# Wabi Kusa Party- what we grew!



## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Three or four weeks ago, we had a "Wabi Kusa" party at work, since our students went home. Four of us made six wabi kusa balls, and I've keep them under light ever since. 

We will pick out the best of them to display!



















Closer up:










How to do make-

Materials needed:

potting soil
long-fibered spagum moss
pebbles
fertilizer optional (we used osmocote pellets)
fishing line
containers, esp. wide glass vases
spray bottle
saran wrap
light source (we used flourecent grow lights)
plants (we used mostly small weeds and mosses collect in near ponds and ditches, with a few house plant and aquarium plant cuttings also- the plants must be able to live in wet soil)
duckweed/frogbit (optional)
ordinary tweezers
really long tweezers (optional, but helpful for pruning).

Instructions:

1) Make a ball of potting soil with a few pebbles added (for weight) with a little osmocote fertilizer.

2) Soak the long-fibered spagnum moss until soaking, then carefully wrap the dirt ball with fibers of moss, until it is all well covered. Make sure the ball is the diameter you want it to be.

3) Wrap fishing line around the ball many times and tie it to keep the ball intact in in the correct shape.

4) If you have terrestrial moss, wrap the upper part of the ball with a sheet of moss and tie it in place with line. Moss below the water line will die. You can use aquatic moss (like java moss) and tie it in place below the water line as a substitute if you want (optional). Moss is not necessary, but is nice.

5) Poke holes in your wabi kusa ball with the ordinary tweezers, and plant your plants! Remember, you want it to look wild and natural. You do not know what will grow and what won't so add a wide variety of little plants. In addition to moss, and little weeds, we used some house plant cuttings too (spider plant babies, purple heart) and a few aquarium plant cuttings.

6) Put it in a container with an inch or two of water, spray it well, and seal if with saran wrap. Adding duck weed/frogbit to the water is probably a good idea to reduce algae.

7) Put it under light and watch it grow!

8) Change the water and mist frequently in the beginning. As time goes on, gradually open up the saran wrap to reduce the humidity. Eventually, the plants won't need to be sealed in saran wrap.

9) Put your best ones on display in nice vase! You may be able to use a window for light, or use a lamp with a daylight cfl to keep the plants happy.

10) Prune the plants as needed, and use the long tweezers to pull off dead leaves- continue to mist and change the water as needed.


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

They look beautiful!! Even the containers look beautiful.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Two them went on display in offices today.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

I like the ones put on display!


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## KatherineL (Nov 8, 2013)

These look great!

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## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

How are you wabi kusa coming along? I am interested to know how the substrate ball is doing and how well it held together.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

The original one on display is doing pretty well:










The ones not put on display eventually had to be thrown a away, as they got unsightly (I guess they were neglected).

The ball on this one has held up perfectly since January.


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## CoffeeLove (Oct 31, 2012)

Those are awesome, job well done, no doubt. 

And wouldn't the ball hold up better over time if you have roots growing in it to give it the extra support? Like pulling root bound plants out of their little container. 

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