Bokashi

What is the Bokashi composting system. Well it is a system developed in Japan which allows you to compost a lot of ingredients you would not normally compost.

I know there are people out there who will tell you that they will compost almost anything and this includes raw meat, but I am not too happy with this as I feel it can often attract the type of animals you do not want in your compost. Where I live, the worst I am likely to get attracted to my compost heap is rats but in some places it may even be bears. If I make a noise, it would scare the rats off but bears are a different thing and not the type of animal you want rooting round your compost pile.

The Bokashi system works by treating the food waste with the bran which has been inoculated with effective micro-organisms and these have the effect of working on the food waste. As the process takes place in bins that have been fitted with an air proof lid there are no smells to worry about. The bins have a sump with a drain tap in to drain off the waste fluid which is part of the process. Do not throw this away - more later.

You start the bin with a sprinkling of bran and add the waste food and vegetable peelings and then top off with a sprinkling of the special bran. Just keep repeating this until the bin is full. When it is, leave it for a few weeks and start your second bin. When the second bin is getting full you need to empty the first one so you can start on that again. By now, the contents have not changed a great deal but they look as if they have been pickled

There are two things you can do with the contents of the bin and I have tried both. The first is to add the contents to your compost pile. Try burying it 6 inches deep or so and just leave it to break down with the other ingredients. The other is to bury it in your ground where it fairly rapidly breaks down and feeds the soil.

As I use a hot compost box method, I prefer to bury my Bokashi waste in the ground and just forget about it. I have tried starting a new comfrey patch planted directly into fresh Bokashi compost topped with soil and it has grown well.

Once you have bought the bins you just need to keep buying the bran. I have bought this online from a company which sends me a new batch every 2 months so that I do not run out. As for the waste liquid which is produced, you can dilute this with water and just let the micro organisms develop the soil by watering it in to your soil. I have done a fairly controlled experiment to see what effects this had and to be honest I could see no difference, (but remember I am a gardener not a scientist), and some people do swear by this methods. The other use for it is as a drain cleaner. My waste fluid goes down the plug hole in the bath or shower and I can vouch for this system working and working well.