Bokashi has nothing to do with your favorite plant-based cereal brand. Bokashi is an anaerobic composting method that is marketed to city-dwellers or gardeners who want to try an alternative method of home composting.<\/p>
Although Bokashi is usually thought of as a composting system, it’s more correct to say it is a method of composting by fermentation or \u201cpre-composting<\/a>.\u201d The food won\u2019t decompose, as with traditional backyard composting<\/a>, but it will be chemically altered or fermented (like sauerkraut). <\/p> (Note: We\u2019ll still refer to it as Bokashi \u201ccomposting\u201d for simplicity\u2019s sake.)<\/p> Bokashi fermentation needs three things to work:<\/p> It takes about two weeks for the Bokashi process to ferment the food scraps to the point where they can go into the ground. During this time, the mixture will produce a liquid or leachate. Drain this every two to three days and use a 1:100 leachate to water ratio to fertilize your plants. (This is sometimes called compost tea or Bokashi tea.)<\/p> After the two-week waiting period, spread the fermented food into the soil, and wait two weeks to one month before you plant anything over top. (The scraps will be too acidic to come into contact with plant roots before then.)<\/p> Ready to try Bokashi out for yourself? Gather these materials to get started:<\/p> You\u2019re ready to go!<\/p> Note:<\/strong> The result of this anaerobic process should smell pickled or like vinegar. White growths may appear, and this is OK. Green or black growths or a foul odor<\/strong> means something went wrong. If this happens, you\u2019ll need to dispose of the mixture<\/a>.<\/p> Here is a list of foods that are allowed in Bokashi buckets:<\/p> If you\u2019re wondering why the Bokashi system is beneficial, here are a few things to consider:<\/p> \u2713 Requires a small amount of space Bokashi composting is often used by gardeners along with two other popular composting methods, traditional composting and vermicomposting. Here are a few highlights of each:<\/p> How it works:<\/strong> Ferments food Best used:<\/strong><\/p> Advantages<\/strong>:<\/p> Cost:<\/strong> Cheap setup if you use 5-gallon buckets. (Pre-made buckets are more costly.)<\/p> How it works:<\/strong> Decomposes food Best used:<\/strong><\/p> Advantages:<\/strong><\/p> Cost:<\/strong> Chicken wire or pallet bins are inexpensive<\/p> How it works:<\/strong> Excretes food Best for:<\/strong><\/p> Advantages:<\/strong><\/p> Cost: <\/strong>Red wigglers can be on the pricey side, so initial costs are more than other methods<\/p> Besides adding it to your garden soil or compost pile, you can experiment with adding it to your vermicompost bin as well. Worms prefer a neutral pH, so add small amounts of finished Bokashi<\/a> to start and increase over time as the worms adjust.\u00a0 Actually, yes, you can. Without fermentation, bones, meat, and other items<\/a> cannot<\/strong> be added to a vermicompost bin, but with Bokashi fermentation, it is possible to add these foods. The fermentation process chemically alters the food so that it can then be decomposed by the worms<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p> <\/div> Again, this is a yes, according to bokashiliving.com<\/a>. There are a few caveats: What if my bucket smells bad after the two-week settling period?<\/span> <\/strong> If all of your energies have been directed toward your composting and gardening efforts, contact one of our local <\/em>lawn care pros<\/em><\/a>. They\u2019ll take care of the lawn and get it ship-shape in no time.<\/em><\/p> Main Photo Credit: Mack Male | Flickr<\/a> | CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bokashi has nothing to do with your favorite plant-based cereal brand. Bokashi is an anaerobic composting method that is marketed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":6832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[298],"tags":[132,222],"class_list":["post-6824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landscaping","tag-gardening","tag-landscaping"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/rsz_5473599641_237db73146_h.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Sarah Bahr","author_link":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/author\/sarah-bahr\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawnlove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bokashi 101<\/span><\/h2>
What you will need<\/span><\/h2>
How to do Bokashi composting in 4 easy steps<\/span><\/h2>
Step 1: Assemble the bucket<\/span><\/h3>
Step 2: Add food scraps to the bucket<\/span><\/h3>
Step 3: Drain and fill<\/span><\/h3>
Step 4: Bury the scraps<\/span><\/h3>
What food scraps can I use in a Bokashi bin?<\/span><\/h2>
What can\u2019t I add to a Bokashi bin?<\/span><\/h2>
Benefits of Bokashi composting<\/span><\/h2>
\u2713 You can compost scraps that other methods exclude, like bones and meat scraps
\u2713 Low-cost to set up
\u2713 Perfect for apartment dwellers
\u2713 Reduces the amount of organic waste that goes into landfills
\u2713 No smell (if done correctly)
\u2713 No need to turn the Bokashi as you do with aerobic (traditional backyard) composting
\u2713 Increases fertility in the soil<\/a>
\u2713 Increases organic material in the soil
\u2713 Adds beneficial microbes
\u2713 Serves as a soil amendment<\/p> Bokashi composting vs. other composting methods<\/span><\/h2>
Bokashi composting<\/span><\/h3>
Note: <\/strong>Can use any food waste<\/span><\/p> Traditional aerated composting<\/span><\/h3>
Note: <\/strong>Some food waste is restricted<\/p> Vermicomposting<\/span><\/h3>
Note: <\/strong>Some food waste is restricted<\/p> FAQ about Bokashi composting<\/span><\/h2>