[Terrapreta] SEED BALLS

[Benjamin Domingo Bof]

On Seedballs

  Seedballs are seeds wrapped in a mixture of red clay and fine compost and rolled into balls about one-half inch in diameter or smaller.

They can be an effective way to provide broadcast sown seeds with protection from birds, insects and other creatures.

They can be useful in broadcast sowing food crops, and also for ecosystem modifications such as restoring native plants or regenerating plants in damaged or other plant-deficient areas.

The words "can be" are used because they don't always work the way one hopes. Their effectiveness depends upon environmental conditions and timing. It takes rain or irrigation to dissolve the clay and release the seeds to germination, and even if the seeds are released the resulting seedlings could be overwhelmed and suppressed by existing vegetation.

The most commonly used basic formula for making seedballs is to take one part of seeds (by volume), three parts of relatively dry and sifted compost, and five parts of dry powdered red clay. Mix the seeds into the compost to partially coat the seeds with the compost, and then mix the powdered clay in to coat the seeds/compost. Then start adding water sparingly until you have a somewhat thick mud pile. Break off a small chunk (about the size of a marble) of this mud pile with your fingers or a small spoon and then roll the chunk in the palms of your hands until it feels firm. Set aside to dry, break off another chunk, and keep repeating until the mud pile is gone.

Some people add microorganism inoculants to the mixture. Some add powdered hot red pepper to increase repulsion of creatures that might otherwise feed on the seeds.

Some people mass produce seedballs by putting the seeds/compost/clay mixture into a large rotating drum, such as a cement or mortar mixer with smooth interior walls, adding water, and extracting the seedballs as they are formed to the right size by the revolving action of the mixer.

Before you start making and using seedballs it is important to do some research and do a little thinking about what you might unleash if your seedballs work. There is an inherent danger in their use - the introduction of plants into an ecosystem that become invasive and destructive to existing desirable vegetation.

An excellent place to start your research is at the seedballs.com website. There are several articles about how to make and use seedballs, how they have been used to modify ecosystems in a beneficial way, and about what you really need to think about before you start making and using them.

-- Lawrence Haftl 

       
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