Seedball dispersal by drone for paludiculture
Seedballs in paludiculture - a modern use case for an ancient technology
As you can imagine, I’m a big advocate for seedballs. They’re a wonderful way to engage people with nature and to give them a tangible way to improve bio-diversity in their neighbourhood.
But seedballs also have real potential for wider habitat regeneration programs too and I’ve been lucky enough to work on a few really interesting public programs in the UK and EU.
Manufacturing Seedballs
Here at Beebombs, we have a manufacturing process that draws from many traditional techniques but has also been developed with a few clear principles;
It must be practical to do off site and off grid.
It must preserve the viability of the seed by not subjecting it to pressure or heat (pelletisation processes often kill the seed by doing this in my experience)
And finally it must be efficient. Seedballs have been around thousands of years and are in fact a pre-plough method of sowing seed. I believe their use has been held back by the difficulty of manufacturing them in volume. Something we have gone a long way to addressing here at Beebombs.
This all puts us in a strong position to assist the many experts working to replenish nature and manage our landscapes.
Paludiculture
Recently I have been introduced to the concept of paludiculture. Paludiculture is the sustainable practice of cultivating crops on wet or waterlogged soils, such as peatlands and marshes, while preserving their natural wet conditions. Drained or dry peat soils contribute significantly to CO2 emissions because, when these soils are dried out, the peat decomposes and releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. By re-flooding and maintaining the wet conditions of these peatlands, paludiculture helps to prevent this decomposition, thereby reducing CO2 emissions and promoting carbon sequestration. This approach not only mitigates climate change but also supports biodiversity and water management.
We are able to produce on or near to the site, ensuring the use of local materials and a more sustainable process. We work across the UK and EU
Tyhpa sowing project with Drones
We are excited to collaborate with Mike Longden from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust on an innovative paludiculture project. The focus is on growing Typha (bulrush) using drones to sow seedballs, optimising the re-wetting of peatlands to reduce CO2 emissions. This project not only enhances ecosystem restoration but also has practical applications. The harvested
Typha will be used by Ponda.bio to create BioPuff®, a sustainable insulation alternative.
This initiative exemplifies how modern technology and ecological practices can converge for environmental and economic benefits.
For more details, visit Lancashire Wildlife Trust.
If you are working on a scheme that could benefit from seedballs, please get in touch - ben@beebombs.com - 07756 899290