Bokashi Composting (Overview)

🌱BOKASHI METHOD: FERMENTATION

Bokashi: Is fermentation of organic matter resulting in nutrition rich soil amendment (plant food)

-Bokashi host medium: Any fine organic grain or grass-like substance — bran, rice, wheat mill run (WMR, a waste product from flour milling), used mushroom growth medium, dried leaves, even sawdust

-This medium is inoculated with beneficial microbes or EM ( Effective Microbes) that flourish in anaerobic, acidic environments

-A brew that will attract the appropriate bacterial strains is prepared, the host material is immersed in it, and the microbes are allowed to ferment

-Molasses provides an energy source for the microbes which reproduce wildly for several days.

-Once the fermentation stage is over, the inoculated host can be dried, packaged, and stored for long periods

-🦠The bacteria belong primarily to three strains: 1.)YEASTS (Saccharomyces spp.) 2.) Bacteria that produce LACTIC ACIDS (Lactobacillus spp.). 3.) PURPLE NON-SULFUR BACTERIA (Rhodopseudomonas spp.).

❗️ All smell sour or fermented

❗️DO NOT produce the sulfuric acid that gives outdoor anaerobic piles their characteristic stench

✅USES include :

•Inoculate in anaerobic composting

•Added to an aerobic compost pile

•Added directly to soil

•Create compost tea for watering plants.

-All types of organic matter can be added to the mix including veggie&fruit scraps, dairy products, starch, meats, and bones

-Allow to ferment for at least 10Days (to 14); Leachate to be drained every other day

-Creates “PRE COMPOST”

❗️While the material that goes into a Bokashi bin would take months to compost in an outdoor pile, the pre-compost breaks down completely in about a month

❗️ Bokashi is an anaerobic process. It needs to be kept as free from oxygen as possible. It’s important to compress each day’s waste flat into the container so as to eliminate any air pockets and to avoid stirring up the previous day’s waste

❗️ACIDIC! Plant roots should not come in contact with it for two to four weeks