Bokashi Bin composting is one way you can use your kitchen waste to provide your soil with nutrients and improve soil texture without requiring a large amount of compost. This also can provide an additional boost to the microorganisms in your compost. What can you compost? One of the benefits of Bokashi composting is that you can compost all kitchen waste, although it is probably best to avoid large bones and excessive amounts of liquids. This can include fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, cooked and uncooked meats, dairy, eggs, bread, coffee grinds, tea bags, wilted flowers and tissues. Constructing My Bokashi Bin My Bokashi bin was constructed by using 2 black 5 gallon buckets, 1 tight fitted lid and a drill with a ¼ drill bit.
Composting with the Bokashi Bin The Bokashi bin relies on an inoculant to break down the food waste. There are several products available for purchase, or if you are adventurous you can create your own. Since this is my first time using a Bokashi bin I purchased Bokashi Plus through Amazon. Bokashi plus is a food grade wheat bran that has been inoculated with EM(effective Microorganisms), molasses, structured water, trace minerals, sea salt and ceramic powder. By adding the Bokashi Plus each time you add food scraps you create a soil amendment which adds nutrients and improves soil texture. The process is much different from most composting systems in that it does not decompose the organic matter, instead it ferments it. The first thing I did was place a paper towel on the bottom and then sprinkled ½ cup Bokashi Plus over the paper towel. I then added about 10 cups of vegetable scraps then ½ cup of Bokashi Plus then 12 cups of chopped old potatoes then another ½ cup of Bokashi Plus. I then did one more topping of fish bones and spent flowers with a final topping of Bokashi Plus. I then left it to ferment for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks I checked it and It has been suggested to add more Bokashi Plus when adding high protein foods such as meat, cheese and eggs and the fish still looked the same. I have chosen to wait since the last layer was less than 2 weeks. I added more Bokashi Plus to aid in the fermenting process. Bokashi Bin Process and Finished Product Once the bin was full of food waste that had been layered with the Bokashi Plus. You can choose another form of inoculant to feed the bin. It s]was left for approximately 3 weeks. The bin can be left for as little as 10 days to 3 weeks. The bucket needed to be air tight so that the microorganisms in the Bokashi Plus could do their job of fermentation and prevent it from putrefying. It does not break down at this stage. Visibly it will and does look mostly unchanged , but chemically and physically there is a huge difference. It should have a sweet pickly smell. It kind of reminds me of fermenting apples. It is possible to see a white mold, but not necessary. Once it reaches this stage it is ready to bury into the garden or to be added to the compost pile. I chose to add my bin contents to my compost bin. Now that oxygen is being introduced to the microorganisms it should accelerate the breakdown, supplying the compost pile with added nutrients and life. Bokashi Bin issues and how to solve them
Bad Odor
Mold is forming The type of mold can determine if there is an issue. If it is white your Bokashi bin is ok. The white mold means that the good bacteria is working. If the mold is black or blue, and smells bad it has turned and needs to be thrown out. By following the steps given under Bad Odor, you should be able to prevent black or blue mold. https://bokashiliving.com/troubleshooting-what-to-do-if-you-bokashi-bin-goes-bad/ https://yuzumag.com/bokashi-composting If you are looking for ways to improve your garden soil, a Bokashi bin may be a great solution, especially if you find yourself lacking the area for a large compost bin. It can also be a great additive to boosting your compost bin. Either way it is definitely something worth trying. Happy gardening!
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