Bokashi experiences - what's yours?

Fred_Bear_2

Mrs Bear and I collected our bins from Tesco in Leytonstone this morning. We already have two bins which we use for bokashi composting. We are going to use these bins for Comfrey composting. This price was too good to miss. Thanks inicholson.

We had a problem when we attempted to collect the bins. Mrs Bear placed the order and gave my name as the person who would collect. She paid using my Tesco credit card as requested. The website and email said we needed to show the credit card as proof of ID. The box had my name printed on it. At the counter we showed both our Tesco credit cards as ID. These were refused because there is a 'new rule' that photo ID is now required for all collections. I had my driving licence but this was also refused because my wife had to show her photo ID. Why? I protested that both the website and the confirmation email stated that only my credit card was needed. Eventually common sense prevailed but it was a close call.. Anyone else have a problem or is it just Leytonstone?

kate83

Where's the best offer on bran at the moment? - Just finished my first bag

aytch

Just ordered two bins from Tesco - how can one person (me) get so excited about two plastic bins!!!

jujudrops

kate83 wrote: »

Where's the best offer on bran at the moment? - Just finished my first bag

Wiggly wigglers have a sale n at the moment:

20kg bokashi bran @ £20.00 + £3.75 delivery


HTH
Jujudrops

aytch

jujudrops wrote: »

Wiggly wigglers have a sale n at the moment:

20kg bokashi bran @ £20.00 + £3.75 delivery


HTH
Jujudrops

where is this all I can see is

5kg bag
Normally £25.00 Save £5.00 Order Code: P2402
Quantity: Sale Price: £20.00

20kg (4 x 5kg bags)
Normally £65.00 Save £13.00 Order Code: P2567
Quantity: Sale Price: £52.00

1kg bag
Normally £5.50 Save £1.10 Order Code: P3062
Quantity: Sale Price: £4.40

3kg bag
Normally £15.00 Save £3.00 Order Code: P3063
Quantity: Sale Price: £12.00

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith

Well, we've been filling ours for a week now. We have been throwing everything in, including chicken bones (although I'm terrified we'll get rats in our compost now!).

There is absolutely no way that is two months worth of bran. We've not been tight with it but haven't been overly generous but will need some more bran very soon. We keep all the food in a container and add it once a day to minimise the amount of bran we use. It came with a scoop which is meant to catch the liquid but I find it quite handy to use for the bran as it seems to be about a handful and saves having to wash the stuff down the sink when it sticks to your hands.

We've filled the bucket by about a third (mainly because of the chicken). It doesn't seem to be doing very much but then again I don't think it should be? We've had no liquid from it which is a bit of a surprise because there is a lot of fruit and wet veg bits eg salad leaves. The little press thing that came with it isn't very good so I'm having a think about something else we can use.

No flies or bugs.

And the smell? Well when the lid is on it's fine, there is no smell at all but when you're filling it, it stinks! It isn't putrid or sick or anything like that. It just smells very, very vinegary with a bit of something else but I'm not sure what. I don't like the smell at all but I can cope with it. Actually when the chicken bits went in it was during the warm weather so I was quite scared they would start to reak but they don't seem to. I find that when the lid is back on the smell doesn't really linger.

So, no problems really so far apart from being concerned about how much it will cost to keep buying the bran.

nigpud

I make my own bokashi and have been doing so for about 7 years. Much cheaper. EM-1 liquid is about £20/litre - 30cc of this mixes with same amount of molasses and produces 5 litres of stock liquid. 30cc of this stock liquid and same amount of molasses mixed with about 4kilos wheat bran until "damp" and packed in airtight tubs to ferment for 2-3 weeks. Wheat bran can be obtained from farm feed or "horsy" suppliers and is fairly cheap. The EM-1 is the major cost as 1 litre lasts for ages and has a shelf life of one year, fine if you can combine with other users and share the cost.

sparkleworld

http://www.eco-worrier.net/composting.html?gclid=CN6Y1cnZ0psCFYYU4wodQ3IsKA

Towards the bottom of the page they have a plunger priced at £1.65 including delivery and VAT!

HTH
Regards
*Sparkle*

dawkins

I have a love/hate relationship with my pair of bokashi bins (from Wiggly Wigglers), which we've had for a couple of years now.

I love the way their contents rots down incredibly fast when dug in or slung in the compost bin, and the worms go crazy for it, plus it has really seemed to boost plant growth wherever I've dug it in in the garden.

I hate them when they leak stinky bokashi liquid all over the kitchen floor overnight. (I got a replacement tap from Wiggly Wigglers last month, but only ONE, so I'll have to chase up another one.) Let's just say it's the first time I've ever been woken up by a smell! :rotfl:

On balance, even with the smell (which is definitely more like a fermenting/vinegar/sauerkraut smell than the decomposing smell you get from a normal compost crock), I wouldn't be without them thanks to the boost they've given my garden.

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith

Dawkins, tell me about it! We have started getting liquid from it now and I poured some down the sink as suggested but I won't be doing that again! A day later the smell was still there despite having all the windows and doors open in the entire house and pouring a bicarb/vinegar mixture down there. The plants, in particular our lavender, love it though.