page_title: Seed ball
section_title: Feasibility and weaknesses
hierarchical_section_title: Seed ball / Seed bombing / Feasibility and weaknesses
caption_attribution_description: The seedball planting technique was developed by Masanobu Fukuoka, and it's an effective way to seed large areas, such as meadows or wild lands, with grasses and trees. Seedball is a mixture of clay and various seeds, that allows the seeds to stay protected inside the ball until it rains, and the conditions become favourable for sprouting. The Milkwood guys have spread the seedballs with grasses to revive the soil in preparation for food forest planting. Milkwood Permaculture Farm, October 2010
context_page_description: Seed balls, also known as "earth balls" or nendo dango, consist of a variety of different seeds rolled within a ball of clay, preferably volcanic pyroclastic red clay. Various additives may be included, such as humus or compost. These are placed around the seeds, at the center of the ball, to provide microbial inoculants. Cotton-fibres or liquefied paper are sometimes mixed into the clay in order to strengthen it, or liquefied paper mash coated on the outside to further protect the clay ball during sowing by throwing, or in particularly harsh habitats.
context_section_description: Despite its low yield, interest in aerial seeding has recently grown, while searching for a quick system to obtain reforestation and fight global warming. 
  The advantage of using an airplane/helicopter is the ability to quickly seed large areas, even remote areas, otherwise impractical to be used in active reforestation.
  Aerial seeding is therefore best suited to sites whose remoteness, ruggedness, inaccessibility, or sparse population make seedling planting difficult. It is particularly appropriate for "protection forests" because helicopters or planes can easily spread seed over steep slopes or remote watersheds and isolated dryland areas. 
  It seems also well suited for use in areas where there may be a dearth of skilled laborers, supervisors, and funds for reforestation. It has the potential to help increase production of tree crops for forage, food, and honey as well as wood for fuel, posts, lumber, charcoal and pulp.
  Seed balls and aerial reforestation are heavily sensitive to environmental conditions. Seeds deployment may not be practical in some cases because the site may require preparation or the season may be wrong.
  To germinate successfully, seeds usually must fall directly onto mineral soil rather than onto established vegetation or undecomposed organic matter. Where organic matter has accumulated thickly, the site must normally be burned, furrowed, or disked. The soil disturbance left after logging is often sufficient. 
  Rough terrain is more amenable to broadcast seeding, but yields are typically low even in the best conditions.
  On certain sites ground preparation may be necessary. Site preparation and the seeding operation must be well coordinated to meet the biological requirements for prompt seed germination and seeding survival. Dry sites may have to be specially ridged or disked so as to optimize the rainfall that reaches the seed. Excessively wet sites may need to be ridged or drained.
  The degree of field slope is not critical as long as seeds find a receptive seedbed. Steep watersheds, eroding mountain slopes, bare hillsides, and spoil-banks where vegetation is sparse are often suitable for aerial seeding (however, on some steep slopes with smooth, bare soil, rain may wash the seeds away too easily for successful seeding).
  Arid and savanna lands (for example, those where annual rainfall is under 800 mm) are most in need of reforestation. These are regions where aerial seeding in principle has exceptional potential. They include vast tracts of unused or poorly used land that has sparse tree cover and that is not confined to private land holdings, so it is generally accessible to aircraft. The native trees (such as species of Acacia, and other genera) in these areas are generally well adapted for survival under difficult field conditions. These are not species for timber as much as for firewood, forage, fruit, gum, erosion control, and other such uses.
  As a prerequisite to any method of reforestation, the species selected must be adapted to the temperature, length of growing season, rainfall, humidity, photoperiod, and other environmental features of the area. Ideally, before aerial seeding takes place trial plots should be established to test those species most likely to germinate and grow successfully on the chosen sites. Even when one species has the right characteristics, it may be prudent to test seed of different provenances to find those best suited to the site.
  Characteristics that make a particular species more or less appropriate for aerial seeding include:
  seed size
  seed availability
  ability of the seed to germinate on the soil surface
  germination and seedling growth speeds
  ability to withstand temperature extremes and prolonged dry periods (orthodox seed)
  ability to tolerate soil conditions
  light tolerance
  seed stability when stored in large quantities
  suitability of seed for handling with mechanical seeding devices,
  development speed of a deep taproot by seedlings to enable them to withstand adverse climatic conditions in the period following germination.
  Species with highly palatable seeds
caption: The perfect seedball: The seedball planting technique was developed by Masanobu Fukuoka, and it's an effective way to seed large areas, such as meadows or wild lands, with grasses and trees. Seedball is a mixture of clay and various seeds, that allows the seeds to stay protected inside the ball until it rains, and the conditions become favorable for sprouting.
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