Soil Your Undies

Bury your undies this August to find out how active your soil biology is!

Soils are a vital part of the food web, helping to grow food, supporting important native ecosystems and playing a role in the fight against climate change.

While invisible to the naked eye, healthy, productive soils have a high level of biological activity. Soil organisms play an important role by consuming organic material and breaking them down into materials that help plants to flourish and grow.

This August, we’re asking you to test the biological activity of your soils by burying your undies. Simply bury 2 pairs of cotton undies in your garden or on your farm. After 8 weeks, dig up your undies and see how much of the material has been consumed by soil organisms.

How does Soil your Undies work?

The Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board invites the community to bury 2 pairs of undies during the week of 19-25 August to test your soil health and to demonstrate the differences between soils across the region.

Bury the supplied undies in different locations on your property – it could be in 2 different crop types on your farm, or to compare the difference between irrigated and rainfed crops. If you’re a keen gardener, consider burying your undies to compare the difference between soils treated with and without compost.

After 8 weeks, buried undies can be excavated and returned to the landscape board for analysis. We’ll send you a short report to help you understand how you can boost the health of your soils.

How to get involved:

To be eligible for this project you must conduct this experiment in the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape region.

1. Register for the Soil Your Undies Challenge at: Soil Your Undies- Registration | Humanitix or contact alice.woodward@sa.gov.au by Monday 5August.

2. Once registered we will mail you two pairs of 100% cotton undies along with an ‘Undies Instruction Kit’.

3. Bury each pair of undies at two different sites in your garden or farm sometime during the week of 19-25 August

4. Fill in the data sheets on where you buried the two pairs of undies. These two sites can be used to compare your soil health or compare with other soil experiments.

5. Dig up your undies in the week from the 14-20 October

6. Follow the undies kit instructions, and bag and mail the undies back to us for weighing

7. We will return your soiled undies results (but not the undies) and provide information about improving soil health and function for enhanced sustainability.