Have fun at sowing seeds ! The villagers sow the fields with the seedballs: 5’000 seedballs per hectare to guarantee a beautiful and diverse forest.
Which tree species will germinate from each seedball? We will find out in 6 months, after the rainy season.
In some places we are testing the poquet technique: make a small hole to put the seedballs in. Sowing seeds in this way will protect them even better.
As you can see, the vegetation is green because the rains have already started. The grasses growing around the future plants are an advantage and a disadvantage: some young trees like the shade and protection of the wild grass, others need light and freedom. Natural selection will decide which tree will germinate where. Sowing seeds in rows will make it easier to clear the ground after the rainy season.
For tropical species the average germination rate under direct seeding is 38% and the establishment rate is 17% (Direct Seeding in Reforestation – A field performance review, p. 101). The seedball technique increases the germination rate to 50%. So 2500 seeds should germinate on each hectare, and we have sown 150 hectares!
