earthquakes in the substrate just by trying to prise the lid open. And actually it's that disturbance that kills a lot of young contenders, I find. 

[Halcyon Daze]

Here's a couple pix.

 

Some intergeneric dragonfruits

Notice some bottles open in the background, and some still closed.

 

 

with the lid off

 

 

 

[Halcyon Daze]

some more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Halcyon Daze

[fyzygy]

never mind

Edited January 18, 2022 by fyzygy

[rottenjonny]

Annoying got some cactiseeds so I can try this?

[fyzygy]

Error when I try to access the tutorial. 

 

 

[Cubism]

On 04/01/2023 at 2:41 AM, fyzygy said:

Error when I try to access the tutorial. 

 

 

 

 

Try the link on here mate, works for me -

https://www.entheogenesis.org/ega-resources/blog-post-title-four-tp2fg

 

 

 

 

[fyzygy]

What not to do: sterilise your bottle in the microwave. Mine had been perfect, already packed with the moistened media, but then I thought to sterilise the lot (minus the upper plastic section) in the microwave. 90 seconds and things were looking just right. But then I gave it another 30 seconds for good measure, and the whole thing basically melted out of shape. I did manage to cram something together, in the end, just not as roomy or elegant or stable as it was before. That had easily been my most perfect coke-bottle terrarium to date. It definitely takes a bit of practice, cutting those bottles to fit.