Bokashi composting

[rary]

Has anyone tried this form of composting and if so, does it work

[Bren In Pots]

Rary I’ve found a mention of bokashi here on this thread.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...en#post2546948

Hope it helps until someone comes along who can answer your queries.

[Nicos]

This is the link I put on the other thread Rary….


https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...t-modification

[rary]

Many thanks girls, evidently Snoop has/uses this form of composting, on further searching of this way of composting I think emptying the bin into a load of horse manure would help clean it up of any pollutants, I am very wary of using horse manure as the last time I used it my harvest was atrocious, which of courses was due to the feeding being treated with a herbicide, I know using worm juice on contaminated manure will clean it up, so evidently a high microbial count works

[smallblueplanet]

Many thanks girls, evidently Snoop has/uses this form of composting, on further searching of this way of composting I think emptying the bin into a load of horse manure would help clean it up of any pollutants, I am very wary of using horse manure as the last time I used it my harvest was atrocious, which of courses was due to the feeding being treated with a herbicide, I know using worm juice on contaminated manure will clean it up, so evidently a high microbial count works

It sounds interesting but pricey? Do you have to keep buying the bokashi bran? Whereas our 25 year old wormery still has its 'original' worms.

[rary]

It sounds interesting but pricey? Do you have to keep buying the bokashi bran? Whereas our 25 year old wormery still has its 'original' worms.

You could always make your own bran, not 100% sure but reading about bokashi and the fact that you get a white substance if it's working properly, I wonder if you could cultivate your own bacteria using banana peel as I have noticed that there is usually white substance on them when in the compost bin, and as I intend trying this system out I will trial that out. No doubt some others can provide the proper technical names for the white stuff, but white substance does fine for me

[smallblueplanet]

You could always make your own bran, not 100% sure but reading about bokashi and the fact that you get a white substance if it's working properly, I wonder if you could cultivate your own bacteria using banana peel as I have noticed that there is usually white substance on them when in the compost bin, and as I intend trying this system out I will trial that out. No doubt some others can provide the proper technical names for the white stuff, but white substance does fine for me

I look forward to read your scientific reports. No really, it sounds interesting. I think I may have missed the main point but what is the 'end product'?

[rary]

Ment to say in last post yes I agree with what you say about the wormery, but having one myself there are some materials that don't go into it, like meat, orange peel, onions and the likes, which can go into the bokashi bin and as I have lost two thriving worm communities to flatworms, and as we will be getting charged £50 for our brown bin uplifts buying bran won't be too expensive

[Snoop Puss]

Rary, I'm not sure the contents of a bokashi bin would necessarily clean up herbicide contaminants. I've never tried it for that and couldn't guarantee that it would work. But tipping your finished bokashi into a compost bin really is effective: the original material in the bin breaks down a lot faster once the bokashi bin contents have been piled on top.

[smallblueplanet]

Rary, I'm not sure the contents of a bokashi bin would necessarily clean up herbicide contaminants. I've never tried it for that and couldn't guarantee that it would work. But tipping your finished bokashi into a compost bin really is effective: the original material in the bin breaks down a lot faster once the bokashi bin contents have been piled on top.

I wondered about that too. But then I thought about where 'dirty' water is cleaned by being streamed through 'reeds'. I'm struggling to find the right words there, but water can be cleaned by plants, so is this similar?

[Snoop Puss]

I wondered about that too. But then I thought about where 'dirty' water is cleaned by being streamed through 'reeds'. I'm struggling to find the right words there, but water can be cleaned by plants, so is this similar?

Seeing as I know next to nothing about this, I had a look to see what I could find out. Reed beds are a form of waste water treatment, but Rary is suggesting something quite different, which is treating solids.

I did, however, find a couple of websites that suggest I was wrong to doubt you, rary, and which support your view that composting will help remove pesticides and herbicides by breaking them down. Have a look here:
https://www.planetnatural.com/compos...ns/pesticides/
and
https://bokashiliving.com/should-you...ic-food-waste/

Also, you can buy the microorganisms for making bokashi bran at the big river online shop (in Spain at least) and probably other places.

[rary]

[QUOTE=smallblueplanet;n2576027]

I wondered about that too. But then I thought about where 'dirty' water is cleaned by being streamed through 'reeds'. I'm struggling to find the right words there, but water can be cleaned by plants, so is this similar?[/QUOTE

Not sure but I think dirty water would be cleaned by filtration, (water going through the growing medium,) the contaminants which would be trapped in the medium would be broken down by bacterial action making nutrients available to the plants, this of course in my part is purely hypothetical, no doubt someone with some scientific knowledge can provide a better answer.

[rary]

Rary, I'm not sure the contents of a bokashi bin would necessarily clean up herbicide contaminants. I've never tried it for that and couldn't guarantee that it would work. But tipping your finished bokashi into a compost bin really is effective: the original material in the bin breaks down a lot faster once the bokashi bin contents have been piled on top.

Snoop when I had a problem with contaminated horse manure I looked for ways of clearing up the soil, and one of the ways suggested was to spray the ground where contaminated horse manure had been used with the liquid contents of a vermicomposter (worm juice) which would breakdown the herbicide so I thought it must be by microbes present in the juice as, if it was simply spraying liquid on it the rain would clean it up, so assuming I was correct about the microbes, bokashi compost is full of microbes, so worth trying it on some contaminated horse manure, though it must be remembered to assume something can make an ass of you and me

[rary]

Have been trying bokashi composting since March but as there are only two of us in the house and very little food waste generated, so far I have emptied the bin six times twice into a box containing horse manure, which will get checked out for contaminants in the spring, two other containers containing farmyard manure with a high straw content which has a high probability of herbicide contamination and the other two have been added to the compost bin, from which I have removed what I consider to be the best compost I have made in such a short time, as I am not as I said creating a lot of food waste I am now going to try making bokashi compost? using compostable food waste bags, these bags are not recommended for home composting as I think they require higher temperatures than home composting creates to break down, but I reckon that the microbial activity will continue inside a sealed bag which I will bury into the compost and come the spring when I start turning the compost again, I will find out how it has worked, I have a lot of worms in the compost and turning them in cold weather would just kill them off, anyway time will tell whither this works or not🙂

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks for keeping us updated, rary. Good luck. Hope it works out for you.

During our building works, I started just chucking veg waste straight into the compost bin, as the bokashi bins had to be moved elsewhere. I should bring them back into play. Thanks for the inspiration.