Japanese moss balls, also called bonsai Kokedama, look great hanging in homes, on a lanai or porch or on trellises and arbors. Making a Kokedama moss ball can be a fun way of getting your hands dirty and it’s easier to make these hanging plants than one might imagine. This Japanese garden method, the kokedama moss ball, is taking Pinterest by storm with the growing popularity of vertical gardens and the wide variety of options for your Kokedama moss ball that allow plants to easily be added to any space, indoor or outdoor, requiring little water if the proper plant species are selected.  The environmental impact is nil, other than getting some green in your space and a little extra oxygen boost from the hanging plant. Ready to take less than an hour to make a Kokedama moss ball?

Here is what you need to make a Kokedama moss ball:

• Soil, potting soil
• Peat Moss
• Perlite, such as Excelerite
• Sheet moss
• String
• Bucket
• Scissors
• Spray bottle
• Plants: Shade loving, drought hardy, slow growing
• Water

A few optimal plant varieties:

Succulents, thick plants that hold water and are very drought hardy since the soil and moss ball will be hanging allowing it to dry out easily. One great variety is the sedeveria.

Anthuriums are great options to add a flowering plant to the mix.

Tillandsia, air plants, can also make a great addition to Kokedama.

Select shade-loving plants if hanging inside or in a covered area.

Slow growing is important as you won’t want to undo the Kokedama moss ball often, if at all.

How to plant a Kokedama moss ball:

• Mix about 50 percent soil, 25 percent perlite and 25 percent peat moss in a bucket and then begin adding water slowly so the soil can be firmly packed
• Pack the soil until it’s a sturdy ball about the size of your hand. Excelerite, organic and OMRI Organic Materials Review Institute listed chelated montomorillonite clay, is not necessary, but we did notice it has a cohesive property that makes it easier. It’s also great for plant health. A Kokedama moss ball can be created without Excelerite, you just find in one of the next steps that you need to wrap the moss around the ball faster to help it stay together. This is the only one of the materials easiest to find for purchase online, such as on Amazon. All other materials are easily found at Home Depot or a local garden supply center.
• Here’s the fun part: You know the ball is properly packed when you toss it lightly into the air and catch it and it stays compact, like a snowball.
• Then, split the ball in half just by breaking it gently with your hands.
• Put the roots of the plants you’ve selected between the two halves of the soil ball. Short root systems and selection of just two plants is generally easiest.
• Then, put the soil ball back together, perhaps adding more soil to reform the ball.
• Cut your sheet moss to size to fit your soil ball.
• Spray the moss with water so it adheres to the soil ball.
• Wrap the moss ball with string to further help keep the moss tied around the ball and make a knot toward the top, leaving some string to hang the ball, generally plant side up.

Voila, in less than an hour, you have a kokedama moss ball. Each time you will get faster at it and can have more fun with it.

Want more?

Besides on Pinterest, you can see Kokedama in botanical gardens, including at Naples Botanical Garden, where the idea for this Kokedama moss blog originated thanks to the Naples Garden Club and their Idea Garden located within the Naples Botanical Gardens.

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Who has the greenest lawns in California during this long drought? Two groups: Lawmakers who are breaking the laws watering their lawns in the middle of the night and those using Endurant organic turf colorant!

Greenest lawns the wrong way: Breaking the law

Investigative TV reporters at NBC see California legislatures have immaculate green lawns while others go brown due to drought and water restrictions. How are they doing it? By breaking the law in the middle of the night, watering their lawns, curbs and sidewalks. Yikes. And it’s adding up to millions of gallons of water! Even the legislators didn’t deny their actions.

Greenest lawns the right way: Painting with Endurant

The real leaders are painting their grass with Endurant organic lawn paint to save water and get the greenest lawns in the most environmentally friendly way possible. BUY NOW. Show the lawmakers how to lead!  Check out www.lawncolorant.com

Use the turf colorant used by turf professionals and golf course superintendents for years! Endurant

Being one of the few people to have one of the greenest lawns does not have to be shameful. It just needs to be done right! It’s easy painting with Endurant organic turf colorant. You just need a simple garden sprayer, Endurant turf colorant and water– but A LOT LESS water than those lawmakers are using!!! See how and buy now at www.lawncolorant.com.

Fall conjures images of bright red, orange, and yellow leaves—especially images of Vermont maple leaves. Fall takes on a different look for golf courses in the southwestern U.S., particularly those golf courses that do not overseed bermudagrass greens. Fall color means time for Endurant turf colorant in many areas of the world.

October is the time to begin applying colorants to non-overseeded bermudagrass greens. Many superintendents are already beginning their turf painting where cooler weather is coming early this year.

Temperatures just two to four degrees cooler have a relatively dramatic effect on soil temperature, bermudagrass growth and the grass’s natural green hue. See why here.

USGA Agronomist of the Southwest Region, Brian Whitlark has it right: “Green is king.”

Golfers want to see a course that they are proud to invite guests to come see, said Whitlark.

Whether in the Southwest, Southeast or anywhere in the world, turf colorants allow golf course superintendents to give the look and playability golfers and club members expect.

Tips for the Southwest and other desert environment areas for coloring non-overseeded ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens:

• Begin using colorants when growth slows yet the turf remains green.
• Minimize colorant loss due to clipping removal by mixing in a growth regulator.
• Plan to spray on a seven to 10-day schedule.
• A walking spray boom works well for blending edges and minimizing streaking, but a boom sprayer may also be used for very fast applications. Learn how to apply colorants here.
• If time allows, spray in two directions to minimize or avoid streaking.
• Experiment with different rates and products to determine what will work best for your facility. There are many shades of green, application rates, concentration levels, and application styles to choose from when painting turf. Here are several options in colorants.
• Spray turf colorants at high enough rates and frequent enough intervals to achieve results that golfers will be proud to play on.
• Even if you may save money on non-overseeded greens when compared to overseeding, don’t let that be the plan. Instead, look to benefit members and golf visitors with a consistent putting surface through the entire year by choosing colorant.

An Arizona golf course superintendent has been using Endurant turf colorant for years on his ultradwarf bermudagrass. His method is particular to his golf course, but here’s how he does it:

Endurant turf colorant is applied every 10 to 14 days using 1.5 gallons per acre. The spray volume is doubled to accommodate bidirectional application. He sprays the turf in two directions for a uniform application on the grass. A low rate of nitrogen is included in the tank.

Looking to learn more about the benefits of painting your turf? Here is some great information from the USGA.

Instant Overseed

Off Season Winter Wonderland

Tired of having brown grass because you don’t want to pay for all that water or fertilizer to keep it green? Now it’s so easy to have the best looking lawn in the neighborhood without breaking the bank in the process!  Visit LawnColorant.com to get started with the professional’s choice in turf paint.  Endurant Turf Colorant

CLICK PICTURE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Download Endurant Turf Paint Information

Agriox is a revolutionary product designed to transition soils from oxygen starved to oxygen rich growing environments. The low solubility and high stability of its powdered formulation allows this buffered oxidizing agent to slowly release molecular oxygen directly into the soil moisture within the root zone, eliminating the immediate release and atmospheric loss which dramatically reduced the efficacy of liquid oxygenation products in the past.

What Our Users Report Seeing After Beginning Agriox Applications
The product’s earliest impact is most often seen below the surface, on the roots themselves, which soon become thicker and more white. This is typically accompanied by an increase in the number of feeder roots. Over time, a significantly larger root mass is cultivated, as is a more uniform appearance up top. For newer customers, these are routinely sited as the primary benefits achieved from regular treatments. Though an apparent visual response is not necessarily immediate, there are observable indications that the turf is responding. The most prevalent of these is a noticeably longer duration of fertility application effectiveness. (This better utilization of nutrients marks the beginning of the reduction to overhead expenses our users see.) Another common sign is a temporary spike of growth after a week or two, a clear indication the soil is being purged of an excess of tied up nutrients.

Soil Benefits Noted After Application:
Reduced instances of disease; lesser need for fungicides; more rapid recovery from damage; less play lost to core aeration; more consistent overall turfgrass conditions across treated areas

Problematic Soil Challenges Being Overcome
Low soil oxygen levels affect a plant’s ability to uptake the nutrients you are providing it. Under such anaerobic conditions, turfgrasses use nitrates as the terminal electron acceptors for respiration instead of oxygen, effectively robbing the plant of nitrogen. The presence of Agriox effectively mitigates this process of denitrification. This begins to explain how it is able to make your fertility treatments more effective, which allows you to make fewer applications, an important aspect of the product’s value to take into account when considering adding it to your program. It is also worth noting that you do not need to change your existing routine when adopting this product.

Overview of the Biological and Chemical Implications of Higher Soil Oxygen Levels
Like all aerobic organisms, plant-friendly microbes must be provided with a constant supply of oxygen in order to survive and flourish. Unfortunately for turfgrass managers, this has traditionally been a practical impossibility. As a result, anaerobic microbes explode in population, which can lead to a host of problems including disease, nutrient deficiencies, hydrogen sulfide production, and black layer. Soils enriched with Agriox, however, show increased beneficial microbial populations and greater species diversity which helps to drive the nitrogen cycle and which promotes remarkable botanical health. The carbon dioxide resulting from increased respiration is offset as well.

In a general sense, the reduction of stress upon a soil ecology allows a plant to dedicate much more of its limited energy to internal processes and increasing vigor instead of externally to a fight for mere survival. Agriox achieves this by promoting the efficient movement of nutrients and water throughout the profile. Its slow release process is especially beneficial in the root zone during photosynthesis when plants are metabolizing nutrients, enzymes, hormones, organic acids, and other components which fuel growth. By increasing the soil’s buffering capacity, it reduces the effects of nutrient toxicity, and it improves hydraulic conductivity in heavily laden organic soils.

Horse tears up the turf at North Carolina golf course

A horse left his mark today on a Burlington, NC golf course. Gantt Martin of Geoponics suggests a program, including Carbotein, to help fill in and repair the turf quickly for healthy regrowth.

Gantt Martin of Geoponics received an interesting text this morning from a golf course superintendent in need of some turf repair.
A neighbor’s horse got out and trampled across #17 green at a golf course in Burlington, NC.
Some of the damaged turf areas were quickly repaired by the golf course superintendent and grounds crew right on the spot, but other turf areas are left needing some fill to get the hoof marks back to seamless green turf.

“We have a program that helps fill-in and will make the grass grow quickly. It promotes budding,” said Martin.
Carbotein has many uses and benefits. For a situation where a horse tears up the turf, or by other types of horsin’ around on the golf course, Geoponics has a program, including Carboetin, to help with quick blending and rooting. Carbotein can help with quick sprouting, fill-in and regrowth, among many other benefits to turf, plants, flowers and trees. It’s not everyday that a horse tears up the turf, but it is common to need some turf or lawn repair.  For fast fill-in and quick regrowth, learn more about Carbotein here.

We also love to hear your turf adventures and odd sightings. Join us on Facebook, Twitter or Google + to view and share videos, photos, and stories.