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This flower art allows you to create compositions based on a spherical substrate. Want to create a kokedama? Follow the leader!
The art of kokedama, whose name comes from moss (“koke”) and ball (“dama”), allows a plant to grow on a ball of clay substrate covered with plant moss. This technique from Japan, which appeared in the 90s, offers a touch of Zen to your interior. This formula can last if you maintain it properly.
Making Kokedama: 5 Steps to Success
First, gather everything you need to craft kokedama.
| Salad bowl | A suitable plant with its roots |
| Clear water or rain | Foam |
| Clay soil suitable for kokedama and selected plant | Transparent string |
Ficus ginseng, asparagus plumosusliverworts, succulents, cacti, aloes… depending on the plant remove the soil from the roots.
Pour soil and then water into the salad bowl to form a compact, moist ball ready to house the future plant. Place it in the heart of the ball cut into two parts and then tighten with light pressure. But do it gently so as not to damage the roots, the three parts of the block must adhere and the excess water must be able to drain. Hold it in your hands for a few seconds.
Once the base is holding, cover it with foam. Hold the whole thing together with string placed around it to keep the ball compact.
- Watering to start
If you used little water to make the soil ball, you can pour a little with a funnel into the center of the ball to give the roots their share.
Read alsoIn Yasugi, a Japanese garden designed as a living painting
How to keep a kokedama?
You don’t need a green thumb to make a kokedama last. Just water it regularly: about twice a week in spring and summer and once a week in autumn and winter. Use a funnel to get water, preferably room temperature and free of scale or rainwater, into the center of the ball to reach the roots. Be careful not to wet the foam as well, so that it does not turn brown over time.
You can add a little orchid fertilizer once or twice a month to keep it fresh.
As with any other plant, regularly cut off yellowed or wilted leaves with scissors.
Where to place the kokedama in my interior?
Like any plant, kokedama needs light. It must be indirect or placed in partial shade. Therefore, prefer a location near a window with a curtain or about one meter from the opening.
Avoid drafts and the proximity of radiators, which risk rapid drying of the ball.
If they grow too fast, do not hesitate to cut the moss and the plant.
plants