Seed ball

The technique was used in ancient Egypt to repair farms after the annual spring flooding of the Nile.^{[citation needed]}

The technique for creating seed balls was rediscovered by Japanese natural farming pioneer Masanobu Fukuoka.^[1] Fukuoka developed his technique during the period of the Second World War, while working in a Japanese government lab as a plant scientist on the mountainous island of Shikoku. He wanted to find a technique that would increase food production without taking away from the land already allocated for traditional rice production.^[2][3]

In 1973 in New York, Liz Christy, co-founder of the Green Guerillas developed seed bombs she called "seed green-aide".^[4] The first seed green-aides were made from condoms filled with tomato seeds, and fertilizer.^[5] They were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the guerrilla gardening movement.^[6]

To make a seed ball, generally about five measures of red clay by volume are combined with one measure of seeds. The balls are formed between 10 mm and 80 mm (about 1⁄2" to 3") in diameter. After the seed balls have been formed, they must dry for 24–48 hours before use.

Seed bombing is the practice of introducing vegetation to land by throwing or dropping seed balls. It is used in modern aerial seeding as a way to deter seed predation. It has also been popularized by green movements such as guerrilla gardening as a way to introduce new plants to an environment.

• The One-Straw Revolution
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, a 1982 children's book emphasizing public seed scattering
• Seed dispersal
• Johnny Appleseed
• Diggers