Seed Bomb Florida Canyon Adventure 12-19-13

Finished Seed Bombs

On December 19^th, 2013, the Roosevelt Bee Group met up with the Roosevelt Garden Club and Ranger Carina Weber. We made seed bombs, which are a small bundle of compost, clay, seeds, and water. Our seed bombs were thrown into Florida Canyon on January 20^th. The flower seeds that we put in the seed bombs include: White Sage (Salvia apiana), Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), Palmer’s Sage Wort (Artemisia palmeris), California Buckwheat (Erigonum fasciculatum), Wart Stem Ceanothus (Ceanothus verrucosus), Deerweed (Lotus scoparius), and Broom Baccharis (Bacharris sarothroides). All of these are native plants that grow in San Diego. This was a really fun event! Hers’s the “recipe” that we used to make our seed bombs.

Seed Bomb “Recipe”

Ingredients

5 parts dry clay, preferably powder

3 parts fine compost

1 part seeds, preferably of native plants

Just enough water to hold it together

1 Part Native Plant Seeds

5 Parts Clay

3 Parts Fine Compost

First, you put the clay on your work surface. Next, you add the compost, and then the seeds. It’s great to spread native plants, so bee sure to use seeds of native plants whenever possible! Always be sure that you are not putting seeds from invasive plants in your seed bombs. You can face fines for spreading invasive plants, especially on public lands. Next, you add a tiny tiny tiny amount of water. If this is not enough, add a tiny tiny tiny bit more. Repeat previous step until your seed bombs form a sort of dough. It is important to not let your seed bombs fall apart, but if you add too much water, your seeds could sprout prematurely or rot. Let the seed bombs dry for a few days, and then find an empty space and throw your seed bombs! Save the bees!

Thank you, volunteers!