What do you plan on growing?

tj

Hi tj,

I’m not really sure, I was thinking either a jungle cacti of some sort, or I have two Hoya cuttings I was considering using, or possibly some sort of vining philodendron. Any recommendations?

My understanding is that you would be best utilizing moisture loving/tolerant plants. With this in mind, there might be some ferns, or Selaginella, which might work. Perhaps some types of begonia?

I have no experience with these but did google and read a bit on them. It sounds as if you can use any soil you wish around the roots and then encase that in the moss and mud. The outer layer it makes is said to be very quick draining. I bet impatience and coleus would love it.

But I wonder if you could remove a bit around the top of the ball exposing plant soil for evaporation purposes to appeal to plants who need a dry period. Looks like fun.

Thank you everyone. I’ve owned one previously for a few weeks that had a small anthurium in it. I bought it from the local farmer’s market here. My grandmother fell in love with it when she came over and saw it, so I gave it to her.

It never had a problem being too moisture retentive so I don’t believe most plants would be a problem if done correctly. In fact, I watered it more than some of my houseplants because I found that it would dry pretty quickly. I guess I will look in to it more!

WOW, that's great to hear, I LOVE how they look.

Hello. I make my own but instead of bonsai soil/clay mix like traditional kokedama, I just use regular indoor potting soil. I usually hold the shape with one layer of burlap and then tie sphagnum moss on the outside with twine.

So far I've had success with muehlenbeckia complexa for over a year and recently just made a couple with platycerium bifurcatum. Will have to report back on how that makes out. I also tried doing one with a phalaenopsis wrapping some bark mix in a burlap sack and peat moss over top. That did not do so well, not enough air for the roots.

Hope that helps!

Won't you pls share some pix so we can see?

I think any kind of soil is fine as long as it covered by clay type soil as outer layer to grow moss. Basically, kokedama just like planting using sperical clay pot as container.

I made some and so far two out of three were happy. I used a store bought bonsai soil. I am not happy with it I think. It seems to retain a little more moisture than I wanted.

The maidenhair fern seems to be okay, the calathea is happy, but the scindapsus pictus was not happy. I had to remove it.

Guadang I never thought of doing that or thought of it in that regard. It could be like a clay pot..... I find that a clay pot helps to absorb some of the moisture from the soil and tends to help dry it sooner, kind of like a wick. Would the clay outer layer do that also you think? Or would it only be a good base for the moss to grow?

The moss I use on the outside is not alive. It's too dry indoors here to keep moss alive without a terrarium.

It's just an experiment i made few hours ago. Rootball covered by clay with wire, then covered with moss. Unfortunately i didn't have enough moss to cover all the surface so upper part of the soil still visible. The clay make stronger structure to hang and growing moss, and since it's unburned like teracota pot so water come out easier in any directions, giving the moss humidity it's needed.