Seedballs: Beebombs for Post-Wildfire Recovery
Wildfires are leaving bigger scars than ever across Europe, from Greece and Spain to Portugal and the south of France. Beyond the visible devastation, fires strip soil bare, destabilise slopes, and wipe out the natural seed banks that usually drive regeneration. In many cases, the terrain is too steep, too remote, or too vast for traditional recovery methods like planting saplings or spraying hydroseed.
That’s where Beebombs seedballs offer a practical, nature-based alternative.
Why Seedballs Work After Fire
Seedballs are simple but effective: clay, soil, and native seeds combined into protective balls that wait for the right conditions to germinate. The clay shields seeds from birds, rodents, and harsh sun, while the soil provides nutrients for early growth. Scatter them by hand, sling, or drone, and they reach places machinery and planting crews cannot.
For wildfire sites, the key is timing with the rain. Distributed before autumn or spring showers, Beebombs soften and break down, releasing seeds just as soil moisture returns. This synchronisation can mean the difference between bare slopes sliding into erosion and a flush of green shoots holding the soil together.
Evidence on the Ground
Seedball restoration is no longer just theory - there are results to point to:
In Spain’s Montserrat region, volunteers scattered thousands of clay seedballs on burnt hillsides to stabilise soils and reintroduce wild herbs. Success depended on the autumn rains, underscoring the importance of timing.
In Albania, seedballs have been piloted as a low-cost reforestation tool after fire destroyed over 800 hectares of pine forest, where planting saplings at scale was impossible.
In the United States, trials after major wildfires found that seedballs protected pine seeds through months of drought until late-spring rains arrived, with lab germination rates of 60-80%.
Across Kenya, millions of charcoal-coated seedballs have been dispersed with roughly 20% germination - modest, but impactful when scaled, producing thousands of seedlings in degraded landscapes.
These results show that while seedballs are not a silver bullet, they can succeed where bare seeds fail, particularly in harsh or inaccessible terrain.
Beebombs at Scale
At Beebombs, we’ve been making seedballs for over a decade, restoring over 4 million square metres of wildflower habitat. We already produce thousands every day on our Dorset farm and in Normandy, and our production can be scaled rapidly for recovery projects. Because Beebombs are lightweight and robust, they can be distributed quickly across Europe - whether by pallet shipment to fire-struck regions or even direct aerial broadcast.
Our established supply chains and experience in handling native wildflower seed mixes mean we can adapt production to different European contexts, working with ecologists to include local native species best suited for post-fire regeneration.
A Complementary Tool for Recovery
Seedballs aren’t designed to replace all methods. Hydroseeding still has its place for rapid erosion control, and planting nursery-grown trees remains essential for certain species. But Beebombs excel where recovery is most difficult: steep slopes, remote landscapes, and areas where time and cost make planting impractical. By combining seedballs with other approaches, land managers can stabilise soils quickly, reintroduce diverse native species, and support long-term ecosystem recovery.
Bringing Burnt Landscapes Back to Life
As wildfires become more frequent and severe, Europe needs solutions that are affordable, scalable, and ecologically sound. Beebombs are ready to meet that challenge. With proven production capacity and pan-European distribution, we can help turn fire-scorched ground into thriving habitats once again.
Beebombs - creating wild spaces