Soil Microbiome
Sep 01, 2025 • 11:45 PM UTC
United States
140x Magnification
Microorganisms
Holly Stuart (Foldscope Team)
Education Specialist at Foldscope Instruments
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1083comments
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As my garden growing season starts winding down, I decided to take another look at the soil. When I first created raised beds in February and March, the soil had large particles, no plant life, and mostly bacterial life forms wriggling around in it. But now the soil microbiome has begun to flourish! Here are some of the things that I was able to observe in late summer in my garden.
When I used the 2.0 LED light module for darkfield lighting I was able to see what looked like a night sky full of glittering stars. In reality those “stars” are actually bacteria swimming around on the slide. This video was taken using the 140X magnification lens with 3X digital zoom on my phone.
When I used the 2.0 LED light module for darkfield lighting I was able to see what looked like a night sky full of glittering stars. In reality those “stars” are actually bacteria swimming around on the slide. This video was taken using the 140X magnification lens with 3X digital zoom on my phone.
I found plant roots in the soil as well. When I zoomed in on the roots, I was able to see that there was a great deal of microbial life actively swimming around the root hairs. This video was taken using the 340X magnification lens with 3X digital zoom on my phone.
Not everything I found was microscopic. With a magnifying glass, I saw these two organisms moving about in the soil in my petri dish, so I used a pair of tweezers to pick them up and put them under the Foldscope. These videos were both taken using the 50X magnification lens with 3X digital zoom on my phone.
I hope this inspires you to take a moment to look closer at your soil. You never know what you will see in there! Happy Foldscoping!
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