bokashi composting

[luigiwu]

MDVPC,
I'm very interested in this Bokashi composting. Are you still doing it? I have a very small backyard but want good compost. I was reading how you take a bag of garden soil (does the package actually say garden soil or does it say something else) and you bury your filled bucket in it for 2-3months and voila. You never have to turn it? Does it need heat to do this? I am up in NYC and so I imagine this is something I can only do during the summer? After that, is there a shelf life for this compost? Thank you so much!

This is a fairly old thread. Is everyone still doing Bokashi composting and how is it working out for them?

[mdvpc]

Luigi

I am not doing it right at this moment because my wife and I moved to San Antonio and are living in our condo while our house is being built-but you can believe I will be doing it when we move to the house. I make my own inoculant. Small backyard is perfect. I am having 4 raised beds constructed so that is where I will be burying my Bokashi. I don't know about the bag of garden soil idea, but it makes sense.

What I would do in El Paso is do my Bokashi, then when it was cured (after the bucket was full and I had left it to cure for 3 weeks or so) I then put a layer of potting soil (because I was gardening only in containers-you could use garden soil) down in a garbage can (about 2 inches) then layered in about 2-4 inches of Bokashi, and did that until the can was full. Left that for about a month or two, checking it once in a while. I also did it where I mixed it up and that worked faster.

If you garden in the ground, you can just put the finished Bokashi in a hole and let it work.

There is a Facebook page that is interesting also.

[luigiwu]

Hi Michael! New house - how exciting! I hope this is possible for me one of these days...
I can't tell you how excited I am to find someone doing this Bokashi-biz! I only garden in containers as well - urbangardener here - everything is also more or less in 5 gallon buckets. If I am going to make my own compost, it'll need to be containerized as well. I need to buy all soils - whether its potting mix from the store or potting soil or garden soil. That's why I was asking what does the bag actually say... How big was your garbage can? I am shocked it only takes 1 to 2 months to break down a whole garbage can of soil and bokashi? So what is being made here is COMPOST right?? Is the ratio of 1 5 gallon bucket of bokashi to what size bag of soil? Layer until compost/garbage can is full? Please also post the Facebook page? So far I've only found Korean Natural Farming... THANKS!

[mdvpc]

Don't put garden soil in containers-you need to use a potting soil-something hopefully with vermiculite and perlite-or you can mix your own with them. I did 5 gallon almost exclusively-you can see some of the photos I posted here if you do a search.

I have to go to my yoga class, will post more later today.

[mdvpc]

Here is one of the Facebook pages

https://www.facebook.com/bokashicompostcowichan

I am thinking there is one more, but am not sure.

[luigiwu]

You said to mix the bokashi with some "soil" with perlite or vermiculite? You mean potting mix then? Do you get a product at the end that you can just shovel into containers without adding anything else to it?

I originally thought what you get from bokashi is compost... and then that was going to be one part of my DIY container mix of: peat + compost + garden lime + perlite.

[mdvpc]

The link I put up to a Facebook page is not the right one-I will put the right one up when I can find it.

Sorry if I was unclear. I would mix the finished product from the garbage can with my potting mix, which contained vermiculite and perlite, along with peat usually. It depended on what I could get. So yes, you want to make sure to mix it so that your container final mix is still fluffy enough and not compacted down. I wouldn't measure it, just do it by feel.

[luigiwu]

Hi Michael, sorry if I wasn't clear - what exactly do you to the bokashi (in the garbage can?) that makes it ready to be mixed (with the vermiculite/perlite/peat?)
YOu get your full bucket of fermented bokashi - I read after its full, best to leave it alone for 14 days before doing anything with it. So after 14 days what happens?

[mdvpc]

Okay, here is what I did, and will do when we have our house completed.

You fill the bucket with the scraps (You can supposedly put in some meat and fish, but I never did) and the inoculant. Once the bucket is filled, I would leave it alone for 2-4 weeks depending on whether it was winter, when I left it longer, or warmer weather, when I left it a shorter time.

When you are satisfied it is ready, I did two different things.

The first method I used is to mix the bokashi with potting mix completely. This is more labor intensive, but does result in a finished mix faster. After its mixed with the potting mix, you put the top on the garbage can and let it break down, checking it every week or two to see how its doing-once the bokashi is broken down, you use it. You can decide what % of bokashi you want in your mix, depending on how much bokashi to how much potting mix. Then you can fill your pots with your formulation.

The second method I used is to put a layer of potting mix in the bottom of the garbage can, about 2 inches, then put a layer of bokashi on top, about 2 inches, using that method until you fill the garbage can. Once again, you put the top on the garbage can and let the bokashi break down-it will not break down completely unlike the method above. Once you are satisfied that its ready, mix the whole can together and use it. This takes longer to have your mix ready, but is somewhat less labor intensive.

Another way you can do it, but I never did, was to put the bokashi straight from the finished bucket into your 5 gallon container. This is the least labor intensive, but I don't know how well that would work. Folks that grow in the ground do this-dig a hole, put the bokashi in, wait a couple months. This is what I will do for my raised beds.

I hope I have answered your questions. If not, pls let me know.

[luigiwu]

Thanks Michael! I just have one last question about the actual garbage can (used in scenario 1 and 2.) Can this garbage can be totally sealed up or does it need ventilation holes and stuff to help with the composting process?? DO you add any water? Or its just straight up potting mix and a bucket of bokashi? You do drain your bokashi liquid often, correct?

For Scenario 1, where you take you bokashi bucket and chop/mix it with potting mix - what ratios are you talking about? Like 4 or 5 gallon bokashi bucket to say 32quarts of potting mix? AND after that is done, you add even more potting mix (with perlite, vermiculite, etc.) for your containers?


Really appreciate you patience with me!

[mdvpc]

Happy to answer. Any more questions, just ask.

1. Can is sealed with lid-no ventilation holes. I never added any water and we lived at that time in El Paso, where the humidity is very low and it almost never rains. I would not want the mix to get wet. When you put it in the garbage can, the liquid has already been drained, my bokashi was slightly damp. I would drain my bucket frequently while fermenting, sometimes every day, at least every other day, and would dilute the liquid and use it as a soil drench.

2. The ratio isn't that important, but whatever you do, you should be consistent. I would use 1 bucket of finished bokashi per small garbage can. Remember this stuff is very potent.

3. Make sure you make your own inoculant. Its much cheaper, and I think better. I also made my own buckets.

http://bokashicomposting.com/?p=203

[luigiwu]

Thank you so much Michael! This has been an eye-opener and I can't wait to try it! I need to EAT more though, to produce scraps!

[luigiwu]

Michael, How do you make your bokashi wheat bran so it stores longer? I've been reading conflicting thing from leave it wet in the baggies, to DO NOT use direct sunlight to dry it out to just stick in in the sun! How do you do it? Do you always use wheat bran?

Also can you bokashi ANYTHING? Do you? Like cooked food that's gone bad, etc? And not just uncooked greens etc.

Lastly, how much bokashi is needed to get a 5-gallon bucket filled up with waste, approximately of course?

[soundsgood]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

Michael, How do you make your bokashi wheat bran so it stores longer? I've been reading conflicting thing from leave it wet in the baggies, to DO NOT use direct sunlight to dry it out to just stick in in the sun! How do you do it? Do you always use wheat bran?

Also can you bokashi ANYTHING? Do you? Like cooked food that's gone bad, etc? And not just uncooked greens etc.

Lastly, how much bokashi is needed to get a 5-gallon bucket filled up with waste, approximately of course?

Thought I'd jump in with some answers for you.

In my experience and research, the final step in making the Bokashi bran is to dry it. Don't think a day or two in the sun would ruin it, but because I can, I dry mine inside on a tarp with the use of a box fan and some occasional running through with my hands to turn it over and break up stuck lumps.

For long term storage thereafter I would absolutely not leave it wet. Dry. Dark. Baggied, jarred or contained somehow seems wise since what you've done is trained your wee microorganisms to like / eat the bran (or whatever substrate you've used) and molasses then put them to sleep by drying them. Once re-introduced to a dark, mostly anaerobic, damp environment, they wake up and start eating the bran/sawdust/coffee/whatever substrate and your waste.

I've not yet added anything terribly moldy to a bucket (3 years @ one or two 5-gallon buckets a month), but imagine if some bad mold takes over, an extra handful or two of Bokashi bran would conquer it. Try it. See what happens I've put in bones (chicken and beef), fish, shrimp and shellfish remains, fat, oil, just about anything I've eaten or come close to eating, plus plain newsprint, paper towels and kleenex, mostly to soak up liquid so I don't have to drain the "tea". I don't get so don't include printed newspaper or copy paper since ink is toxic.

A 1-gallon baggie packed full of Bokashi bran lasts me two-plus buckets using one handful per infusion of one quart of waste. I collect waste in a quart-sized container and dump it in once a day to keep the bucket as anaerobic as possible and flies out.

Have partnered with a beer making pal who gives me the five-gallon container's worth of his post-brew leavings I dry out, douse, ferment and use for Bokashi substrate. Others have used coffee grounds, newspapers, sawdust and goodness knows what else might suffice. The key is to keep in mind that the lacto organisms you've organized are going to be trained to eat whatever you use to put 'em in. Give 'em something good to eat

There's a video I have watched at least a dozen times that digs deep enough into the science of the process with human language so that I'm darned confident making it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG4M71vMbTs

Bryan's made a lot of videos on the subject and is a really responsive, knowledgeable and nice fellow.

Good luck!

This "technology" is amazing.

[mdvpc]

The answers you gave were good. I don't disagree with anything you posted. I would add to make sure that you tamp down the bokashi in the bucket-the more you can compress the material the better.