Soil your...what!

Abstract

All in the name of good soil health, the fun soil science experiment is being run by CottonInfo to raise awareness of soil health, and allow people to easily see how healthy their soil is. CotttonInfo REO Sally Dickinson says it's easy to participate: just bury a pair of white, 100 percent cotton undies in topsoil for two months and then check the level of decomposition. Local REOs will supply the undies, and after two months it's then time to share these experiences with local CottonInfo REOs and the Twitter community using the hashtag #soilyourundies. With proper management, the ground beneath crops should teem with millions of tiny lifeforms including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, arthropods and earthworms - all busy transferring nutrients, eating and decomposing organic material through nutrient cycling in processes that help plants thrive. If there's not much left of the undies after a couple of months, this indicates good biological activity, which indicates healthy soil, as the soil organisms breaking down the processed cotton break down plant materials in much the same way.