Bokashi experiences - what's yours?

soscakes

Just a little warning if you are thinking of buying a bokashi bin.
I bought 2 - they did not seal at the tap (bin was banned in house due to stench) 2 more were sent, again not sealing properly. ( i had to empty stinking contents into new bins, then clean out 1st bin).
Eventually i had to purchase some plumbers sealant to ensure tap did not fall off (as with prior sets), and stopped leaking.
This was much better, smell diminished.

1st successful load went into composter in garden, Labrador pup kept jumping 4 feet to get into composter.

Buried next load 3 feet in garden.
both dogs enjoyed the fun of digging rotting stinking mess up and consuming the contents of 2 bins.

The resulting mess the dogs presented me with was something i will never forget.
Next load went deeper, and sat for 4 months under the old rabbit run.
Come spring i removed the run. Big mistake.
Young lab, dug up contents.
Started looking poorly, vomiting bile, not eating, next day after administering a dose of chloradine (mums remedy), dog presented the contents of one end, went in with gloves + scuba mask on, to find it was vomit, with corn cob in middle. Rushed to vets. (no insurance).
Was looking at bill of £500.00. I replied no, sorry cannot afford that. She would have to be put to sleep. Luckily, the chloradine had done the trick and caused the blockage (corn cob) to be dislodged. overnight stay at vets, I.V, anti-biotics etc.Still cost £200.00 ( had to spend my sons 21st birthday money on the dog- that hurt).
Dog had not learned. Moved the soil and remnants of bin to another area, but she still tries to get at it. Eats the soil as well. You can imagine the mess.
Now bought dog insurance just for her, from tesco. Older Lab could not afford as well, but she is not so driven by food.
So the moral of this tale is .
bokashi bins are great if you do not have a large family with 2 dogs who happen to be Labradors.
You have to plan where to bury the waste - something that the suppliers do not tell you about. Also they do not warn you to chop the corn cobs into tiny tiny pieces - as they take so so long to decompose.
I bought my bin last june 2009, and the trouble was caused in March 2010, from waste dug in thesoil in the autumn.
Just take care if you have animals. :eek:

ginnyknit

Have been pondering whether or not to buy a Bokashi bin and all these replies are a great help. Think I will look into it more bifore I lay out the cash. Luckily all my animals are in cages!

daz501

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFlh5yPGJJo

Here's a homemade version of the shop bought bins.

So far I have just been saving vegetable scraps in a plastic bag for my outdoor compost area

GrahamBuckley

That's a horrible story soscakes. I hope you're dogs are still ok.

I've never had that experience with Bokashi composting myself, and I can't help but ask how much Bokashi bran were you using?

The Bokashi process shouldn't smell bad at all. Perhaps a mild pickle smell, but certainly not something that would need a scuba mask! It's a fermentation process really, rather than a rotting process you'd find in a normal compost bin. There is sometimes a white stringy mould on the surface, but shouldn't be more than that. If there is rotting taking place (you can usually tell by the smell or the presence of black or dark mould), then you need to add more Bokashi bran. There are micro-organisms in the bran which break down the organic matter in the bin before it has chance to rot. There are step by step instructions as well as a bunch of other information here:
bokashicompostinghq . com (i cant post a link - sorry)

I hope you're experience hasn't put you off Bokashi. It's a great way of recycling waste that would otherwise end up in landfill.

1jim

Hi guys, about to buy a couple of these bins so looking forward to getting started, can I ask a silly question, when you tip the bokashi bin out do you give the bin a rinse out or does the bokashi remmnents give the next load a head start?

blossomhill_2

Hi folks - is anyone still around who uses these?

I just got a set and my main thought is that we don't waste much food so may not be able to fill them - I'd be quite happy to scrounge the sweepings from the local market where I get rabbit greens anyway, will mainly be squashed tomatoes and cabbage leaves - will these be ok?

It's puzzling to me that I can put in small bones but not flower stems

Rhianparsons

Hiya Blossom hill. I'm new to the bokashi lark but I've read up loads on it! I've got a compost bin and a wormery so the reason I'm doing bokashi is to get rid of all the cooked food and meat etc that the compost / wormery can't take. I think that (and someone correct me if I'm wrong!) it's not so much that you can't put flower stems in a bokashi but that you're using the bran on something that really doesn't need it to be compostable. I think you could do bokashi with the veg you suggest but if that's really all you're going to put in and you won't have any cooked waste/ bread/ pasta etc at all then you may be better off with a compost bin and saving yourself the cost of the bokashi bran. If you do end up doing bokashi and it's just veg type scraps it will create a lot of liquid so you'll need to keep on top of draining it off. HTH!