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We use Seed Enhancement Technologies (SETs) to optimize our seeds and give them their best chance to thrive. This includes seed priming and seed coating tailored to the specific variables of the seed and the environment into which they are dispersed. Each seedpod is a multi-layer coating of nutrients, non-toxic pesticides and disease-resistant materials, and is often coated on the outside with a layer of clay combined with site-specific soil to “hide” the scent and sight of the seed from its many predators.
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Seedpods do not depend on drones for their usefulness: they can be dropped out of planes, given as gifts, sold to landowners, given to 4H clubs, Boy Scouts, community organizations, or anybody who wants to help.
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Valley oak growing from our seedball
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Ecoballs are the key to large-scale restoration.
Ecoballs contain the seeds of an entire ecosystem within them, from grasses, shrubs, and understory up to the canopy of the dominant species. An ecoball may have anywhere from 10-100 seeds inside it and is made primarily of vermicompost (worm castings) and clay. Vermicompost provides nutrients while clay provides minerals and also acts as an agent to bind the ball together. Depending on the seeds inside, other ingredients of a seedball recipe might include:
- Site soil, which introduces the seeds to the beneficial microbes, fungi, and life already present in the soil they are to grow.
- Biochar, which provides minerals and is a carrier medium for added beneficial microbes and fungi. It also has a large capacity for water storage and thus protects the seeds from drying out.
- Beneficial microbes convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen plants can use - a chemical transformation called "fixing." Recent research reveals a trillion of these tiny organisms in a single teaspoon of healthy soil.
- Fungi functions as an essential trading partner, for example by bringing deeply embedded water to roots nearer the surface, in return for which they receive minerals from the tree. They also function as a communication network for the forest as a whole. Plants and trees whose roots don't touch use the fungi to message each other in real time. A coating of beneficial fungi on the seeds in the seedball will grow symbiotically with the seedling as it grows.
- Predator repellants like cayenne, peppermint, and non-toxic chemicals are crucial, as seeds are a favorite lunch of almost everyone in the forest.
Other materials might include non-toxic fertilizers, herbicides, surfactants, binders, and other materials to protect and provide for the seed as it germinates.
In spite of the critical importance of this aspect in the restoration of damaged ecosystems, research on seedballs is nearly non-existent. We are in the forefront of efforts to establish standards and practices.
- Site soil, which introduces the seeds to the beneficial microbes, fungi, and life already present in the soil they are to grow.
- Biochar, which provides minerals and is a carrier medium for added beneficial microbes and fungi. It also has a large capacity for water storage and thus protects the seeds from drying out.
- Beneficial microbes convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen plants can use - a chemical transformation called "fixing." Recent research reveals a trillion of these tiny organisms in a single teaspoon of healthy soil.
- Fungi functions as an essential trading partner, for example by bringing deeply embedded water to roots nearer the surface, in return for which they receive minerals from the tree. They also function as a communication network for the forest as a whole. Plants and trees whose roots don't touch use the fungi to message each other in real time. A coating of beneficial fungi on the seeds in the seedball will grow symbiotically with the seedling as it grows.
- Predator repellants like cayenne, peppermint, and non-toxic chemicals are crucial, as seeds are a favorite lunch of almost everyone in the forest.
Other materials might include non-toxic fertilizers, herbicides, surfactants, binders, and other materials to protect and provide for the seed as it germinates.
In spite of the critical importance of this aspect in the restoration of damaged ecosystems, research on seedballs is nearly non-existent. We are in the forefront of efforts to establish standards and practices.
Spherical seedballs can be made en masse by a pan disk agglomerator, or if made in smaller quantities can be made using a barrel roller or even simple backyard cement mixer, as we do. All of them roll the materials into discreet spheres. These seedballs are black because they're still moist from the rolling.
Seedballs for the pollinator trial at Burgess Winery in Napa. Pictured here are some 50,000 seedballs containing some 1 - 1.5 million flower seeds.
Plants have families. Research shows they grow bigger, faster, and healthier the nearer they are to their mother. Unfortunately when forest degradation is far-reaching, it is often not possible to plant a tree near to its family. In this case we have to regenerate the forest from zero.
Even with no family nearby every plant grows best when surrounded by "companion plants." Call them friends. These are plants who evolved in mutually beneficial relationships over aeons. Companion plants will exchange anything from nutrients and water to warnings about pests and predators. In every ecosystem these kinds of symbiotic relationships are not limited to plants but include the animals and elements, and often humans as well.
In nature, of which we are only a part, interdependence is not exceptional. It is the rule.
In contrast, some species cannot tolerate other species either nearby or in the seedball with them before germination. If exposed to these toxic partners, their health will be compromised, if they grow at all. There is next to no research addressing these crucial relationships in ecosystems restoration. Our most reliable information about these complex webs of interdependence can best be found in Indigenous traditions.
Plants have families. Research shows they grow bigger, faster, and healthier the nearer they are to their mother. Unfortunately when forest degradation is far-reaching, it is often not possible to plant a tree near to its family. In this case we have to regenerate the forest from zero.
Even with no family nearby every plant grows best when surrounded by "companion plants." Call them friends. These are plants who evolved in mutually beneficial relationships over aeons. Companion plants will exchange anything from nutrients and water to warnings about pests and predators. In every ecosystem these kinds of symbiotic relationships are not limited to plants but include the animals and elements, and often humans as well.
In nature, of which we are only a part, interdependence is not exceptional. It is the rule.
In contrast, some species cannot tolerate other species either nearby or in the seedball with them before germination. If exposed to these toxic partners, their health will be compromised, if they grow at all. There is next to no research addressing these crucial relationships in ecosystems restoration. Our most reliable information about these complex webs of interdependence can best be found in Indigenous traditions.
Pollinator seedball at four weeks. The black inside is vermicompost, the outside bentonite clay.
Cover crop seedballs made by extrusion. Each contains approximately 30-50 seeds. With rain this particular design will melt quickly into a small mound.