Winogradsky Colums

Making The Winogradsky Columns

Ingredients

• 4 tomato sauce jars (about 0.75 liters)
• 1 gallon of soil
• 1 egg yolk 
• 1 egg shell
• little strips of paper
• about 1 liter of water

Procedure

1. In a bowl I mixed enough soil to half fill three jars with the strips of paper.
2. Then I filled 1 jar half way with the paper enriched soil
3. After that I mixed the egg yolk into the soil in the bowl.
4. With which I filled half way another jar with the paper+yolk enriched soil.
5. Then I crushed the egg shell into the bowl and mixed it together.
6. And then I filled half way another jar with the paper+yolk+shell enriched soil.
7. The remaining soil in the bowl I discarded.
8. With the last jar I filled it 3 cm. from the top with unenriched soil.
9. With the other three jars I filled them 3 cm. from the top with unenriched soil above the enriched soil.

(abbreviations: paper enriched jar, P. paper+yolk enriched jar, P+Y. paper+yolk+shell enriched jar, P+Y+S. unenriched jar, U)

Observations of the Winogradsky Columns

Day 8

Paper enriched jar

P-enriched jar

The paper enriched jar has amazing signs of life. The organisms I can see are some sort of worm like things that squirm in every direction and poop out dirt that could possibly come from tunnels they are digging. I can see about five of them, and I can see that they are surrounded by little mounds of dirt poop that are shaped like pellets. One of them is bigger than the others and could be the parent.

P+Y-enriched jar

Paper and yolk enriched jar

Interestingly, in this jar there isn't a little worm but there is a web like thing that stretches across the jar 1 cm. from the bottom and has a orange color. If it is an animal that has made it, I have not seen it yet. It could also be possible that the web is an animal its self because it has just fallen onto the soil in a tube shape. If it turns out to be an animal, I will be extremely shocked.

P+Y+S-enriched jar

Paper, yolk, and shell enriched jar

In this jar there is no living thing that I can see, but I hope that in the days to come something will happen.

U-enriched jar

Unenriched jar

In this jar I can see one of those worm things but nothing else. I hope something will happen in the following days in this jar.

Day 12

P-enriched jar

The worms seem to have grown quite a lot. There are still five of them but three of them are really long.

Worm tunnels (a)

Worm tunnels (c)

Worm tunnels (b)

Worm tunnels (d)

P+Y-enriched jar

In this jar everything seems dead. At the top of the soil there is a ring of black soil, and the overall soil is grayish in color. I hope it will revive its self.

Band of black soil

P+Y+S-enriched jar

This jar also has a black band but it is much smaller than the other jar. The soil is also grayish in color. I also hope it will revive its self.

Band of black soil but smaller

U-enriched jar

In this jar there is only one worm but the soil is orangish in color. The soil could be some sort of clay.

Day 17

P-enriched jar

Every thing in here seems dead. Those worms are nowhere to be seen. Also in this jar the black bands of soil have appeared. 

P+Y-enriched jar

Every thing in this jar is still dead and the water is clouded. Probably the only organisms in here (just like the P-enriched jar) are micro-organisms.

P+Y+S-enriched jar

The water in this jar is yellow maybe because a micro-organism that is yellowish in color is thriving here.

U-enriched

In this jar nothing seems different. The little worm is still alive, and the color of the water has not changed.