Dubois County 2017 SWCD Success Story: We Soiled our Undies!
The Dubois County SWCD staff spent several months soiling our undies and netted an interesting and fun way to provide public outreach about soil biological activity.
The project is simple: bury 100% cotton underwear in the top six inches of topsoil, wait for two months, then dig them up. Be sure to leave the waistband sticking out so you can find them again and mark the spot with a tile flag. When you dig them up, you can see how much biological activity there is in your soil by the amount of the underwear that is eaten by the soil organisms!
SWCD LSI Project Manager Melissa Ruschau buried several pairs of underwear in April of 2017. Melissa buried them on the Vincennes University Campus in Jasper, the SWCD’s partner in the Land Stewardship Initiative program. The underwear was buried in tilled soil, no tilled soil, a waterway, and the woods. Melissa dug the underwear up in June. While we expected that the amount of the underwear eaten by the organisms in the soil would vary by location, some of the results were surprising. The first, unexpected result was to learn that the soil biology is not very active during the cool, damp spring months. Melissa re-buried fresh underwear in early June and dug it up mid-July. The soil biology is very active during the hot, summer months!
As expected, the underwear buried in the tilled field had many holes, from being munched on by the soil organisms. There was no organic matter from roots or decayed crop stubble in the soil to feed them. On the other end of the spectrum, the underwear buried in the forest was untouched by the soil organisms. Since there is so much organic matter on the forest floor, the soil biology was not hungry and did not eat the underwear. Think of a choice between lettuce (leaves and other organic matter on the forest floor) vs. cardboard (the underwear). The soil organisms happily munched on the organic matter. The different types of bacteria, etc. in the soil was evident on the underwear, however; seen by the various colors staining the it.
The dirty, holey underwear made GREAT education opportunities for the SWCD.
Using the underwear, Melissa did a presentation at a Southwest Area Meeting of the Indiana Conservation Partnership. In addition, the soil your undies project was demonstrated to SWCD staff members from across SW Indiana at an Indiana SWCD staff meeting. And the underwear made two very eye catching and unusual displays for the Dubois County Four H Fair, and the Ferdinand Folk Fest. What an attention grabber! We could see people walking by and staring at our undies. They got a good laugh, and then a good education on what is going on in the soil, under their feet. Many were amazed to learn that a teaspoon of soil is teeming with life, and if we feed it properly with organic matter and roots, it will help feed our crops and gardens properly. #soilyourundies