Bokashi experiences - what's yours?

urbanimp

I've found that although the Bokashi bins are excellent the supply of Bokashi bran is less so. I have had a lot of trouble re-ordering. From evengreener I was even sent 300g bags instead of 600g bags as they had changed the size.

Also when I did get so called 600g bags they seemed somehow lighter than the ones which came with the bins. Out of curiosity I weighed them on the kitchen scales. Even whilst still in their thick paper packs they were well underweight. I contacted the supplier and it took many months of e-mailling and phoning before they finally sent me what they called a sample pack from their suppliers which was supposed to be 1KG in weight and which they could not sell as it was not a standard 600g. Guess what? Yes it weighed a little over 800g ... in it's packaging. I am sure the customer is being diddled.

Try weighing your bokashi bran packs when they arrive. (Don't forget to set your scales to zero). Complain loudly if the bokashi is not the weight advertised and maybe they will sort it out.

On another note ... does anyone know if you can make your own Bokashi bran. Do you think it might be like yeasty things and perhaps if you seeded some ordinary bran from the supermarket with a cupful of bokashi bran and some molasses it would somehow transfer to the ordinary bran?

Anyway I think I will try ordering from here and report back.
http://www.bubblehouseworms.com/bokashi/ The largest quantity is
25 Litre bucket (5kg) Code B5000 £20.00 p+p £6.25
will report back:-)


I shall of course be weighing the bokashi when it arrives!

1jim

glad I have come across this thread, am a little concerned now as there seems to be quite a few negative posts on this system, does anyone dig the contents directly into the ground (dont have room for compost bon)..read somewhere that you couldnt put it near roots or plants which would be a huge problem in our garden... does it take long to breakdown in the soil?
thanks
jim

1jim

shamless bumpy

rubberdubber

with reference to the above post on the weight of bran...

I bought 6 x 600g bags of bran from wiggly wigglers, and including the bag they still only weighed 560 grams each, so they are undercutting the customer to.

on another note though, I bought some bran from here

http://www.bokashibucket.co.uk and paid £24.95 +7.95 p&p for 5 kilos

nodwah

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith wrote: »

Hello!
Any updates? Our free composter arrived last week which much to my Dad's bemusement I found quite exciting. That should be up and running next week but now I want a Bokashi to use up everything that can't go in the composter. I'm a bit concerned that people don't generally seem to be having a good experience with it. My council aren't doing cheap bokashis and £50/£70 is a lot to pay for a bucket with a lid, especially if it doesn't work that well.
Thanks!

You can have mine !!! i'm giving up with it.

It never ocurred to me to weigh the bran, that is absolutley apalling thay're undercutting. In fact they need to be reported to trading standards!:mad:

johnhcrf

Hi All,

I have just emptied my bokashi after 6 months filling, it weighed a ton. The best thing about it is you can remove food waste totally from the home bin, meat/fish/fat/bone.There is a smell (yeasty?), but it is ok. It is important to keep the lid on tight as one contact found maggots in it!
When using the bran I sprinkle on lightly but cover all the open material.

Bokashi is a Japanese word meaning 2 colours.

johnhcrf

Hi all,

A few posts mentioned compaction in the bokashi, I use a plastic cornflake holder, size of a Kellogg's box. Press down hard, moving along the surface until finished. The residual bran on the bottom, I just brush off with a food brush. My 6 month duration was probably due to the hard pressure I achieved.

It allows food to be removed totally from bin waste. As a Zero Waste enthusiast, this was a fantastic thing. I would recommend it to anyone with a garden, especially with a compost bin.

I washed it and dried it thoroughly ready for the next tub of protein/fat/bone.

mcallister1

I posted way back in Feb, and after trying different things with the bin thought I would report back. I've settled into half hearted bokashing, which sems to suit me and my compost heap. I don't put cooked food in, and I only have one bin, so for 2 weeks at a time while it ferments I am just composting as usual- I've got the bin in my garage to keep it out of the way for that time. It was too difficult to teach the family that sometimes you could put in cooked food, when I was filling the bin, and sometimes not.
So, I haven't achieved much more than I was before in terms of volume of stuff composted BUT my compost bin is fantastically efficient. It goes down so quickly, and the compost at the bottom is great. I don't think the smell is horrible- it reminds me of living in Edinburgh near a distillery when I was a student. My council were giving bins away recently and I did consider getting another but I find that after a few weeks I am getting annoyed at having such a big bin in my little kitchen and so am ready for a couple of weeks break.
I'm not convinced of the practicality of putting meat and bones into the bin-and as there are 5 of us I found that the bokashi bin would fill so quickly with all our food waste that I feel I would need 3 or 4 :eek: to keep up with the two week fermenting thing.
So, thanks for all the advice on here. Not a complete failure but not 'the answer' for me.

mum2kathryn

One thing I learned not to do twice was pour a load of hot water down the drain after putting Bokashi liquid down - stunk the kitchen out for days!
Other than that haven't had a problem with them.

SaraSeahorse

urbanimp wrote: »

Try weighing your bokashi bran packs when they arrive. (Don't forget to set your scales to zero). Complain loudly if the bokashi is not the weight advertised and maybe they will sort it out.




I shall of course be weighing the bokashi when it arrives!

I ordered 3kg bag from a website and weighed it when it arrived after reading this thread
1.6kg . . awaiting reply from the company - I shan't name them yet as they haven't had chance to sort problem out yet . . .