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Seed ball

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A seed ball
Plants sprouting from seed balls

Seed balls, also known as earth balls or nendo dango (Japanese: 粘土団子), consist of seeds rolled within a ball of clay and other matter to assist germination. They are then thrown into vacant lots and over fences as a form of guerilla gardening. Matter such as humus and compost are often placed around the seeds to provide microbial inoculants. Cotton-fibres or liquefied paper are sometimes added to further protect the clay ball in particularly harsh habitats. An ancient technique, it was re-discovered by Japanese natural farming pioneer Masanobu Fukuoka.

History

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The technique was used in ancient Egypt to repair farms after the annual spring flooding of the Nile.[citation needed]

Masanobu Fukuoka, throwing the first seedball at the workshop at Navdanya, in October 2002

The technique for creating seed balls was rediscovered by Japanese natural farming pioneer Masanobu Fukuoka.[1] Fukuoka developed his technique during the period of the Second World War, while working in a Japanese government lab as a plant scientist on the mountainous island of Shikoku. He wanted to find a technique that would increase food production without taking away from the land already allocated for traditional rice production.[2][3]

In 1973 in New York, Liz Christy, co-founder of the Green Guerillas developed seed bombs she called "seed green-aide".[4] The first seed green-aides were made from condoms filled with tomato seeds, and fertilizer.[5] They were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the guerrilla gardening movement.[6]

Construction

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Drying seed balls

To make a seed ball, generally about five measures of red clay by volume are combined with one measure of seeds. The balls are formed between 10 mm and 80 mm (about 1⁄2" to 3") in diameter. After the seed balls have been formed, they must dry for 24–48 hours before use.

Seed bombing

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Seed bombing is the practice of introducing vegetation to land by throwing or dropping seed balls. It is used in modern aerial seeding as a way to deter seed predation. It has also been popularized by green movements such as guerrilla gardening as a way to introduce new plants to an environment.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Adler, Margot (April 15, 2009). "Environmentalists Adopt New Weapon: Seed Balls". NPR. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Fukuoka (福岡), Masanobu (正信) (May 1978) [1st publ. in Japanese September 1975], Larry Korn (ed.), The One-Straw Revolution An Introduction to Natural Farming, translated by Chris Pearce; Tsune Kurosawa; Larry Korn, Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, ISBN 0878572201
  3. ^ Fukuoka (福岡), Masanobu (正信) (December 1987) [1st publ. in Japanese December 1975], The Natural Way of Farming The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy, translated by Frederic P Metreaud (rev. ed.), Tokyo: Japan Publications, ISBN 978-0-87040-613-3
  4. ^ "Our History | Green Guerillas". www.greenguerillas.org. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  5. ^ "How Guerrilla Gardening Works". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
  6. ^ Robinson, Joe (29 May 2008). "Guerrilla gardener movement takes root in L.A. area". L.A. Times. Retrieved 12 June 2014.

Further reading

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  • Smith, K. (2007). The guerilla art kit. Princeton Architectural Press.
  • Huxta, B. (2009). Garden-variety graffiti. Organic gardening, 2009.
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