Comments on: Making Bokashi

By: Hyla

Hyla — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:42:38 +0000

I am currently using the serum from drained yogurt for the lactobacilli, and newspaper instead of bran. I have read that leaves can be innoculated instead of bran or newpapers, and I have pleanty of leaves, which take a long time to break down on their own. Anybody have any experience with using leaves instead of bran in bokashi composting?

By: bob prochazka

bob prochazka — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:20:05 +0000

I bought 50 lbs. of wheat bran from an animal feed store outside of Milwaukee for $11.75 including tax. Question is, how badly was this stuff sprayed during the wheat growing process and how badly would that affect the end product?
No. 2. How can I tell how active my EM solution is. It has been sitting in a 50 degree basement all winter in a closed plastic bottle. I have been treating all of the kitchen scraps all winter and while the smell has varied every time I open the bucket up, it has been acceptable with different pickling odors. I put a 55 gal. plastic garbage can on wheels in the basement and have been filling that when I need to empty my 5 gallon buckets of bokashi after leaving them sit for four to six weeks.
No. 3. Can I take the pickled kitchen garbage waste that has sat and pickled for four to six weeks and make compost tea install of burying it? That would be easier.

By: Sally D

Sally D — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:41:40 +0000

What about using a few capsules of a “Pro-biotic” health treatment to get started? That’s pure lactobacillus and usually includes two or three strains. I figure if it’s good for our guts it’s probably good for Bokashi too.

By: Eva

Eva — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:18:58 +0000

I am also wondering about adding finished bokashi as a ‘culture’ instead of using new bought stuff. Would you dig it up out of the garden? I met a lady years ago who was working at an eco resort and they were using bokashi to deal with all the cooked food scraps. They were in a very remote location and weren’t buying in bran or the EM, just using old mixtures to activate new mixtures but it seems like no one talks about this as an option. Unfortunately back then I didn’t pay enough attention to exactly how they were managing this. I have been working in developing countries and something like bokashi would be a great option for dealing with food scraps in slum areas- but only if you can, after the initial outlay, continue without buying anything.

By: Randy Wiser

Randy Wiser — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:19:14 +0000

Couple things. Food co-ops usually sell bulk amounts of most grains products, use google to find. I found that those 5 gal (sometimes larger) water “coolers” that one sees on construction sites makes a good airtight bokashi fermenter. Has a spiget in the bottom, tight fitting push on or screw on and its insolated. Much cheaper than any of the bokashi buckets I’ve seen and sometimes can be found at discount stores (found mine at Big Lots)

Randy

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:12:21 +0000

Wow – that sounds like a great way to do it, Jessica!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:04:22 +0000

We get our bran from a feed barn, or horse feed place. We usually get a 20kg sack and do the whole process on a warm day in the back yard – put the bran on a clean tarp., sprinkle on the EM mixture with a watering can and mix it/rake it in then pack it in a large garbage bin to ferment. Still not sure about how long to leave it – next door says it should have a skin of white mold on the top, (she’s the expert!) but she’s away right now and I have some that’s fermented for 2 weeks, but might not be quite ready. Anyway, once it is ready we spread it out on the tarp in the sunshine and dry it thoroughly over the course of one or two afternoons. This amount lasts us all year. Trouble is, it’s getting rather late in the year to dry it now, hope we don’t have to ferment it over the entire winter – which has happened before!
Oh, and re: the above comment – we usually put a kg of the old bokashi in with the new stuff when we add the EM.

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:12:45 +0000

Hi Karen,
That’s an excellent question! Hopefully Al or one of our other resident bokashi experts will chime in on that one.
I would think that while yes there are certainly plenty of the right microbes present in a ready-made bran mix, but I wonder if there would be an increased chance of contamination from other microbes. After all, you would be introducing far fewer beneficial microbes at the start, thus giving others a chance to get a foothold.
Great idea though! I’m almost tempted to test it out for my next batch!

By: karen

karen — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:14:40 +0000

Hi all,
Is it not possible to make Bokashi mix using the microbes already in a ready-made bokashi? I mean, can I get the microbes in that ’starter culture’ to breed using more bran and molasses, similar to making yoghurt? It just seems silly to have to buy more microbes when I already have some…
Anyone got any ideas?

Karen x
PS I’m new to Bokashi, please be gentle.

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:26:21 +0000

Kevin,
Sorry for the delay getting back to you.
All I needed was wheat bran, molasses, water and some ‘friendly microbes’. I got wheat bran from a place called the “Bulk Barn”. Not sure if you have something comparable in the US. Molasses is readily obtained from most stores. As for the friendly microbe solution, I got that from Great Day Bokashi, here in Canada. You will almost certainly need to find a US supplier since they are not keen to let microbes across the border these days.
Try a search for “bokashi supplies, new york” or something like that. Al (from Great Day) may have a better idea – hopefully he catches this.