[GitMoe]

Went out to San Francisco last weekend to see some friends and a little business. Of course one of the first things I did was hit AFA. Their store blew me away. The display tanks are amazing and the items in stock are all the things you'd be looking for. Since I was flying home I couldn't take home that 120P I wanted... lol ...but I could take home a Do!Aqua Wabi-Kusa bowl I've been wanting for a long time. Got home at 3am this morning. Planted the bowl by 3pm today. Here are some pictures of the process. Finding info on Wabi-Kusa is tough. A lot of it is in Japanese and we all know how well Google Translate works...

The bowl

Started with a mound of generic potting soil. Just wet the dirt and shape into the correct size mound for your "tank"

Wrapped the whole thing in Java Moss around the sides and on the bottom. Used fishing line to secure the moss and hold the mass in a ball best as possible.

Get out the plants

Plants:
- Glossostigma
- Hygro Kompact
- Nesaea Sp. Red
- Java Moss

Forgot to take a picture of the ball planted not in the bowl. But here's the whole thing put together after initial filling. Added some PFS to the bottom of the bowl and filled it really slowly. But not slowly enough. Ugh. Syphoned out all the water and cleaned the sand. Did that three times before the dirt started to play nice.

Water is still cloudy from the sand but that should settle pretty quick. Here's the finished product

Im hoping the Nesaea perks up a bit. It was sold submerged but grows better emmersed. The Glosso and Hygro were sold grown emmersed so they should settle in just fine. Im so excited to finally have a Wabi-Kusa. Hopefully it's a fun adventure going forward.

 

[shrimpnmoss]

cool project

 

[Da Plant Man]

I attempted wabi-kusa at one point, but I had too small of a bowl and not enough knowledge. Looks like yours is going to look amazing.

AFA is amazing isn't it? I want to go back and pick up a 90-p

 

[TLE041]

I love AFA.

Did you see the matching light fixture for that bowl? Unfortunately it's halogen (because ADA seems to be deadly allergic to LED) so it uses 75W and gets very hot. Plus it costs a ridiculous $210. As with everything else from ADA, it's an awesome looking product.

 

[Dollface]

FWIW Wabi-kusa are actually just sphagnum moss wrapped around a small stone, which is then wrapped in various aquatic plants. No soil involved.

 

[shrimpnmoss]

I love AFA.

Did you see the matching light fixture for that bowl? Unfortunately it's halogen (because ADA seems to be deadly allergic to LED) so it uses 75W and gets very hot. Plus it costs a ridiculous $210. As with everything else from ADA, it's an awesome looking product.

It's pretty ridiculous. I love that black mini solar lamp too...but $300 dollars...emm yeah RIGHT...at least make it LED for $300 bones...

 

[GitMoe]

FWIW Wabi-kusa are actually just sphagnum moss wrapped around a small stone, which is then wrapped in various aquatic plants. No soil involved.

Very true. I decided to use soil as a bit of a challenge. I had done some research on Ikibana previously where some folks used soils as well as moss. Theres a very good chance this won't work out. If I need to restart I'll change to a more traditional Wabi-Kusa setup.

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[GitMoe]

I love AFA.

Did you see the matching light fixture for that bowl? Unfortunately it's halogen (because ADA seems to be deadly allergic to LED) so it uses 75W and gets very hot. Plus it costs a ridiculous $210. As with everything else from ADA, it's an awesome looking product.

I did see that light in the ADA catalog. It's gorgeous but not a chance I'll pay the price. I'm looking for a nice daylight desk lamp now. Until I find one this will sit by a window.

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[Centromochlus]

Any updates?

 

[GitMoe]

Oh wow, this popped up outta nowhere... lol. Yeah this experiment is going fairly well. It's just been sitting on a table in our kitchen getting natural sunlight but now with the seasons changing the light isn't as good there and Im searching for a better spot or a lamp. My wife now calls this bowl "The Swamp" which I think is mean. The submerged java moss has almost completely filled the bottom and the emmersed java moss has a really interesting structure and is spreading across the dirt ball. The Hygro Kompact has been flowering for weeks and growing great. I can't get the Glosso to really grow in though. It's staying alive and spreading but not with the speed I've heard about. I'll post some pics tomorrow...

 

[Centromochlus]

Sorry, i'm planning on using the same exact Do!Aqua Plant dish and i love how you've set yours up. Can't wait to see some updated pics.
How often do you mist the plants? And do you use any added fertilizers? I was thinking about experimenting with the Do!Aqua be-bright liquid fertilizer that is intended for wabi-kusa setups.

By the way, is this the smaller or larger version dish? (8" or 12" diameter)

And lol @ "the swamp".

 

[GitMoe]

This is the 12" version. I don't ever mist the plants. Just fill the water up once a week. The potting soil was Miracle Gro which has added fertilizers. I kinda just wanted to plant this once and forget about it maintenance wise. I wipe the glass now and then and fill it up thats it. The size and shape make it awkward to stick my hand in and really mess with stuff inside.

 

[Centromochlus]

Where are those pics???

 

[Fluidmachine]

Yeah, I kinda want to see "the swamp" !

 

[GitMoe]

LOL. They're coming soon. Got crazy busy the last two days.

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