During summer every year we undertake collecting the native forest trees seeds and make them into seed balls to be used during the monsoons in forests.
The seed ball preparation concept was originally from countries like Germany and France. There governments sponsor the seed ball preparation programme and they drop the balls. This tradition is in practice from many years. But this is new for us.
What it needs to prepare a seed ball? At first mix different types of seeds with a mixture of soil and fertilizer. Then prepare balls of seeds from that mixture and dry them under the sunlight. The soil can be red, black soil of tanks or any other types of soils according to the region. Along with this we have to use organic fertilizer, cow dung, vermin compost or cow urine. Seed balls can be prepared using Indian beech or Honge, tamarind, curry leaves, Aralu or ink tree, soapnut or Antuvaala, Taarekayi tree, mango and other forest tree seeds.
Prepare seed balls like this… First mix three parts of soil with one part of cow dung compost. One can use water based on the water content in the mixture. Healthy seeds should be used for the seed balls and seeds should be kept in middle of the balls. To keep the seed balls tight, one can add little amount of clay or Jedi mannu.
How to use seed balls? After drying the seed balls under sunlight for two days, we should make it sure that there is no water content. This kind of seeds should be stored for four to six months. Now they are ready to throw in the forest. We can also prepare seedballs and dry them in the sunlight for two hours before use.