Animals and bokashi composting

[w33blegurl]

Hi all

Not sure if I've posted in the right place so do move if not. Late last year I started to use a bokashi composter. I buried the first two buckets of stuff about 4-6 weeks ago. Today I went down to the lottie and something (guessing a fox) had dug up where I had buried the bokashi waste. Nowhere else had been touched. I thought the point of this bokashi fermenting thing was that when fermented it did not smell of food and so did not attract animals. I will try burying deeper next time but does anyone have any other tips?
Thanks!
Julia

[Alison]

I was worried about that when I first started but haven't had that problem. How long did you leave it to ferment?


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[maytreefrannie]

I haven't had any animals going after the bokashi waste, but I've found it takes much longer to rot down than it 'says on the tin.'

I stopped using it a couple of years ago but I'm thinking I might try again if I can find a source of bran or other accelerator.

[w33blegurl]

It had been fermenting for abou 2 months before i buried it. It did not look at all decomposed to me but I was not really sure what to expect, I had thought it would look more composty I think!

[Alison]

No it doesn't look composted when finished but does look a bit pickled and somewhat slimy. I do mine in the bucket then usually leave it a couple of months until I've filled the second bucket. Then, depending on the time of year, I either bury it in the compost heap or (if I'm wanting to plant things out) bury it at the lottie under the bit where the beans are going. OH does tend to be a bit heavy handed with the bran though so that might make a difference.

[Loubear]

Mine looks slimy when it's do e. I have 2 buckets on the go - one filling, one fermenting. I've only buried it a couple of times directly on the plot - once in the back garden, this got dug up, and once in the allotment, this was fine. I do find that it composts down really fast when I transfer it to the compost bin and this stuff seems better than when I've buried it.


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[GYOMalcolm]

I had a fox go for my first bin of bokashi. I think it was the rather high meat I put in. Since then I:

• put down mulch - never a bad thing anyway
• lay enough chicken wire to cover the area
• weigh this down with a few bricks or other weights, such as an old growbag

Foxy has tried but failed (so far) since then.

With two pieces of chicken wire the land gets uncovered after three bin cycles.