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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] What - On Seedballs
  • Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 23:15:11 -0400


What - On Seedballs
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On Seedballs


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This page contains information regarding the origin of seedballs, and the ingredients necessary to the making of seedballs

Contents

1 Introduction
2 Origins of the concept
2.1 Antiquity
2.2 Native Americans
2.3 Masanobu Fukuoka (February 2, 1913 – August 16, 2008)
2.4 - Panaiotis Manikis
3 Ingredients
3.1 Seeds
3.1.1 Seed selection and collection
3.1.2 References & resources for North America
3.1.3 Reference & resources for Australia
3.1.4 Guidelines: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) specific
3.1.5 Plant species suitable for use in seedballs
3.2 Clay
3.3 Soil
3.4 Water retention additives
3.5 Natural predator repellent
3.6 Mycorrhizal fungi
3.7 Manure...
4 "Seedballs" in foreign languages:
5 References

Introduction

What are seedballs ?
It is very important to understand at this stage that this website deals mostly with the use of seedballs as an alternative method of seed propagation in ecological restoration.

The full potential of seedballs is very likely unleashed only through their use in Masanobu Fukuoka's integrated system 'Natural Farming'.

Well, when one doesn't know about a word, one should try and decompose it... Seedballs are balls of seeds of course !
They have been invented or rather discovered by plant pathologist, farmer, philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka in the 1950's as an alternative propagation technique that he used in 'Natural Farming'. Masanobu Fukuoka knew that people dig holes to plant plants only because they can, because seeds are precious. Loosing them to birds, insects, rodents, wind or water is not imaginable for most of them. But plants do not dig holes. Digging holes disturbs the soil ecosystem (adds oxygen, tears apart mycelia mats, stimulates 'weeds' take over, etc).Masanobu Fukuoka knew it. So he designed a method that would both protect the seeds and protect the soil. That method, part of consists of encasing or pelleting seed(s) in a mixture of at least clay, seeds and water that is rolled into a ball more or less the size of a marble. The seeds are already planted in the ball...so no need to plant them again; one just cast them on the ground. They stay there dormant until environmental factors such as rainfall make the seeds sprout, and plant establish. Generally, the plants that make it through the first year are the right plants for that place, that time.

Voila !

I also really like the extended presentation of the concept that Drs. Richard and Pat Richardson of the Department of Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin and their team gave in is paper:

"Seedballs are a no-till method of sowing seed due to the fact that the seeds are already encapsulated in a clay/compost matrix. Their use was pioneered in Japan by Masanobu Fukuoka, the originator and chief proponent of an agricultural system known as "Natural Farming." Seedballs are a mixture of seeds, humus/compost, red clay, and water, rolled into half inch balls, allowed to dry, and then broadcast over various environments.

The customary proportions of the various components are as follows (Bones 1988) : 1 part clean seed mix, 3 parts humus from compost, 5 parts powdered red clay (not white or gray clay), and 1 to 2 parts water. The first three ingredients are usually mixed dry, with just enough water added to make the mixture workable, although our methods differed slightly (...).

In the book, The One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka made the first reference to seedballs when he mentioned his method of enclosing rice seeds in “little clay pellets” as part of no-till farming (Fukuoka 1978). The rationale behind this method is two-fold. First, by not tilling or cultivating the soil, the farmer does not create a disturbed area which tend to be extremely susceptible to invasion by weeds. Secondly, the clay shell protects the seeds from wind and predation by birds, mammals, and insects (Trevis, 1958). The vast majority of the arthropod community, including several seed consumers, inhabit the soil and surface litter. Seedballs encapsulate the seeds protecting them from these seed predators. Seeds stay put until sufficient rainfall causes the clay to disintegrate and the seeds to germinate.

Fukuoka originally conceived of the seedball concept after observing the structure of daikon radish seeds, which are encased in a protective shell that rots as the seedling sprouts (Fukuoka 1998). This is one natural analog for seedballs. Some have suggested that seedballs are similar to seeds passing through the gut of large herbivores and being deposited in clumps of manure. (...). Seedballs might be more similar to seeds that manage to survive in the guts of birds and small mammals, although if all seeds were able to accomplish this feat, there would be no need for the human creation of seedballs. The pecan, which encases a nutrient-rich seed within a protective woody shell, may be another natural analogy.

In addition to providing some protection from predators and the elements, seedballs allow the user to sow a wide variety of seeds simultaneously, whether they are an array of agricultural plants, or a set of native species used for habitat restoration. Optimally, a variety of species with unique niches should go into each seedball so that the broadcast balls will have a good chance of successful germination and growth in a diversity of habitat types."

Seedballs have been first used in Natural Farming, a Nature regenerating method. After travelling abroad and feeling the creeping desertification of places in India, Africa, the USA, Masanobu Fukuoka understood that seedballs could be used to revert it, to 'regreen' deserts. This does not mean that deserts have to be re-greened but that Nature made desert can.

The Seedball Story, by Jim Bones


Origins of the concept

It is always difficult to determine the origin of concepts, discoveries or inventions. Who found out that a mushroom (Fomes fomentarius) can smolder for days and therefore be a valuable tinder... who found that animal flesh is more tender cooked than raw. Who found out that you have to leach acorns for a day in fresh water before you can eat them safely...

Who found out about seedballs ?

Antiquity
Seed pelleting techniques have been developed a long time ago.
An irretrievable paper "History of seed health protection in ancient China ' by Gong YueJuan, Li JianQiang, Jin LeShan, and Gong YuePing published by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences introduces the 'earliest seed coating technology in the world (around 1st century AD), the method of seed pelleting with a thick soup (prepared from horse bones, aconite [Aconitum spp.], silkworm droppings, and sheep dung.

The Romans seem to have held some knowledge on seed pelleting as M. Evenari (1984) shows: Pliny the Elder (23 AD – August 25, 79) "is apparently (...) the first to describe seed pelleting. Seeds of various vegetables "are planted enclosed in hollow pellets of goats' dung, each seed in a separate pellet, they came up wonderfully".

Native Americans
Many blogs, and websites report that seedballs were used by "some native american tribes".
Since no references are given, one should treat prudently this piece of information until evidence is uncovered.
So far the only use of clay pellets by Native American tribes I have managed to extract is 'projectiles for blowguns'.

Oelke, E.A. (1993) reports that:
"Perhaps the first individuals to attempt to increase availability of wild rice for food were Native Americans (Steeves 1952). Often suitable lakes or rivers were seeded to wild rice by mixing seed into clay, rolling it into a ball and dropping the clay ball into the water. This resulted in some, but not significant, increase in natural stands."

I nevertheless haven't been able to locate in Steeves' 1952 paper the mention of anything related to clay pellets or seedballs, quite the opposite:

"The Menomini, who of all the tribes have been the most profoundly influenced by wild rice, appear to have possessed a knowledge of the plant from the very beginning of their tribal organization.
According to their legend, Miin~ibush, one of their many mythical halfgod creatures, created the bear out of the earth and of the bear made an Indian
whom he called Skekatchekenan. This Indian then was established as leader of the bear phratry, the first section of the tribe, and to him Manabush gave a river (the Menominee), the fish in it, the sugar trees along its banks, and the rice
which grew in its shallows, with assurances that he and his followers should always have these things. After the tribe developed a unified organization, these gifts became the property of the whole group. Remembering that they
were promised that they would always have rice, these Indians have always refused to sow the grain, maintaining that such action would constitute a breach of
faith" (p13).

"Therehave been occasional reports of Indians sowing the grain, thereby establishing new stands for harvest, and of weeding unwanted plants from the rice marshes during the growing season, but such
practices seem rather to have been the exception than the rule" (p.20).

The plot is thickening.
Masanobu Fukuoka (February 2, 1913 – August 16, 2008)
Wikipedia's information introduces Masanobu Fukuoka's seedballs as "土団 子,土だんご,Tsuchi Dango Earth Dumpling" see here; then in the article devoted to M. Fukuoka, the collective website says: 'Also he re-introduced the ancient technique of seed balls (粘土団子,土団子,土だ んご, Tsuchi Dango (Earth Dumpling). The seed for next season's crop is mixed with clay, compost, and sometimes manure, and formed into small balls. The result is a denser crop of smaller but highly productive and stronger plants'.
It turns out that tsuchi dango are not a traditional Japanese technique used in agriculture, but in a ritual (Kasa mori) involving the Inari deity embodied in a fox. The Tsuchi Dango represent the scabs of wounds consequence of smallpox ! See here.

To me, suggests that M. Fukuoka in fact invented seedballs, or rather retrieved them from Nature.

MASANOBU FUKUOKA
(February 2, 1913 – August 16, 2008)

He made sure to protect seedballs from misguided use in 1998 when applying for a patent (EP0885554) granted on 12/23/1998 the EPO (the European Patent Office) in Munich. At that time, M. Fukuoka was working on large projects in Europe (Greece).

"I-we have received this philosophy and practice as a gift and that’s the way it must be communicated. Money distorts things, knowledge must not be given for money".

- Panaiotis Manikis


See here an interview of M. Fukuoka by Larry Korn. The 'reference' section of this website contains more information about Masanobu Fukuoka and seedballs.

Ingredients

Seedballs are obtained by forming a mixture of clay, seeds, water, and sometimes other ingredients like soil, predator repellent, mycorrhizae etc. into a ball the size of a marble, or bigger, or smaller.
Seeds
Seeds contain information hidden within the plant embryo genetic structure and food that the embryo will use to develop as soon as endogenous and exogenous conditions trigger germination.
Not all seeds can be used in the making of seedballs for different reasons such as the size of the seeds themselves and their physiology. Seeds from species that have developed natural protection should not be used either.
Restoring (or restocking) soil seed bank (quantitatively and qualitatively) is - as far as I understand it - the soundest way to restore plant communities.

It is of the utmost importance that anyone who wants to use seedballs in ecological restoration considers very carefully the following point:

GO INDIGENOUS - or GO NATIVE !

Indigenous or 'native' are have an ecological, genetic, aesthetic, as well as an economic value and benefits in addition to their intrinsic value as living species.

Non-indigenous species, or non-native species can be introduced accidentally by humans or very often intentionally in the hope of economic or aesthetic gain. They can invade native ecosystem and in fine reduce the biodiversity of the system-host. Every year billion of dollars are given to chemical companies for poisons...

Seed have to originate from plants that are native to the same bioregion as the one they going to be propagated into. Generally, but not always, the preferred space unit is the WATERSHED.

Colautti Robert I. and MacIsaac Hugh J.,(2004).
Stinson & al. (2006. Invasive plant suppresses the growth of native tree seedlings by disrupting belowground mutualisms. PLoS Biol 4(5): e140. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040140 here

Seed selection and collection
Depending on your project you may have to collect seeds for your restoration/propagation efforts.

It is very important to follow a few rules if you want to be successful and ecologically harmless.

Think about the following points before deciding to collect, adapted from 'SEED COLLECTING GUIDELINES For California Native Plant Species'by Michael Wall, Seed Program Manager, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden:


Why – defining the purpose and use of the seed collection.
Am I collecting for horticulture, research, restoration, or conservation ?

What – defining high quality seed collections.

Have I correctly identified target species ?
What are healthy, viable seeds ?
Can I get a sufficient sized collection to meet the intended uses ?
Are my seeds genetically representative of the species, or population sampled ?
Did I gather adequate associated data to meet intended uses ?

Where – being at the right place.
What do I know of species distribution, local abundance, provenance, accessibility ?
What kind of permit do I need if I don't collect on my own property ?

When – at the right time
Collection timing varies by plant type, fruit type, (micro)climate, elevation, micro-habitat, seasons, years,

How – making high quality collections

What is the impact of my collection and what are the ethics I have to internalize ?

What are the best sampling methods and techniques ?

The best collection methods ? How do I care for my collections ?

Do the seeds require a special treatment (eg.scarification, smoke, fire treatment) ?


References & resources for North America
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Services - Plants DATABASE
Native Plants Network Propagation Protocols
University of Michigan - Dearborn Native American Ethnobotany
Native Seed Network - Restoration Resources Species recommendation by project ecoregion
Consursium of California Herbaria Plants DATABASE
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plants DATABASE
The Center for Plant Conservation Ecotype Bibliography, literature on topics broadly relevant to genetic considerations in ecological restoration.

Reference & resources for Australia
Florabank - Florabank recognises and shares the best available knowledge from research and practice in native species seed management and supports a professional and informed seed sector, encouraging quality and choice for buyers of native Australian seed. Florabank also delivers training for seed professionals, and works to assist the native seed industry to grow and develop as a national peak body advocate.

Australian Native Plants Society.The Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) - ANPSA - caters for people interested in Australia's native flora whether that interest is simple appreciation of the beauty and diversity of the flora or whether it extends to propagation, cultivation and conservation,

Australian Ethnobotany, an alternative ethnobotany forum. Be aware that unfortunately a lot of people think that ethnobotany main field of enquiry is entheogenic substances. But guess what: it's not. Magic mushrooms, smokable and drinkable plants that helps one to find the 'God-within' are psychoactive drugs, and psychoactive drugs are VERY RARELY used by herbalists and Plants-People. I would welcome an alternative source of information on Australian Ethnobotany.

Books Dalton, Greg (2003). 'Direct Seeding of Trees and Shrubs - A Manual for Australian Conditions', Department of Primary Industries (SA), Adelaide.

Murray, R. (2009). Growing Australian Native Plants from Seed. For revegetation, tree planting and direct seeding', Murray Ralph, Second Edition, Bushland Horticulture Publications.

Sweedman, L.W. and Merritt, D.J. (eds) (2006) Australian seeds. A guide to their collection, identification and biology. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne

Guidelines: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) specific
In 1993, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), The World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland, and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) published the Guidelines on the Conservation of Medicinal Plants.
In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided the WHO Guidelines on good agricultural and collection practices (GACP) for medicinal plants.
In 2007, the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group (MPSG) of the Species Survival Commission (SSC), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), on behalf of a Steering Group consisting of the Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN), MPSG/SSC/IUCN, WWF Germany, and TRAFFIC have released the long awaited International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP).

Commercial sources: There are ALWAYS ways to collect seeds from the wild, but if for some reason are in the incapacity to do so.Make sure that the company you buy your seeds from has good environmental and social records. Avoid big companies as their seeds are mass produced, mass distributed - is Catbury's chocolate still chocolate ?.

Choose your local nursery or your local native seed supplier, over corporation, because they are more likely to care. Look for groups of seed savers and seed sharers.

Plant species suitable for use in seedballs
"If you 'we all' understand correctly from nature when not to use seedballs as the way for sowing seeds, rather using different ways, and the why for that from nature. Then you 'we all' will understand correctly when & why from nature itself, to use seedballs!
Seedballs aren't necessarily really appropriate for seeds with physical domancy requiring fire to break the testa - the physical barrier giving dormancy, such as many hard seeded Australian Acacia species from fire-dependent vegetations;
Nor are seedballs appropriate for species with physiologically short-lived seed embryos like many but certainly not all Australian rainforest species;
Nor of course are seedballs really appropriate for sowing species which are wanted to germinate immediately, and which have their own physical-seed-protections from predation - i think of the buckwheat crop i sow, and Fukuoka Masanobu sensei's advice saying so too on buckwheat, to simply broadcast seed directly, for example, because it is a very short lived -75 days more or less-, seasonal, fast-germinating and really frost sensitive species with a seed protected in a tough angular testa which however doesn't make it physically dormant'.
- Jason Stewart

Traditional plant, plant classification , seed ecological knowledge vs. botanical , morphological taxa knowledge

In an interview, Panaoitis Manikis, declared that 'what we (i.e., the Natural Farming movement , i.e seedballs users in revegetation) miss is the collaboration of scientists, because we need their work'.

Masanobu Fukuoka warns us: '(...)you have to be careful.This method does not mean that we should suddenly throw away all the scientific knowledge about horticulture that we already have. That course of action is simply abandonment, because it ignores the cycle of dependence that humans have imposed upon an altered ecosystem. If a farmer does abandon his or her "tame" fields completely to nature, mistakes and destruction are inevitable.

The real path to natural farming requires that a person know what unaltered nature is, so that he or she can instinctively understand what needs to be done—and what must not be done—to work in harmony with its processes'

- The Plowboy Interview: Masanobu Fukuoka, Mother Earth News, Issue #76 - July/August 1982, by Larry Korn

Although Masanobu Fukuoka was specifically talking about Natural Farming (an integrated system) I think that this warning can be applied to the selection of species for use in seedballs.

Traditional plant, plant classification , seed ecological knowledge should be used together with botanical , morphological taxa knowledge.

As far as I am concerned, our work is at the interface of science, sapience and traditional knowledge.

This is why I choose to propose a list of species suitable for use in seedballs for ecological restoration projects that includes science, traditional knowledge, hoping that sapience will guide us.

You know about seeds for use in seedballs and want to share your knowledge, please enter your information in the document below (
+
Add)





Clay
The use of clay in the making of seedballs as many advantages:
The structure of humidified clays is amazingly plastic and allows it to bind together with the other ingredients. Also clay has the capacity to absorb moisture when not saturated and therefore to direct water to the seeds by capillary action.
Clay when dry is very hard and act as a protective shell for the seed.
When the water content of the seedball allows for germination the clay regains its plasticity and participate in the destructuration of the seedball.
Red clay or terracota powdered red clay is preferred due to its interesting iron content (iron oxide): iron deficiency (aka iron stress) impairs photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in plants. Red clay is oxidized, or has been produced under aerobic conditions, whereas grey, green, blue clay have been produced under anaerobic conditions.
Andrea Bellamy from Heavy Petal says that she "tried using grey clay from a riverbank - it doesn’t work so well." Other sources confirmed that red clay works better that grey and blue river clays, although others say that blue, white and greens worked well too. To my knowledge only Greening Australia has compared thoroughly different clays in the making of seedballs, with clear results.
Different types of clay give
different results after
4 months
(source GA, ACT)


You can get in touch with your local potters association to find the best provider.

But generally, and for multiple reasons local sources are always a better alternative to non-local ones...

For further learning o clay visit the Clay Minerals Society website.

For fun - dip your whole hand and forearm in a bag of powdered clay:
great sensual experiment...it feels like DRY WATER !
Soil
Jim Bones:'the soil/compost mix I include with theseed balls is the most important element, perhaps even more so than the seeds! Without the soil microbes, the little people who really make soil fertile, the success rate of seed balls is very low in arid climates or on land that has lost its soil fertility for whatever
reason.

Most plants have very specific partners in the soil. I find it helpful to collect small amounts of native soil from the subsurface and upper root zone where most of the beneficial fungi live. I gather a very small
amount of this from around each type of plant I am including in the mix. I then add these natural inoculating life forms to small compost beds needed to "grow out" the material actually used in the seed balls. Mr.
Fukuoka brews up a real microbiologist's inoculum in sterile ways that only a fungi growing laboratory allows. My point is fertility counts for a lot.

I also find it is important to keep the whole seed ball mix as dry as possible and still be able to make the seed balls roll out smooth and solid. If the seeds get too wet in the process or they do not dry quickly enough, they may sour or ferment and not germinate'.

Adding soil allows for extra nutrients to be available for the seedling after cotyledons nutrients reserves have been exhausted as well as and more importantly makes your seedballs alive.

Be careful when selecting a compost, as some have a lot of things you should not include in a seedball: plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, unwanted seeds, unwanted microbes. As great as 'free compost' sounds, you may want to consider purchasing it from a reliable source, unless you make your own, which is the best you can get.
Compost is also the medium to use for fixing mycelia strains, rhizobium (beneficial bacteria) and other additives.
It should be dried as all seedballs recipes on the web stipulate, which prevents the seeds from swelling/germinating before the seedballs are propagated.
I find that worm castings are a very good alternative to compost as they contain not only fantastic nutrients and earthworm cocoons, but they free of twigs and fiber (i.e, no sifting required - homogeneity of the seedballs structure ).
Alternatively adding encapsulated worm cocoons to compost could be interesting too, although you'd have to make sure that they are native from the area you want to restore see
Bohlen P.j & al., (2004). Non-Native Invasive Earthworms as Agents of Change in Northern Temperate. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 2,pp. 427-435.

I have used many times soil from the propagation area. It works, after sifting. I have no data as to its efficiency compared to compost/worm castings.

NEVER USE POTTING MIXES, it has been pasteurized to avoid cross-contamination, it is DEAD SOIL. It may be good for your 'baby indoor, household potted plants'but it is very bad for all restoration purposes, including seedlings growing in commercial native plant nurseries.

Native soil from the desired propagation area should always be used preferably to any other type of soil / compost when included in an ecological restoration project.

I got interested in inquiring about the use of termite mound soil or termitaria for seedball making due to the interesting mineral composition, and their microbiology - presence of actinomycetes bacteria, fungi, see: Sako & al.(2009), D. López-Hernández (2001), Ketch & al.(2001), and Spain, A.V & McIvor J.G.(1988.)


Coincidently, Deepak Suchade uses termitaria it in the Beej Upchaar-Sanskaar method. Rajuk (Raju) Titus a long time Natural Farmer giving workshops on Natural Farming in India, seems to be using termitaria too, as seen on his Picasa Web-Album: Raghav Natural Farm and Natural Farming Workshop at Devengere Karnatka.
Water retention additives
In Greece, M. Fukuoka has been using cotton wool for its hydrophilic properties as well as paper/ paper pulp.This suggests that water retention additives can be employed.

Now the question is: besides cotton wool and paper/paper pulp what kind of water retention additives would we want to use in seedballs ?

Other 'Natural' water retention additives

You can choose to add other water retention producst to your seedballs if really there is a need for it. Perlite, Vermiculite, Diatomaceous earth (aka diatomite or kieselgur)may improve results.

Polyacrylamide based gels & crystals

Polyacrylamide is a polymer based on acrylamide molecules. Acrylamide is a neurotoxin, a carcinogen and a mutagen that was added on March 30th 2010, on the European Chemical Agency’ s Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern for Authorization. See report here.
For Woodrow & Al. (2008) there are strong possibilities that polyacrylamide can depolymerize in ecological conditions (i.e. sunlight) hence releasing acrylamides...

Starch based gels & crystals

Perhaps...

All being said it really depends on the precipitation patterns blessing your land....and the size/shape of your seedballs.
Natural predator repellent
Read the following account by Jim Bones:

"Often up to 80% of broadcast seed is lost to birds, mice and insects before it can germinate. In one field test I conducted on western range land, harvester ants alone collected a quarter pound of grass and wildflower seeds, from one square yard, in less than an hour!
To work well seed balls need to be used in areas that receive at least 10 to 12 inches of annual precipitation, but the timing of the rains is also important. Three to five inches of rain are required to dissolve the seed balls and begin germination. Continued rains are then needed to promote growth and establish viable root systems.
Light rains may only soften the clay and allow predators like birds, mice and ants to tear the seed balls apart and even dig under them for seeds. So it may be necessary to add a natural repellent such as red chili pepper, catnip, pennyroyal or peppermint, to the seed balls to prevent predation. The amount of repellent added will vary with the type, but about 10% by volume of the amount of soil compost should be sufficient.
Dried, powdered chili peppers appear to provide substantial protection across a broad range of predators for the least amount of material used. If you use red chili, wear gloves and a mask to avoid irritation. You may also need to experiment to find the most effective repellents for your local predators."
in, Seedballs and predators, the use of natural repellents, by Jim Bones (seedballs.com).

Trevis (1958), found a colony of Veromessor pergandei (Mayr) collected an average of 7,000 seeds a day in the Sonoran Desert, Colorado, U.S.A., and calculated that six colonies would collect 15 million seeds from one acre in one year... thats a lot of seeds.

A definitely non-vegan way used by The Upper Torrens Land Management Project in South Australia: blood and bones to deter rabbits from eating sprouts.

Mycorrhizal fungi
Beneficial plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere are primary determinants of plant health and soil fertility. Arbuscular mycorrhizae are the most important symbionts for the majority of plants and, often influence plant community development, nutrient uptake, water relations and above-ground productivity. They also act as bioprotectants against pathogens and toxic stresses. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have an impact in landscape regeneration, horticulture, alleviation of desertification and in the bioremediation of contaminated soils.

"It is vital that soil scientists and agriculturalists pay due attention to the management of AMF in any schemes to increase, restore or maintain soil fertility" (Jeffries and al. 2003).

What strain of mycorrhizal fungi is another question. Douglas J.E. Barnes from EcoEdge Design Ltd. Permaculture Consulting says on his blog that "for species that can benefit from mycorrhizal relationships, adding the spores of mycorrhizal fungi such as the genus Glomus and/or Rhizopogon, species Gigaspora margarita, and/or Pisolithus tinctorus would be beneficial, though not necessary.These are readily available through Fungi Perfecti " the mind-boggling venture of fungi-whisperer, former logger and genius Paul Stamets

A good source of information would be your local university soil ecology (biology, zoology) department .

Nevertheless you should always use fungi that are native to the area you want to work on. By altering the below- ground dynamic equilibrium fungi can affect the above-ground dynamic equilibrium too: qualitatively and quantitatively.

Last but not least, if you feel industrious you can take soil samples of the propagation area determine the quantity and nature of the strains in your sample and cultivate the strains, then inoculate your compost/soil used in the seedballs mix, or add spores to the mix.

More at mycorrhizal associations an online textbook to provide current information about mycorrhizal associations.

Tallasen (1997) and Todd R. Caplan & al. (1999) report the use of mycorrhyzal fungi inoculation of seedballs.
Talkasen (1997) says that: "Various inoculum pellet techniques, some patented, have been studied and shown to be effective in conveying live inoculum to the field. This technique is a hybrid of the broadcast and the trenching method. In typical pellets, inoculum is mixed with moist clay to form a small pellets, which are then rolled in seeds. The seed pellets can then be dried and planted over large areas using a seed drill. The advantage of this method is that inoculum can readily colonize the germinating seed via direct contact. Less inoculum is required and the labor requirements are minimal. (Sieverding 1991). Inoculum pellets work well when restorations involve small seeds that can be made into manageable pellets. However, many prairie grasses have large fluffy seeds with bracts on them that might limit their ability to form pellets usable in a seed drill. Inoculum pelleting is still more of an experiment than a proven field technique".

I would add that if it does not work it is very likely because the fungal material has been misused by an untrained mushroom cultivator, not because it is not a good method. (see P.Stamets, in Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World, Ten Speed Press, 2005).
Manure...
I am personally not in favor of adding manure in seedballs, for unknown reasons.

and Love. Or 'on the ethics of shared intentionality'

What motivates you has a human being ?
What motivates your group as a collective ?
For a good source of information on motivation read Maslow and on on shared intentionality see this bibliography of collective intentionality and sociality.



"Seedballs" in foreign languages:

French - Billes de graines

Japanese - Tsuchi-dango, Sheedo baaru, 粘土団子

Italian - Palline di argilla

German -

Spanish - Bollas de arcillas, nengo dango.

Greek -

Arabic -

Hindi -

Indonesian -
References

Plinius (Gaius Plinius Secundus), Books XII-XIX, 2 Vols. Loeb Classical Libr. Heinemann, London and Harvard Univ. Press, Boston. (1960, 1971); in M. Evenari, Seed Physiology: Its History from Antiquity to the Beginning of the 20th Century.The Botanical Review, Vol. 50 April, June 1984 No. 2, p119-142.


Aboubakar Sako, Anthony J. Mills, Alakendra N. Roychoudhury (2009). Rare earth and trace element geochemistry of termite mounds in central and northeastern Namibia: Mechanisms for micro-nutrient accumulation. Geoderma, Volume 153, Issues 1-2, 15 October 2009, Pages 217-230.

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