Watering a kokedama is a simple process that should be done at least once weekly for most plants, but to be sure, you can test the weight of your kokedama moss ball to see if it is light (dry) or still a bit hefty (wet and not need of watering.)

There are three main methods of keeping your kokedama watered depending on your plant’s needs and size:

Recommended for plant parents with only a few kokedamas, keeping a large bowl that will comfortably seat your kokedama plants is a simple way to water your plants.

When the moss starts to get dry on your kokedama (the plant will feel much more light than when it is freshly watered), you can place the plant gently into your watering bowl and fill it up.

Though this method of watering your kokedamas will work no matter the extent of your plant collection, having to move 37 kokedamas every week will get old very quick for even the most dedicated of plant parents.

For those of you who walk a little more on the wild side or have collected quite an array of kokedama moss ball plants and dread the idea of having to remove each of your kokedama plants, soak them, and return them to their previous–or new– positions, you do the spray bottle method.

To keep your kokedamas watered using a spray bottle, simply fill a spray bottle with water and set it to a high pressure and spritz your kokedama plants every few days.

Perhaps the easiest, though requiring a bit more of an investment, to keep your kokedamas watered in this way, the kokedamas are placed in decorative bowls or plant trays wherever they make their homes.

To water your kokedamas, you can walk from plant to plant and pour water from a cup or watering can directly into the plant bowl or plant tray and allow the moss or soil of the kokedama to soak up the water.

This works very well for plants that may have high watering needs, like banana plants or elephant ears and will help cut down on the amount of daily maintenance of keeping up with your plant collection.

Keeping your kokedama moss ball fertilized will not only ensure that your plant stays alive, but will help to keep it growing at a fast rate. Due to the the natural air-pruning of the roots, kokedama plants’ roots have full access to as much oxygen as they need to stay healthy and keep your plant at full health.

What this means for your kokedama, is that it can be fertilized regularly during the growing season with a water soluble plant fertilizer from your local home and garden store, or, if you want to keep things organic, you can make a compost tea of table scraps and strain it to soak your kokedamas in.

Either of these fertilizing methods can be used in your spray bottles or watering bowls in order to deliver nutrients to the root systems of your kokedama moss balls.

Though many recommend opening the moss, whether living moss or sphagnum moss every couple of years to refresh the soil or mud in your kokedama moss ball, I have found through my own experience that it is not necessary for plants that will grow well in sphagnum moss.

Therefore, in order to make more space for the growing roots of your kokedama plant, you can simply add more sphagnum moss to the outside surface and add additional yarn or twine. In this way, you will not have to disturb the roots of your kokedama plants again and, since sphagnum moss tends to hold a lot of water, you may end up needing to water your kokedama plants less, if they have low watering needs.