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There have been a number of Bokashi composting discussions scattered throughout the forums, so I thought I'd create a Bokashi discussion thread to help pull them together.
I'm hoping that those who have tried Bokashi composting can share their experiences, both good and bad.
Several of the Bokashi sites show the Bokashi fermented food waste being added to the soil next to the growing plants. Sarah (barksy) who wrote the DG newsletter article indicates that the ferment is too acidic to do so. I'm assuming that this may be an issue if one lives in an area with naturally acidic soil. Here in the alkaline west, I've buried my bokashi in a hole in the raised bed, added an inch of soil and then transplanted a seedling on top. It grew up to outperform it's neighbors.
I like to use the Bokashi bran or a misting of Activated EM (a brew of the same mother culture that innoculates the Bokashi bran) in the kitchen food scrap bucket because it keeps the odors down. If Bokashi/EM is used, when I open the bucket I only get a whiff of a yeasty/vinaegary smell instead of rotting veggies. When we lived in the country, it was no big deal to empty the compost bucket out in the pile each day. Now that we are in a more urban environment, I no longer have that luxury. We generate more scraps than my patio worm bin can handle. Everything goes into the Bokashi buckets, then after a couple of weeks I haul them down to the community garden. No nasty odors when the buckets are opened.
I now add the Bokashi ferment to the worm bin as well. It gets layered between the worm bedding (usually coir or shredded newspaper) and the worms love it.
There is another way that I've found the Bokashi fermentation has proven helpful in the garden - composting noxious plants and weeds like bermuda grass and field bindweed. Ordinarily we wouldn't add these to the compost pile to avoid spreading them in the garden. When shredded and fermented, they break down nicely without risk of sprouting.
How are you using Bokashi?
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