soil health activity
Have you ever wondered how healthy your soil is? Take the Soil Your Undies Challenge and find out!
How does it work?
Just bury a pair of cotton underwear around May-June and dig it back up after at least 60 days. It’s the quick and dirty way to test the microbial activity in your soil. The more the underwear is deteriorated, the healthier your soil!
What are the steps?
Whether you're on crop, range or forestland, the quick and dirty way to test your soil health is by "planting" a pair of new, cotton underwear in the site you're curious about.
1. Plant a pair of new, cotton underwear. Start in May-June since the temperature of the soil is warm enough that the microbes wake up. If you wait too long and it isn't under irrigation it can get too dry and not much happens.
2. Wait at least 60 days. This gives your soil microbes time to do their magic!
3. Share your results by sending a “planting” (before) photo and a “harvest” (after) photo along with your location and a little info about your operation (e.g., farm, ranch, garden, high tunnel) to: MT-nrcs-publicinfo@nrcs.usda.gov.
We'll put your undies on the map, literally! Submissions will be included on our Soil Your Undies Challenge Tracker so you can show your neighbors and other producers just how healthy your soil is. We’ll also post your results on our NRCS Montana Twitter!
