$90.00

Description

Our newest passion at Airplantman is a fresh take on the traditional Japanese bonsai technique of Kokedama. Loosely translated ‘koke’ means moss and ‘dama’ means ball—a planting trend that has been gaining in popularity around the world in the last 30 years. At Airplantman we’re all for easy plant care, and keeping the moss used in traditional Kokedama moist, green and happy in the warm, dry climate of a home (or outside in Los Angeles where we are based!) was just too much fuss. Our search began for a natural, durable material, with a soft but consistent texture, that was low maintenance, and good for plants. Enter the world’s most ancient textile: felt. Felting involves agitating wool fibers until they miraculously and sturdily bind together. The resulting material retains water (hello easy plant care!), is resilient, and resists bacteria and microbe growth. A lot of testing, research, and experimenting later, we are proud to share our handmade AirplantmanKokedama! 

If you order AirplantmanKokedama with a plant, we’ll include a hand-picked epiphytic plant. Epiphytic plants are often found alongside air plants in the wild, and while they cannot survive with no soil like air plants, they do require much less rootspace than an average terrestrial plant to thrive making then particularly well suited to kokedama! If you plan to purchase your own plant separately, a recommendation and one of our new favorites is rhipsalis, a tropical epiphytic cactus that grows in dim dry conditions well suited to indoors. 

Color

Various, dyed felted wool. Every hand-made AirplantmanKokedama is 100% unique and color combinations will vary. We’ll do our best to accommodate requests if added in notes but cannot guarantee the color of your order. 

Materials

Hand-made from 100% hand-felted wool. Wool is absorbent, retains water, has good elasticity and resiliency as well as antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. But because wool is a natural material, some change in coloration or texture is to be expected over time. Warm water can be used to spot clean wool as needed.

Plant and Potting Mix

All AirplantmanKokedama sizes are shipped with our custom planting mix (which increases water absorption and decreases toxins/odors!). If you purchase the AirplantmanKokedama with a plant included, the included species will vary. We’ll do our best to accommodate requests if added in notes.

Plant Care

In general it is best to let your AirplantmanKokedama completely dry between waterings to avoid any problems with mold. When your AirplantmanKokedama is dry to the touch and feels lighter when you pick it up, it’s a good time to water. Pull the felt back a bit where it meets the plant and gently pour a little bit of water at a time into our special low-compact but water absorbing potting mix.  The amount of light and water an epiphytic plant requires will vary by species—succulent/cacti-like epiphytics want more light and fern-like epiphytics want less. It can take patience to find the right light conditions for your AirplantmanKokedama—move it around until you find the best spot!