‘Soil Your Undies’ campaign builds healthy dirt

MOSES LAKE - Few of us realize or even think about the fact that healthy soil has billions upon billions of microscopic organisms in it. Though it may be hard to imagine, one teaspoon of healthy soil has more microbes than there are people on earth! Soil microbes are important because they feed on organic matter like the cotton in clothing. So, the more the cotton in a garment, say a pair of underwear, breaks down and disappears, the healthier your soil is.

Soil microbes also help soils to prevent erosion, cycle nutrients and store water. These factors are all important in helping maintain or improve soil health, and in helping to keep the soil productive, not only in our lawns, yards and gardens, but across the nation and the world at large. Other ways to improve soil health including avoiding soil disturbance as much as possible; keeping soil covered with mulch, compost, or organic residues and/or with living plants; and growing a variety of plants to improve/maintain biodiversity.

The WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardeners are sponsoring a simple, interactive and unique challenge for anyone interested to evaluating soil health. The challenge consists of “planting” a new clean pair of men’s cotton underwear.

Sound wacky? This technique was originally used by commercial farmers in Oregon in 2018. Since healthy soil is vital to farmers everywhere, they worked with local soil and water conservation districts and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to build interest in soil health.

Farmers use soil tests to help check soil health. They can alert farms to a number of deficiencies and they give farmers the knowledge they need to adjust management practices accordingly. But intensive soil testing can be a little complicated.

To make soil testing easier, looking for a simple confirmation of healthy or unhealthy soil, some farmers have turned to burying their underwear. Healthy soil contains abundant organic matter, with organisms that thrive within it, such as bacteria, earthworms, and fungi. It turns out that while they break down organic matter, they also like cotton underwear. In just two months, cotton underwear buried in healthy soil will be completely eaten through, leaving behind little but an elastic waistband. Our plan is to expand the concept to anyone who gardens since maintaining and improving soil health are important to all of us.

So, our challenge is for any gardener, school groups or classes, 4-H and/or FFA groups to take the challenge. This experiment works best in spring or summer. In fall or winter there may be little activity in the soil, especially if the ground is frozen.

Here’s how to do it:

· In the spring or summer, find a place where you want to study the soil.

· Ensure that the chosen site(s) are on personal property with permission granted where necessary

· Bury a pair of (preferably new white) cotton underwear 3-inches deep in a site you are curious about, taking a picture of the “before” condition of the underwear.

· Mark the spot where the underwear is planted with a marker flag or wooden stake.

· Wait at least 60 days. This gives soil microbes time to work their magic!

· Do not disturb the area in which the underwear are planted. The more degraded or deteriorated they are, the greater the microbial activity there is in the soil and the healthier the soil is.

· After the 60-day waiting period, dig them up. The less complete the underwear is, that is, full of holes or barely holding together, the better your soil health is. Alternatively, the less degraded the undies are, the unhealthier the soils are. So, having undies that are pretty much gone vs. those that are merely stained or intact, is the goal.

Master Gardeners are on call 24/7 year-round to answer gardening questions. Contact the WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardeners at the WSU Grant County Extension office at 509-754-2011, ext. 4313, or by email at ga.mgvolunteers@wsu.edu. Online reference services are available at https://extension.wsu.edu/grant. Sealed samples may be brought for identification to the WSU Extension Office, 1525 E. Wheeler Road, Moses Lake, Monday-Friday, 8-5 p.m.

WANT TO PARTICIPATE?

Send before and after photos (though the after condition is what we especially want to see) to the Master Gardeners at ga.mgvolunteers@wsu.edu, or bring it in a sealed plastic bag (one bag per pair, please) to the Grant County Extension Office for the Master Gardener program at 1525 E. Wheeler Road, Moses Lake, with the following information:

· Your name, farm name if applicable, address, town and county, undies planting date and harvest date,

· Description of how you managed the ground, frequency of watering, or amount of rain received during the challenge period, and

· Description of the results and thoughts on what you found.

Once the extension office receives your information and photos, we will post them on a map so you can see the results and compare them to others. For those who may not have access to underwear, we can provide a pair free of charge through the Grant County Extension Office in Moses Lake.