Anyone use the bokashi method for composting?

I am intrigued by bokashi composting, and wondered if anyone here uses this method. If so, do you have recommendations for inoculants/supplies, and for what works and what doesn't? Thanks so much! :)

Comments

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi Merin, since an Oriental language is not 1 (of 7) I've learned, asked a friend. Answer "Bokashi in Japanese means to ferment."

    This process is actually a fermentation process. What you are doing is turning your kitchen scraps into pickled kitchen scraps. At the end of the process the food looks like it did when you started, except it’s pickled which as they say happens in about two weeks. An apple looks much like an apple. - Which means all the ingredients in the bucket then still need to be composted... just as as they have been Naturally for 1000's of years. -

    so then I went to a site that explains further re the "tea" you need to drain off (to prevent the Stink in your home). Since all you have is fermented stuff, & no manufacturing Data for what nutrients, if any, are in said tea, - you are left with comparing it to for instance pickle-juice: 0.14% potassium, 0.05% calcium, & 0.01% magnesium; miniscule amounts at best. - IF as they say you can dilute that 100x for feeding it to plants, what you end up with is essentially water...

    What do they sell the whole fermenting Bokashi set-up for, $100? - Now when someone is in an apartment (with no access to an outside garden) is that you Merin? - the 1 benefit you could expect is making soil indoors, adding it to spent leftover soil from dead plants. - Is that what you had in mind Merin? 🙂

  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin

    Hey @Merin Porter I interviewed a guy in Oregon who used bokashi systems a lot in all kinds of recycled containers... dang!~ I can't find it on our site. Or in our YouTube video list... hmm, it was on the same trip when I videoed Carol Deppe and managed to get the url "thegrownetwork.com" in Portland - what an adventure that was! LOL


    I've been very interested in bokashi as a possible colution for small space, apartment living, kind of solution. I'm still not entirely sure if it is a good thing for that or not.

  • Sandy Forest
    Sandy Forest Posts: 28 ✭✭✭

    When I lived on Maui I encountered a fellow who told me about bokashi and showed me his patch of extremely robust papaya plants at the hieght of the papaya ring spot virus disaster that wiped out Hawai'is non gmo papaya industry. This amde a very deep impression and we bought some starter from him. We were astonished at the way it worked! It seemed to pickle rather than digest the veggies. He told us that we could stir the pickles right into our soil and it worked wonderfully on our back yard fruit trees and volcanic cinder raised beds. Since then I have moved to a far cooler location where bokashi is not active. We are in a one room cottage where it is impractical to maintain the requisite heat range, which as I recall was a minimum temperature of either 75F or 80F. Also since then we have started a flock of chickens, and their feelings would be very hurt if we fed our veggies to somebody else!

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin


    Thanks, @rainbow! This is so interesting -- I asked the question knowing almost nothing about it. Had no idea it didn't really break the food down into soil and was more a fermenting process. Not sure that this is what I'm looking for, but love having a little more info! Thanks for checking with your friend!

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin


    Thanks, @Sandy! Hmmm, we are in SW CO, so I'm not sure we'd meet those minimum temp requirements, either. And I'm actually completely okay with that -- I love the weather here! :D

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin