Seed Ball Making & Seed bombing- My Compassionate Natural Farming Way.

 

                       Seed Ball Making & Seed Bombing

                                              Farmer Samir Bordoloi

 

Introduction

Most of the creatures in this world are regenerative. A bird eats a fruit but litters the seeds in different places to regenerate the fruit tree. The grass and herb feeding animals eats up the grasses with seeds and the undigested seeds come out with their dung to regenerate the grasses again. The wind and water carry seeds to different places. Seeds also get stuck to many animals’ skins and they move to other places. Nature has its own way of balancing and regenerating the lush green vegetation which supports our life in this planet. Somehow, a fast development of the human race has resulted in developing an uncaring attitude in us towards nature. Our intellect development resulted in disturbing the natural balance in some ways and we are now in a process to augment it through some natural solutions. Thus, we must also think how we become regenerative and maintain our lush green world.

What are seed balls and seed bombing?

Seed balls and seed bombing is a technique of compassionate natural farming where we become instrumental in disbursing the seeds of our native trees for their regeneration. Seed bombs are actually ancient Japanese practice called Tsuchi Dango which means ‘Earth Dumpling’ as they are made of clay earth.This technique was reintroduced by Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. This is made of clay and also some additives like humus and compost. There are many references of using this technique to recover derelict grounds resulting due to some human activities like mining and heavy tillage agriculture.

At SPREAD NE, we have been working on this technique since last 5 years to develop the food forests in the Northeastern region of India. After many trials now we have the right combinations of materials to make the seed balls more effective with high germination rate. We have also so far identified those native trees and species which are most effective in seed bombing. Our seed ball consists of a mix of different size of seeds of herbs, grasses and a native tree. As agriculture and the nature as a whole is dynamic, we cannot come out with a static way of seed bombing in every place. It differs with soil type, climate and depends on thorough study of the biodiversity of the particular place. Hence, localized production by farmers and school children gives the best result. Thus, we train different people in their villages to make seed balls with resources which are local and natural through our network of Green Commandos.

Best Time to prepare seed balls and seed bombing

Spring and early summer is a good time for seed bombing as in spring seeds take root and vegetation begin to grow. The weather is warmer and often wetter which helps in proper establishment of the seed ball as a plant. This is also the time when we get most of the seeds of the native trees.

The best time to prepare the seed balls is from February to April. The best time for seed bombing is March to August in our North eastern region.

Seed Keeping for Seed Bombing

Seeds are the basis for a healthy environment. Keeping our own seeds for the future is our freedom. Native species of trees only perform well in seed bombing. As seed bombing is mainly done in no-tillage lands, only native species can thrive and establish as a plant in those areas. Collecting our local seeds also saves lot of money and also stops us from not introducing an exotic plant to a local habitat. Mother plant selection is an important task in seed keeping. The mycorrhizal network and the underground connection of native trees is very strong to support a healthy forest. The jungle grows into a multistoried pattern with grasses, herbs, and trees and plants of different heights growing together. We should collect seeds of all those different height plants and mix them into our seed bombs. Seeds of different species of the locality should be collected and should be stored differently. We use bamboo cans to store the seeds. We use bamboo leaves and cow dung mix to cover up the mouth of the bamboo can. There are numerous traditional ways of seed keeping which we should explore.

Seed Treatment before making seed balls:

Seeds kept for few days should be treated before mixing them into the seed balls. Seed treatment is important to clear the unwanted fungal growth or any other infections like insects and other harmful microbes during the storage. The ingredients we use for seed treatment are-

1. Raw Turmeric Paste- 100 grams

2. Raw garlic paste- 100 grams

3. Bamboo biochar powder- 50 grams

4. Wood ash-100 grams

5. Rice gruel- 100 ml

6. Water- 1 litre

7. Cow Urine (desi cow) if available-100 ml

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients in a container (preferably earthen pot) and cover the mouth of the container with a jute bag and keep for 24 hours.

Tie the seeds in a cotton cloth and dip it in the above solution in the container for 20 minutes. After the treatment, shade dry the seeds until they are fully dry before inserting or mixing with the seed ball. Do not dry in direct sun.

How to make a Seed Ball?

This is a way we make our seed balls which resulted in 60 to 70 per cent germination rate in our food forest situated in the hills of Sonapur, Assam. We also have successful results in the foothills of Meghalaya in the villages of Kolongpur, Pesamsuru and Dondoral. Our Green Commandos working in different parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and few parts of Sikkim tested this technique to success in their specific work areas. The process that we follow in making the seed balls is as follows:

Materials required:

The materials required to make a seed ball are as follows:

1. Red Mountain soil- 3 kgs

2. Compost – 1 kg

3. Bamboo Bio char powder- 200 grams

4. Fresh Cow dung (Desi)- 1 kg

5. Finely chopped paddy straw or dry bamboo leaves- 250 grams.

6. Wood ash- 100 grams.

7. Water- 2 litres.

8. Small seeds of grasses or herbs- 500 grams

9. Seeds of big and medium height trees- 100 grams.

Method of Preparation:

1. Mix 3 kgs of red mountain soil with 1 kg of fresh cow dung, 250 grams of finely chopped paddy straw,500 grams of compost, 100 grams wood ash and 100 grams bio char powder.

2. Now add 500 grams of small seeds of grasses and herbs to the above mixture.

3. Add water little by little to the mixture to make mud balls. Over watering might loosen the mixture to bind as a clay ball. For watering we can also use the extract left after the seed treatment method mentioned above.

4. Now prepare another dry mixture of 500 grams compost, 100 grams bio char powder and mix the seeds of tree species.

5. Gently with your thumb, press the centre of the clay ball to make space to fill up the above dry mix of compost, bio char and seeds.

6. After filling up the dry mixture in the centre, again gently make the clay ball round. Practice will give you skills of doing it.

7. If the seeds are bigger, after filling up the dry mix and making the seed ball round, we can insert the seed to reach the centre dry mix in the ball.

8. Dry the seed balls under a roof. Shade-dry for 2 days before throwing gently to the ground.

Seed Bombing:

Minimum or no-tillage is the right approach to go about farming or planting trees in this world. The microbial network in the ground is responsible for a healthy forest cover in our land. Tillage operations disturb this web of beneficial microbes and make our soil unfertile. So, in compassionate natural farming we follow seed bombing and no-tillage raised beds to plant more trees to co-create the food forest.

Seed Bombing in our garden soil:

During the spring or just before the rains we throw the seed bombs to our garden soil without removing the grasses and other plants which we call as weeds in conventional agriculture. From our study we found that plants from seed balls establish well in grounds full of grasses and other green vegetations. We do not need ploughing or tillage of the land before sed bombing. Later on in garden soil it is needed to sprinkle compost and liquid microbial extracts which we can prepare at home. Seed bombs take time to establish as a plant, so the seed bomber needs patience to observe the natural process how the radicles form to roots to hold the soil coming out of the seed ball and become a plant. The natural way of penetration to the soil helps the plant to be strong to develop a strong defence mechanism. The bamboo bio char in the seed ball help to develop a mycorrhizal network on the root hairs to establish to the real ground and extract nutrients for the plant in the initial stage of development.

 

 Seed Bombing in Derelict grounds like the post mining operation grounds:

Derelict grounds are devoid of the top soil layer full of humus and organic carbon where the beneficial microbes thrive. So, before seed bombing in these grounds it is necessary to add some home-made extracts of microbial solutions to increase the microbial activity. After sprinkling this liquid over the ground and also sprinkling bamboo bio char powder over the ground manually wherever possible or by aerial spraying, we need to sow/plant grass and succulent herb seeds before seed bombing of different native species of plants. We have developed many such microbial solutions which can be developed at home by the farmers. One such mixture is SPREAD NE Myco-mix 1, which we can prepare at home as follows:

Materials Required:

1. Top soil collected from the base of a big tree- 2 kgs

2. Fresh cow dung (Desi Cow) if available- 1 kg

3. Bamboo biochar powder- 2 kgs

4. Rice Gruel (Starchy liquid of rice)- 3 litres

5. Termite Hill Soil- 500 grams

6. Water- 50 litres

Method of Preparation:

Take a 100 litres plastic drum and add in all the ingredients listed above and then pour in 50 litres of Water. Stir the solution for 30 minutes both clockwise and anticlockwise with a stick or use an aerator.

Allow the solution to settle and keep the mouth of the container close with a jute bag for 24 hours. After 24 hours, mix this solution into 150 litres plain water. Stir properly and apply these 200 litres SPREAD NE Myco Mix 1 solution to one acre of the ground.

In derelict ground it is important to sprinkle this solution before seed bombing. Time to time spraying of this mix will ensure proper microbial growth in the soil to support the seed bombs to grow into live plants.

Size of the seed bombs:

Size of the seed balls will depend on the size of the seeds of targeted plants. Generally, seed balls should be of half an inch to 1.5 inches diameter. Seed balls should be light weight and about half inch if aerial bombing is done.

 

Few Important Tips:

Ø  Throw the seed bombs in the early morning or late afternoon. Avoid full sunlight while bombing.

Ø  Throw the seed bombs in rainy days.

Ø  Have patience to see the success of seed bombing.

Ø  Seed balls also protect the seeds from birds and insects.

Ø  Do not put freshly harvested seeds to seed bombs. Only few species of trees germinate so fast. Keep the seeds for few days and then treat and insert inside seed bombs.

Ø  Always make seed balls with native plant species of the particular area.

Ø  Before seed bombing, make a biodiversity register of the area.

Ø  If aerial seed bombing with drones-insert Bluetooth device to control the bombing interval. Big tree species need space to grow.

Ø  Mulching of seed bombing areas with compost or dry leaves help.

 

 

About The Author: A compassionate natural farmer with a university degree in agriculture. An expert in mixing the scientific skills with the traditional practices to develop into a Nature-friendly approach. A calm and healthy life protagonist, acquired the skills of developing derelict grounds into lush green food forests. Living a life of a natural farmer in the food forest he created, he could acquire the skills of learning fast from nature and developed more than 50 techniques of growing food plants and other plants together with other creatures into a co-existence model of living. As agriculture and forestry is dynamic and very place-specific, he has developed in last 15 years, the skills of adapting and developing area-specific ways of compassionate natural farming. An expert in building the soil microbial population and with special emphasis on developing the underground mycorrhizal network with resources which are area-specific. His expertise includes no-tillage methods, bio-intensive farming, high density food forest development, area-specific seed balls and seed bombing methods, local home-made extract with area specific resources to increase soil microbial activities, no-weeding farms, Water management, livelihood security for small farmers by low volume and high value local product development and agro tourism. A motivator, public speaker and a trainer with the abilities to connect with grassroot people with practical approach of training irrespective of communities and languages. Email: samirf2f@gmail.com