---
title: Checked against real jars: how the terrarium simulator works
description: Fourteen jars their owners described online, rebuilt and run: all fourteen turn out the way the real ones did. A 9-year carboy left alone: alive at 3 years,...
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/how-it-works/checked-against-real-jars/
---

How it works

# Checked against real jars

Fourteen jars their owners described online, rebuilt and run: all fourteen turn out the way the real ones did.

- A 9-year carboy left alone: alive at 3 years, the tradescantia the biggest plant.
- Succulents sealed under a 9 h lamp: rot within weeks.
- A jar with far too much water: fog all day and rot losses within weeks.
- A new jar moulds in its first weeks and clears, sooner with springtails.
- A sealed jar in direct sun cooks within days; an open jar left unwatered dries out.
- Isopods in a 4.5 L box crash within weeks; a bog kept wet thrives at 6 months.
- Each case is built and watered the way its owner described, then judged on what they reported.

## Stats

- Real jars: 14 of 14 match

- Starter jars: all 26 alive at 2 years in 8 runs each (the random rolls differ per run)

- Sources: owners' posts on r/terrariums and care guides

[See it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=how-it-works/checked-against-real-jars)

[← Chance and forecasts](https://glassjar.garden/guide/how-it-works/chance-and-forecasts/)