# Felix's EASY DIY wabi-kusa! with instructions!



## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

Hey guys, i made this after seeing stevens!
I did it slightly differently, so here some pics then a guide to doing your own!

when i started it:









about a week later:

























yesterday!:









GUIDE HOW TO DO IT:

ok here we go im only young so expect soem bad grammar and spelling mistakes lol 

Location:
go down to your local stream and bring the tools you need and a board to work on

Ingrediants:
substrate ferilizer tab or ball (i used a JBL 7 ball)
suitable bowl or container
light (I used a cheap 1.99 ikea lamp)
Scissors
Tweezers
Cotton
Board to work on
Terrestrial plant ferteliser (optional, might have some in your garage?)
Trowel

Instructions:
The best way to build theese is on location.
ok the main thing about this is the substrate, I used some mud from right beside my local stream, Use your hands to squish it into a palm sized ball.
Take your root tab or fert ball and push it to the center then re-squeeze the ball. Find a relatively flat surface to work on and put down your board, press the ball down onto it so the bottom becomes flat.

First things first, moss, look around you for as many different types as you can find and wrap them around the sides of the ball, then wind your cotton around them to secure them and tie it off.

Now you need to think about you center peice, it should be quite tall and slow growing, I used a bamboo like grass plant, but you may be able to find a sapling (rowan works well) use your tweesers to plant it.

Next thing is some fast midground plants, look around the edge of the water for some quite small plants, that look cool, dig them out carefully and plant naturally around the center peice.

Finally foreground, ive used some really tiny hc like plants and some stone roses which i found in a rockery, just use them to patch the gaps between the plants so you can see no mud, thats it! your done, take it home and put in a bowl with a sandy bottom and focus a light on it, or put it by a window.

Additional tips: some of the plants you will plant will start to wither and die, just pull them out and go hunting for a replacement in your garden. A nice addition to the wabi-kusa is floating plants, which i have atm in mine.

to sum up:
Collect tools
Dig up some mud
Squeeze into ball
insert the ferts
Wrap with moss
Plant a centerpeice
Midground Fastgrowers
Ground Cover
Put it in a pot

thanks for listening guys
i wish you all good luck with your own foray into wabi-kusa


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

cool, i really want to do one for my patio this summer. good stuff good stuff!


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

question... what do i do with the lamp at the stream? 

great instructions regardless! will have to try that one day if the snow ever melts


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## bristles (Mar 7, 2006)

This looks fun ! I definitely want to try this when things start growing around here, thanks for the idea & instructions


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## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

Thanks guys? 
Lol Freydo!


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

Thanx Felix - I was looking for an easy "guide" to wabi-kusa - and you just made one. I give you an exellent rating for this. Wabi-kusa is relatively unseen in europe but boy are they great.

Im looking to find a good container and make one my self. I really like the "on the spot" perspective. Working with local plants are a good diversity from the commercial plants available. 

(Just unfortunate that i live in the city) - But perhaps this gives me an excuse to go on a wabi-kusa trip with my son


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## Leonard (Mar 4, 2007)

What's the name of the higher plant, to the right, with lobe leaves? I have that but I don't know what it's :S


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## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

thanks! Anti-Pjerrot !
i bet your son would love that lol

I had an idea for a wabi-kusa setup with frogspawn (spring time!)
get like 3 or 4 of theese wabi-kusa balls in a recantangle tray or pot
put the majority on one side clustered together and another on the other side
then just siphon some frogspawn (only a bit) out of a pond and put it into the tank

a fun tank for kids and will look lovely for adults aswell, when the frogs hatch then can live on the islands for a while, (maybe move the tray outside onto your patio so they can eat any flies or midges)

hope u have good luck trying theese everyone!


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## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

I will ask my mum if she knows what plant it is


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

It's beautiful Felix-- for the life of me though, I can't but help but wish you could have found a nicer pot. XD


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## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

lol i think my mum wishes that aswell, its her pie pot lol!


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