Bokashi recycling - compost

[OpheliaMoo]

Can anyone help/advise?

I want to start bokashi recycling because our local council does not recycle food waste, it seems such a waste and if I have to see maggots again......ugh. But I'm not sure what to do with the produce from the bokashi recycling.

A number of people have said to put it in a compost bin (which I don't currently have) but I am terrified of the idea of rats and it's really putting me off getting one. My original thought was to put it in a bin, and layer it with compost and just keep topping it up, rather than do the full on composting thing but now I'm not sure. But if I don't put it in a compost bin layered with compost, what do I do with it?

Can anyone tell me what they do with their bokashi produce in the garden?

Many thanks!

[timtam23]

Can you dig a trench and bury the bokashi waste as you go? I have a bokashi bin but it didn't really work for me as i have a small concrete back yard, so nowhere to bury the bokashi compost and no real hope of getting a compost bin functioning either. However I'm going to try again now that I have an allotment - will try burying the waste initially I think.

[IAmAPaleontologist]

I used to do it and just put it in the compost bin, worked fine and didn't attract rats that I could tell.

[OpheliaMoo]

Ahhh OK, yes I could just dig it into the group as I have a few raised bed areas that would benefit from it and ultimately my goal was to fill them up with it mixed with compost anyway......

So maybe I don't need a compost bin right away

[BellaGoth]

Shovetheholly is our resident MN bokashi expert. I'm surprised she's not been here! I'll see if I can find her for you.

[shovetheholly]

BOKASHI QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

(Thanks for the heads up Bella)

The bokashi bin sort of pickles waste. What you are left with at the end of the process is a kind of petrified load of food that has fermented a bit. You can use the run-off as a liquid feed on plants while the solid waste is then ready for a second stage of decomposition (which happens very quickly) in the compost bin or in the ground. I have done both and I have not had a problem with rats in either (though I did once bury a bin in too shallow a hole, only to find the foxes had dug it up).

The advantage is that you can get rid of cooked food waste as well as raw, including things like pet food. This was exceptionally useful for me when my old cat was unwell before he died, as he became very fussy over food.

The disadvantage is that the bins do smell when opened, though you only do this to add new waste. The rest of the time they are kept firmly sealed!!

There is a big debate about how well the liquid feed works because it's not especially high in nutrients. I've been testing it at my plot against control groups and I do find the plants that have it are larger and healthier. Why this is, I'm not sure. The solid waste works very well indeed in a bean trench.

[Iamthinking]

Can it be added to a wormery? I thought I read this ages ago, but can't be sure.

[shovetheholly]

Yes, it can! You might want to add it in bits, because a whole bin is actually quite a lot for the worms to deal with.

[mintthins]

Don't plan to dig it into a trench if you live in the North of Scotland though. The ground with us was frozen solid for 3 months, and I had no where to put it!

[shovetheholly]

Oh gosh mint - I can't imagine ground frozen that long!! You northern folk are hardy people!! I always think of you guys when I am listening to the weather forecast, and it shows all kinds of havoc in northern Scotland that's never mentioned - but a bit of a strong wind in London gets all sorts of red alerts!

The boxes take me about 3 weeks to fill, and about 6-8 weeks to 'mature'. I guess if they were frozen solid outside, though, it would take a lot longer than that because it wouldn't be fermenting - it'd be frozen solid! I think I might be tempted to use it just for cooked food waste/cat food and compost everything else through that kind of harsh winter.

[OpheliaMoo]

Hmmm interesting - I can't decide whether or not to get some bokashi recycling and a compost bin too.

I don't want to do the whole compost thing at the moment....one step at a time so was thinking of starting off a compost bin by layering left over compost I have, with the bokashi fermented food and using it more as a store before I fill the beds.

[shovetheholly]

I maybe wouldn't put lovely shop-bought compost in a heap, because it's already rotted down. The idea is to get the bacteria a-working and get it hot, and that happens with decomposition. So if you have stuff that's already decomposed, it is more inert than you really want, I guess.

Is it mainly the fear of rats that puts you off Ophelia? I really, really don't like spiders so I can totally understand being irrationally frightened of a creature. I wonder if a better bet for you might be something like a wormery to start off with? You can dump small amounts of food waste in it, and it will be converted into the most lovely compost AND this wonderful, rich run-off which is about the best thing for plants there is.