Bokashi composting advice

[Super Sprout]

Hi,

I watched a Bokashi composting video earlier today & wouldn't mind trying it, but am too tight to buy a specific kit!

I'm thinking I can just use a bucket with a lid, and decant any liquid rather than have a tap fixed to the bottom of the container.

I note a special "Bokashi bran" was used between layers of veg waste. Am I able to use any bran or porridge oats as a replacement, or is the Bokashi bran really special & contains specific organisms for the process to work?

Many thanks
Paul

[Jay-ell]

I've been bokashiing for a few years now to process all food wastes including meat, egg and dairy. I buried a bin full under each of my pumpkins this year and they're really loving it.

The Bokashi bran has been impregnated with lactic acid producing bacteria which do the fermenting/pickling for you so you can't just pour on your breakfast cereals.

I have made my own bran using water I've rinsed the rice in, milk, molasses/treacle and cocofibre but it was such a faf I just buy it now (at that time I was filling up wheelie bins and water butts with bind weed, nettles, creeping buttercups, dock roots, etc and pickling them before composting so needed a lot of bran)

With the buckets you could fill the bottom with something absorbent first - wood shavings, packed shredded paper etc or put in a tray to lift the bokashi but to be honest I usually forget to drain the liquid out of mine and I've only had a couple of batches go so bad they couldn't be recovered - that was due to the lids not staying on. The taps on some of the kit bins are way too short to be able to get a container in.

The main thing with whatever bucket you use is it has to be air-tight. The problem with the bokashi going off is when air gets into it and I find that with the kits the lids on those rectangular bins come off easily.

Adding more bran can usually bring an off bin back under control as long as you exclude the air.

[Super Sprout]

Brilliant! Thank you.

I was going to start small with a 10L emulsion bucket, the lids are super tight on those.

Where do you get you Bokashi bran from?

Thanks again,
Paul

[Jay-ell]

I get mine from amazon

p.s. you'll need 2 buckets so one can ferment and you start filling up the next.

[Super Sprout]

I get mine from amazon

p.s. you'll need 2 buckets so one can ferment and you start filling up the next.

Thank you 👍

[Two_Sheds]

I can’t bear the smell of bokashi. Considering that I compost dog poop, that’s saying something ��

[Jay-ell]

I find the smell a bit like sweetish vinegar. The onl times I had a problem with the smell was when it went off an when I emptied out a large wheelie bin and two water butts that were used as bokashi bins. I had to leave the plot that time and didn't come back for days. It did make a lot of good compost though, which I took with me when I moved plots.

[Stan79]

I tried it for 6 months and couldn't get on with it...

[ESBkevin]

The cheap way out is just trench composting. Be sure to bury properly anything cooked though to prevent rodents getting to know about it.