Seed Balls

http://pathtofreedom.com/backtobasics/odds&ends/article_seedballs.shtml

I found this article on making seed balls. Very interesting idea! I think I'll try it with some of my smaller seeds that I winter sow!

That's really interesting. My yard needs to be "reclaimed" from storm damage. I think I'll try this method as well. Thanks!

This is a pretty neat idea for me. We have an acre of nothing but weeds and we just finished pulling several that almost broke our mower. I would love to restore and plant wildflowers back there.

Where would one find powdered red clay?

Have plenty of red clay in my field lol
Trying to remember where I saw patches of it in the field, think there is some by the daylillies, I want to try this too, was wondering if anyone else was going to try it, I have several seeds I want to try, the wild asters that Bill put up a while back seems to be a good candidate, and want to try some milkweed and butterfly weed, joe pye weed, I'm wondering if I could do some of my grass seeds this way?
I'm such a seed aholic, I need an out for some of these seeds lol I'm not pulling weeds in my field though an acre is a lot of weeds, besides need to leave some for the quail lol
Maybe someone that has done it before will jump in here and give us some encouraging words....
Thanks for the thread renwings ;-)
Lea

Has anyone tried this yet? Does the red clay from the health food store work? This sounds like a great idea for our 'back 20.' :-)

Cheers,

Kathleen

Hi All!

The old link above doesn't work anymore; but these ones will. I needed the info for a friend; thus I went hunting on Google: Path to Freedom ; Seed Balls: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&hs=Quy&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Path+to+Freedom+%3B+Seed+Balls&spell=1

Projects Making Seed Balls (Illustrated Instructions) http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/gardening/seedballs.shtml

How To Make Seed Balls
http://www.pathtofreedom.com/resources/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=230&Itemid=66

~* Robin

This message was edited Sep 2, 2008 6:54 PM

I didn't see this and asked the same question today on this forum. I also am very excited! Masanobu Fukouka began all this; I just read an interview with him. He was (died this August) a most remarkable man.

I have red clay too, but I read that it is better to use the powdered red clay that potters use. So I am going to look into getting that.

I have a ditch in front of my house by the road which is a tangle of locust trees, blackberries, milkweed, thistle, etc.
I would like to see a number of wild flowers growing there as well. If I could make seed balls, I could just toss them into that tangle and some would probably make it. I have been collecting seeds from all over the county. I currently am waiting for the Ironweed to go to seed and the Joe Pye weed too (although I do have a few from winter sowing last year.) I see that my ditch is a perfect habitat for butterflies and bees and possibly birds. I would like to enhance that too.

Has anyone found the dry terra cotta clay? I am going to google for a source. This sounds great. I would love to make some for my non-gardening friends.

Here's a source of red clay powder, just found it.... going to try this to sow some red clover cover. This site talks about cosmetic use, but they are selling it in bulk (well, 1lb) rather than a few ounces in a jar, so this ought to work out:

http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/665175.0/CategoryID/5000.0/SubCatID/335.0/file.htm

I'm bumping this up, good time for it I do believe, I'm getting ready to make some in the next few days with some red clay I dug this summer now I'm wondering if I'm going to have enough by the time I put it in the blender to make a powder, I'll know in a couple of days :)

Did any of you that are still watching this thread make any and if so what was your results?

I made some, but they have not germinated, or if they have it is all covered with snow. ;-) I have faith, though.

Instead of going for cosmetic clay, though, look for potters supplies and craft companies, for powdered terra cotta.... should be much cheaper!

Also since this thread was started there was an article about Guerilla Gardening that linked to a video about making these..... and there was an even earlier DG article about this technique.

Sorry, too lazy to go look for links today.

Have fun......

Kyla

Kyla, let us know how they did :) I'm wanting to dig more red clay this weekend it's cheaper and I have plenty lol

We should be having another snow before we can plant out that's when I plan on getting mine out, probably about the middle or end of this month.

Hmmm, I'll have to look for those links lol Thanks for letting me know :)

I tried this one year with clay that I sifted through an old flour sifter. I have red clay and that is what I garden with. I filled a wheel barrel with the mixture. I had a lot of fun with it all. What I did was to use a lot of same sized seeds in a ball. I used wild flowers and all the little left overs that one accumulates when they get greedy and try to harvest every single seed in fall.
I then scattered them on a small slope that was in a wild area. I had mixed results, but the fun was in making them, playing in dirt. LOL
I took pictures when I did it and have seen them on the computer somewhere. I will look for them and post them if I find them.
It does help if you have ready clay available, otherwise I think it might get expensive if you had to buy the stuff.

Oh please do find those pictures and post them :)

I do have the red clay and I saved some from this summer and now it is harder than rocks lol I'm just wondering if my chopper will break it up! I too saved lots of seeds from my collecting them last fall, the first time I thought about making seed balls I didn't realize I would need so many so I'm ready this year.

Searching for seedballs I couldn't find the page where I got my information years ago.
I did find a nice video on Youtube and have included the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWyduWsoy8o
I also found a couple of pictures of my set up in the wheel barrel. It is best to use something at a good level because it takes a while to make them. I dried them in the garage on the newspaper.
Edited to add you might want to fast forward through the rolling balls in the beginning of the movie. LOL It gets a bit old....

This message was edited Mar 7, 2009 7:01 AM