I occasionally find fresh coconuts at the local supermarket. It’s always a gamble whether they’re perfectly ripe or totally rotten and cracking them open is quite the task, but the reward makes it all worth it!
Not only is the flesh absolutely delicious, if you manage to crack your coconut in two halves you’ve also got a great DIY option: making your own hanging planters for succulents, cacti, air plants or any other small houseplant.
Keep reading to find out all the steps to make your own hanging coconut planter.
What you need
- A coconut or, alternatively, store-bought coconut halves such as these.
- A drill
- Some type of twine (I used something similar to this).
- A hanging hook (like this) or keyring hoop
- (Potting) soil & your plants of choice
- Optional: beads and acrylic paint
How to make your hanging coconut planter
- If you bought a fresh coconut, be sure to crack it in such a way that you end up with two even halves. Eat the yummy flesh and clean the shells thoroughly.
- If you want to paint the coconut halves, you can now sand them down and do so.
- Once your coconut halves are clean (and possibly painted), it’s time to drill some holes in them. I went for three holes at the top to hang the planters from, and one hole at the bottom to ensure proper drainage. Be careful while doing this – these shells can be pretty hard!
- Attach the twine to your coconut shells. How you do this is completely up to you, but I did the following: I took three equal lengths of twine per hole, secured them with a simple knot and then did some basic braiding. You can also attach some beads at this point or even tie some super fancy knots instead of just braiding the twine.
- After this, it’s time to secure the twine at the top. Again, you can keep this simple or go full macramé as long as everything is connected to the hanging hook/keyring hoop you’re using so you can actually hang your planter. I’m pretty bad at tying fancy knots so I kept things very simple.
Planting
Once your coconut planters are done, it’s time to start planting! I prefer going for cacti and succulents, though air plants are also a fun, low-maintenance option that doesn’t require any soil.
Here’s an example of how you can use your coconut planters with air plants. Combine them with other materials to create an amazing, natural display.
And that’s it! Making these hanging planters is very easy and the best part is that you can make more whenever you eat a coconut. I know I’ll be making plenty to give away.
