What kokedama involves

The craft has two parts. Building is messy and quick: you mix soil with water until it holds like clay, form it around the roots, cover it in moss and wind string around it until nothing shifts. Keeping is slow. The ball dries from the outside in over several days, the plant roots into it over months, and the moss weathers from bright green to something closer to a forest floor. Most people end up making more because the leftover materials are already on the shelf.

A dracaena growing from a moss-covered ball of soil, sitting on a woven mat beside a curtained window — A finished ball on a woven mat

Choosing a plant that suits a moss ball

Small roots

Pick a plant in a 2 to 4 inch pot. Its root mass has to fit inside a ball you can hold in one hand.

Likes steady moisture

Pothos, heartleaf philodendron, small ferns, peperomia and spider plants all do well. They are the standard first plants for a reason.

Slow or trailing growth

A plant that stays compact or trails downward keeps the ball in proportion for a year or more.

Skip for now

Cacti and most succulents rot in a ball that stays damp, and fast growers with thick roots split it within months.

Match your light

Choose for the spot the ball will live in. Most first plants want bright light with no direct afternoon sun, which also keeps the moss from scorching.

A loose ball of jute twine held in an open palm

Make your first moss ball

Half an hour at a covered table

The same build in photos, free

Missouri Botanical Garden: How to Make a Kokedama A free photo guide to every step, with plant lists for shade and for sun

What you can make in your first month

A pothos ball on a dish

One trailing plant in a ball the size of an orange. It forgives a missed soak, so it is the usual first build.

A fern ball

The same method with a small fern, which likes the steady moisture a moss ball holds. It teaches you to judge watering by weight.

A hanging ball

Your second or third ball, bound with extra string at the top and hung near a window so the plant trails down.

A set of three

Three balls in different sizes grouped on one tray, made from the soil and moss left over from the first.

Watering and upkeep

Water by weight

Lift the ball every two or three days. When it feels noticeably light, it is time to soak.

Soak, then drain

Sit the ball in a bowl of room-temperature water, plant side up, for 10 to 15 minutes. Let it drip in a colander or on a rack before it goes back.

Mist between soaks

A light spray keeps the moss green in dry or heated rooms. It does not replace a soak.

Feed lightly

In spring and summer, add liquid fertilizer at half the label strength to the soaking water about once a month.

Rewrap when it outgrows the ball

Roots poking through the moss after a year or two mean it is time to build a larger ball around the old one.

What trips beginners up

The first ball looks lumpy

Everyone's does. Roundness comes from the string, so keep winding and turning.

Soil that will not hold

Mix that is too dry crumbles and mix that is too wet slumps. Adjust with a spoonful of water or peat at a time.

Soaking by the calendar

A ball dries twice as fast in summer or near a heater, so a fixed weekly soak is too little in July and too much in January.

Rot

A ball that stays heavy for a week is too wet. Yellow leaves and a sour smell mean skip the next soak and move it somewhere brighter.

Browning moss

Direct sun through glass is the usual cause. Pull the ball a few feet back from the window.

String cutting into the stem

Wind around the ball, not across the base of the plant, and leave the crown of the plant clear of moss.

A small fern growing from a string-bound ball that rests on a mossy rock in a garden — A fern in a string-bound ball

Where to learn more

Two free guides cover the whole method with photos, and they are worth comparing because their soil mixes differ: one uses plain potting soil and the other blends in bonsai soil. Florists, plant shops and botanical gardens often run one-evening kokedama workshops where the materials are supplied, which is a good way to make a first ball before buying anything.

A second method to compare, free

BBC Gardeners' World: How to Make a Kokedama A free six-step walk-through that mixes bonsai soil into the ball

A close-up of live green moss growing in a pot

How the kit is put together

Mostly materials, hardly any tools

Almost everything here is a material, not a tool, and the bags are bigger than one ball needs. The peat, akadama, moss and twine for a first ball will make five or six more, so the real cost of each later ball is the plant. The plant is the one line to shop for in person if you can: a garden center lets you check the roots and pick the right size. The mister, dish and fertilizer are for keeping the ball healthy once it is built, and the ceiling hook only matters when you are ready to hang one.

Lay out the materials

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the materials list. Clicking a card selects it there, and clicking the selected card again takes that line out. Everything starts in the kit except the ceiling hook, which is for later.

Small starter houseplant

Essential · Plant

The ball is built around one living plant. A small, forgiving houseplant with a compact root mass is the easiest to wrap and the hardest to kill.

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Kokedama

What kokedama involves

Choosing a plant that suits a moss ball

Make your first moss ball

Watering and upkeep

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

How the kit is put together

Lay out the materials

Small starter houseplant

Peat moss

Akadama bonsai soil

Sheet moss

Twine

Long-fibered sphagnum moss

Plant mister

Shallow display dish

Liquid houseplant fertilizer

Ceiling plant hook