US company, Seedballz® LLC, have the interesting idea of encasing seeds of different plants in a mixture of clay and organic material that absorbs moisture, releases nutrients and protects the seed from drying out in the sun, getting eaten by birds or blowing away in the wind. All ingredients are natural. Each seed ball about 2cm in diameter is loaded with a variety of seed in a series of assortments, such as: edible flowers, herbal mixture, wild flowers etc. The seed of annuals and herbaceous perennials can be mixed together. There is no real limit to the mixtures except the limitation imposed by germinability over time of each species. The mixtures available from SeedBallz® are said to germinate in between 7 and 45 days.
The seed balls are planted in pots or well-prepared soil by pushing them one third of the way down, about 20-25cm apart, leaving the rest exposed to the sun and air. The seed balls need to be kept moist and have a sufficiently warm temperature to enable germination, the water softens the clay, creating a paste that holds the seeds in the casing where they will germinate in a sort of plant cluster or community that does not need to be thinned out later. For further information: SeedBallz LLC, Tel. 001 5414855839, E-mail: info@seedballz.com, www.seedballz.com
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