Magical things are happening in the soil. Microbes make their homes there, and we usually can’t see what they’re up to.
But what if we could?
That’s where Winogradsky columns come in.
A Wino what? Don’t worry. We’ll get to that below. But for now, you can think of it as a way to grow microbes from mud and watch them create beautiful patterns and colors. And they’re so easy to make!
In this post, I’ll cover what a Winogradsky column is, where it got its name, what microbial communities are, why you’d want to make a Winogradsky column, and how to create your own. Then, I’ll conclude with some photos of different columns. Grab your shovel, prepare to get muddy, and let’s get to work.
What is a Winogradsky column?
A Winogradsky column is a method of growing microorganisms that you can do anywhere if you have some mud, a jar or bottle, and a few other simple supplies.
What you do is you collect some mud and water, add egg yolk and paper to the mud, top it with a loose-fitting lid, set it in the sun, and let the microbes do the rest of the work.
With the mud inside of a clear container, the microbes begin to reveal themselves in different layers of different colors based on the microbes that can grow in those particular layers. Different microbes prefer certain conditions and will or will not grow depending on how much oxygen or light is available at the top versus the bottom. And so this jar of mud can transform into one of the most beautiful and interesting science experiments that you can do at home.
The fun part is adding other ingredients like different metals or salts, or varying the parameters like how much sun it gets or where you collect your mud and water from.
Why is it called a Winogradsky column?
A microbiologist named Sergei Winogradsky from Russia lived in the 1880s and developed this method to better understand microbial communities. He wanted to study the microbes when they were together—in mixed culture—rather than in pure culture or isolated as individual species. In pure culture, you separate the bacteria from their natural community. And you study just that one species on its own. But Winogradsky wanted to work with the species together to understand microbial communities, how they interact, and the types of resources they prefer when they’re all together.
What is a microbial community?
A microbial community is a group of microbes that all live together in a particular environment. And in the lab, it’s actually quite challenging to study microbial communities because you have to deal with multiple species, which gets very complicated very quickly.
In the late 1800s, the microbiologist Robert Koch figured out how to separate individual species through the pure culture method. He isolated microbes from infections and then tested to see whether they were the causes of the infections. Being able to pinpoint what specific microbe is causing a particular infection is crucial in figuring out how to treat that infection.
However, it’s also clear that microbes do not live in isolation. Most of the time, they are together in communities, especially in the body where infections occur but even out in nature in the soil—in the mud.
And so, Sergei Winogradsky wanted to understand microorganisms in their natural habitat, in their natural surroundings, with their natural fellow occupants in competition.
Why make a Winogradsky column?
Making a Winogradsky column is a great activity to teach kids about microbes. And it’s fun because you get to play with mud and experiment with different ingredients. You could even create multiple columns to try out different parameters. One column could have mud from one location, and another column could have mud from another location. You can try out various water sources like water from springs, a river, or from the ocean. See how changing the temperature or the amount of light one of your columns gets alters the colors (i.e., which microbes can grow).
It does, however, take weeks for it to actually start producing some color. So, initially, it will simply look like mud. But then slowly but surely, over the course of 4 to 8 weeks, you’ll see different colors develop, indicating you have different microbes growing in your column. And so it’s fun to monitor your Winogradsky column as it changes. Take pictures as it goes.
How to make a Winogradsky Column
This post contains affiliate links — see my disclosure policy.
Sources: JoVE, A Field Guide to Bacteria, American Museum of Natural History, Heather Flanagan, Project MICROBE
Materials
- Bucket or container (something to collect mud)
- Shovel
- Spoon
- Bowls
- Tall jar (with fun, colorful lids), plastic bottle, tennis ball canister, 250 mL or 600 mL tissue culture flasks
- Scissors
- Plastic wrap
- Rubber band
Basic ingredients
- Mud (source of microbes)
- Water (source of microbes)
- Egg yolk (sulfur source)
- Newspaper (carbon source)
- Sunlight or Lamp (light source)
Other ingredients to try
- Straw
- Leaves
- Bark
- Metal
- Shells
- Insect parts
- Salt
- Epsom salts
- Acid source
- Alkaline source
Instructions
- Draw a line on your bottle at about ¼ from the top and then another line at about ¼ from the bottom.
- Go out and collect some mud and water.
- Cut the newspaper into small pieces.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the egg yolk (raw or hard-boiled) and newspaper and a small amount of mud, at least as much to fill the bottle ¼ of the way. If you are including additional ingredients, add them to this mixture.
- Fill the bottle ¼ way with the mud, egg yolk, newspaper mixture.
- Add mud to the top line.
- Add water almost to the top. Leave a small amount of space.
- Cover the column with plastic wrap and a rubber band (do not put a tight lid on because it may explode due to gases released by the microbes).
- Set it in the sunlight or under a lamp.
- Let your column go and watch for changes over the next 4 to 8 weeks. Take pictures of the changes and share them with me on Twitter.
Wanna run Winogradsky columns with your class or in homeschooling?
What do different Winogradsky columns look like?
Below are some different Winogradsky columns from folks on Twitter who were willing to contribute their photos. And as you can see, Winogradsky columns can vary drastically. Some are really colorful, others are less colorful. And that may also depend on how long the Winogradsky column had been going before the photo was taken. Some of these are before and after photos, which is really fun. So, you can actually see how this all works.
And if you have a microscope (learn about the one I have here), you can even explore the microbes that way as well.
So, go out and play in the mud. Let me know how it goes!
Other Winogradsky column resources
- American Museum of Natural History – Winogradsky columns for kids
- JoVE – provides more in-depth info about the science behind the columns
- A Field Guide to Bacteria – a great book about finding field marks of bacteria in nature but also has a protocol to make a Winogradsky column
- Heather Flanagan – shows how to make a Winogradsky column and has lots of nice photos
- Project MICROBE – has descriptions of the different types of microbes that can grow in the columns
- The World Wide Winogradsky Project – some helpful figures showing how to build one and what microbes will grow
- Winogradsky Columns – Kopf Lab
- Joyful Winogradsky Column Guide – everything you need to know about (before, during, and after) creating a Winogradsky column, outlines a lesson plan, and provides exercises for your students
- Microscopy – How To View Microbes With A Home Microscope
What’s in the Soil? A Primer to Soil Bacteria
