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'Soil your undies' to test the quality of your soil

CBC News | Posted: April 18, 2017 5:55 PM | Last Updated: April 18, 2017

Burying your underwear tests for organic matter

Image | 618687053

Caption: The Soil Conservation Council of Canada is encouraging people to bury their boxers or briefs as part of the Soil Your Undies campaign. Unlike these colourful pairs, the ones you bury should be white and untreated. (trezordia/Shutterstock)

The Soil Conservation Council of Canada is encouraging people to bury their underwear in the garden.
This comes as part of national soil conservation week and the Soil Your Undies Campaign.
The campaign is based on a scientifically recognized test that was developed by one of the council's member organizations in Ontario.
They found that by burying undyed 100 per cent cotton underwear for two months, farmers and gardeners will get a good indication of how much organic matter exists in their soil.

Bury your briefs

Kier Miller, director of the council in Eastern Canada, attributes the idea for the Soil Your Undies campaign to the Ontario group.
He says that national soil conservation week is usually "a boring, quiet affair," and the council wanted to change that.

Image | peat-moss-220

Caption: Peat moss contains organic matter. Adding it or compost to soil should increase the amount of biological life present. (Ragesoss/Wikipedia Commons)

"We're trying to create awareness in the general public," he says.
"That's the ultimate goal, is to bring awareness to soil conservation."

'Just like a steak'

According to Miller, a grain and oilseed farmer, earthworms and microscopic organisms make up the biological life in soil.
If there is a good amount of organic matter in the earth, after the underwear is underground for two months all that should be left is the waistband.

Image | Potato field

Caption: Kier Miller says farming crops like potatoes can quickly deplete soil of its organic material because of the need to repeatedly till the earth. (Stephanie Kelly/CBCNEWS)

If they come out intact it means the soil doesn't have much life.
"The cotton itself is an organic material," he says. "So it's just like a steak to them."

Increasing organic matter

If the soil is lacking in biological life, Miller says it is usually because of overuse.
He suggested planting cover crops for the protection and enrichment of the soil.

Image | Earthworm

Caption: Kier Miller says that earthworms are one component of the organic matter in soil. (Wikimedia Commons)

"When a plant grows in the soil we see the top part of it," he says.
"There's roots underground and that is organic matter, so that organic matter is food for whatever biological life that is in the soil."

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