What is Plant Your Pants?

Burying Underwear... in the name of Science

Could this be the weirdest science experiment ever?

People are being asked by the Country Trust to join in by burying their underwear underground for two months as part of a scientific study.

It's called Plant Your Pants, and the experts behind the project say it could tell you a lot about the millions of organisms in soil near you.

Once you dig up the pants you can find out if your soil is healthy because the creepy crawlies will slowly eat away at your undies!

What will happen to the pants if they're buried?

Children planting their pants at school

What happens to the pants you bury depends on how healthy your soil is.

If the soil is healthy they could fall apart and be full of holes!

The charity organising the Plant Your Pants experiment want you to understand more about how important soil is.

They say healthy soil helps put food on our plates, cleans the water we drink and protects us from floods.

They're worried that the soil in the modern world is getting less and less healthy so want to know how healthy soil near you is.

How to take part in Plant Your Pants

Make sure you ask for permission before burying people's undies!

First, you'll need a pair of 100% cotton underpants or knickers.

It's important they're cotton, so check the label! If they're made of polyester or another kind of plastic material the experiment won't work and could be bad for the soil.

Once you have them, find somewhere you're allowed to dig a hole (ask for an adult's permission - no digging up their nice flower filled borders!).

Put the undies in the hole and cover it back over with soil.

Be patient - if you dig your pants up too soon, the soil's creepy crawlies may not have eaten them yet

Wait two months and dig them up. You should see that some of the pants have been eaten way or fallen apart.

The more they've fallen apart, the healthier your soil is!