Disclaimer: This review was written for the German readership of the Terrarium Blog. You can still read the review and gain some insights, but keep in mind that the product is not available on the American Amazon store.
Today we're looking at the Growing Concepts DIY ecosystem. Last week, we took a look at the Ecoworld Jungle Biosphere. Can Growing Concepts' competitor keep up with the 4/5 stars, or is it not worth the purchase? Let's say at the outset that it's always cheaper to gather your own materials for a closed terrarium. But then you have to inform yourself about all the plants in it and show a lot of creativity. Complete sets for closed terrariums take a lot of work away from you.
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Table of Contents
Growing Concepts DIY Ecosystem - The Features
In contrast to the products I usually look at here, you can find surprisingly little information about this complete set for a closed terrarium on Amazon. With the rival from Ecoworld, you could already see the entire delivery contents online. In terms of price, the two are similarly positioned.
In the DIY ecosystem from Growing Concepts, you can only find information about the jar itself, but not about the ingredients. The jar has a height of 30 cm and a diameter of 18 cm. It is thus not huge, but already offers decent space for plants. Also, most hands should easily fit through the opening. Here you can see a picture.
It is only said that the lid is made of cork (but you can see that), that the container is spherical (you can also see) and that the product is sustainable. Whether the latter is true, I can not say, unfortunately, because there is no proof for it anywhere, such as a certificate. That's all it really says. I have looked several times and was unfortunately disappointed.
For customers, information is the most important thing they can get from the product before they buy it. The fact that the manufacturer fails at this point does not leave a good impression at first. Above all, it would be particularly important to know which plants are available. Although there are really some nice pictures on Amazon, they all contain different plants. On one of the pictures you can also see a booklet and a substrate mixture.
Now how is a customer supposed to know what they are getting? After all, special plants are one of the most important reasons why people decide to buy a closed terrarium.
The reviews about the Growing Concepts DIY Ecosystem
Apart from the lack of information, the Growing Concepts ecosystem is quite well received by buyers. With 4.4 out of 5 stars, it almost achieves the top score. The overall rating is made up of a total of 67 individual ratings. 70% of them are 5-star reviews. The reviews with one or two stars together only make up 7%. Apparently, the product is good in the eyes of the buyers.
Positive reviews
One of the user reviews says that the glass is much thinner than expected. However, it still seems very sturdy and was also carefully packaged so that it arrived intact to the person. Another review supports both and also states that customer service sent new plants upon request after the first set of plants started to mold.
The fact that plants are sent on is by no means a matter of course and must be credited to the customer service of Growing Concepts. Another user was also pleased to receive new plants after wilted plants arrived due to the long transport route.
One positive review is happy about the product, but also strongly recommends following the included user manual. The fact that it is included would have been information that could have been included in the product description, for example. These instructions contain information about location, sunlight and humidity. Such an instruction is very useful, because most buyers will not have much experience with closed terrariums.
Negative reviews
There is only one single review with only one star. This one reports that the glass has flaws and wobbles on a straight surface. This is of course unsightly, but seems to be an isolated case. The review also states that some of the plants had already wilted and that the buyer did not respond to complaints. However, based on the large number of positive reviews that claim the opposite, this also seems to be more of an isolated case.
The plants are also said to be (in contrast to the actual glass) not particularly well packaged and simply lie loose in the box. This, of course, inevitably causes crushed or chipped leaves during shipping and is not a positive thing. Individual containers are already much cheaper to get. The price of this complete set is likely to be largely made up of the plants, which is why they must also arrive neatly at the buyer.
Summary
The Growing Concepts DIY ecosystem is a solid product for people who like to craft a closed terrarium. It's a one-size-fits-all spherical jar that comes with plants and a substrate mix. On the negative side, there is no information at all about the product on Amazon, so you don't know what you're even getting in the box. That's pretty bad, especially in the case of the plants. Nevertheless, most reviews are positive and also praise the customer service in particular. They sends replacement plants quickly if the actual ones are broken in transit or even subsequently begin to mold.
Here you can buy the Growing Concepts DIY ecosystem (if you live near Germany).
So I hereby give a clear buy recommendation if you are interested in complete sets for closed terrariums.
