BOKASHI COMPOSTING: How it's going 7 months later | Auxhart Gardening

[@itsasickness4939]

I’m about 3 months in since I started bokashi. I scavenged some roadside 30 gallon nursery pots and recently a 30 & 50 gallon barrel that I mix my fermented bokashi with 1/2 finished compost from my tumbler and let sit for a couple months. This past weekend I built a vertical strawberry planter out of the 50 gallon barrel ( fun project) and filled with the end product. I haven’t transplanted my strawberries yet but based on what I saw when filling the planter I’m sure it’s going to do well. The compost like yours was rich and black and full of worms, very little recognizable scraps if any. A little fermented smell but that’s it.

[@AuxhartGardening]

That's fantastic! That sounds like highly nutritious soil.

[@ms.deesgardenfoodscape3693]

After long research, it was you who inspired me to start my own Bokashi from scratch. My rice water-milk mix is sitting in my cabinet and I can't wait to start with making my own soil from kitchen scraps. Few weeks to go:) BTW I love your way of explaining:) You have a new fan from Amsterdam, Netherlands!

[@AuxhartGardening]

Welcome! Thank you so much for taking the time to say this. It means a lot to hear that I'm really helping people. :)

[@jonahavri9606]

The part about the woody stem not breaking down within the given time frame makes sense. It takes a different biology like mycellium and or fungi to decompose high carbon materials. Thank you for the video ☺

[@AuxhartGardening]

I'm going to start experimenting with mushrooms in the garden soon! I wonder if I could combine these techniques....

[@jonahavri9606]

@@AuxhartGardening i look forward to that one ! Diversity is key imo, soil probiotic products seem to be dominated with bacterial mixes as well as diys on youtube. Fungal populations can be or are just as important for the garden biota.l theres another vid where commented but i seem to have lost it, i apologize for that. It was a question about vermicomposting.. anyways love the outputs you bring as usual

[@sarahkirbach5040]

So my husband and I bought a two bucket system because of your videos. We’re looking forward to trying it bc we have three kids, a ton of kitchen scraps everyday, and a compost pile that every animal in the neighborhood eats out of...we’re hoping this will solve that problem. I’m so glad you shared about bokashi bc I’ve never heard of it before you mentioned and. I may not have ever known about it. Thank you!

[@AuxhartGardening]

My parents have that same problem with the animals! I haven't noticed any in my pile, but I do have my two cats who are outside a lot, marking territory, and the neighbors have a very bark-y dog. Let me know how it goes!

[@sarahkirbach5040]

@@AuxhartGardening Will do, and thanks again for sharing about something I had never heard of 😀

[@victorybeginsinthegarden]

4:12 put a worm tower in your garden bed this way it reduces need for a separate compost pile i compost in my place and use a worm tower works great.

[@brownthumbnursery]

My wife and I tried it, but It got really bad! We used lots of the powder that we paid for. I do way better with my compost pile that I turn whenever I get a chance. I’m not going to give up on it, so keep teaching us all of the details that you can think of. Thanks so much for the video. God Bless!

[@francismeowgannou5322]

Take some out of date milk and make your own lactobacillus serum! And add a lot of it in the bin so it can out compete other microbs.

[@AuxhartGardening]

If it's going bad, first things I'd check are if you have a proper airtight seal, and if there's existing mold on the scraps you're composting. If neither of those is the culprit, it could be that you're keeping it at a temp that's killing your good bacteria (if you live somewhere very hot, the temp in your bucket may get too high). If it's not any of those things, I'm not sure what the problem would be.

[@brownthumbnursery]

We keep the bucket in the house until it is full. We have air conditioning in the summer, so I don’t believe too much heat would be the problem as far as food being moldy, that is why we throw food out in the compost, so if you can’t throw moldy food in it maybe I should just switch back to only using my compost pile.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

@@brownthumbnursery I see videos of people bokashi compost humanure. If they can out compete bacteria in poo I think they could outcompete some mold. I think you should try to make your own LAB serum and add more of it in your bucket. I have about 150 whole smelt and guts getting fermented by lactobacillus in my living room. It's covered by paper towel and non of my guests could smell a thing.

[@andreleah]

Hey Rachel, just finished my LAB serum now need to add sugar and off we go. I already have some regular compost started about a month ago, not sure if I should add to my bucket with newspaper substrate when I get it going. But this is an experiment so we'll see how it goes. Thanks for your clear instructions, it's a much simpler process than many other Bokashi videos I've watched.

[@AuxhartGardening]

You're welcome! It wouldn't hurt anything as far as I know if you added your month-old compost to a bucket.

[@treetalker76]

You are an asset to the planet.

[@AuxhartGardening]

You're too kind :)

[@hanzketchup859]

Woody materials can be crushed or chipped to make it easier for microbes and insects to break them down, if I’m adding branches to my compost, I hit them with the hammer side of my hatchet before chopping them. Find a stump or piece of tree trunk to use as a chopping block, Cheers, compost is great for soil life.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

I'm made my own LAB serum and trying to ferment my food scraps with them! I'm also fermenting so fish I caught with the LAB and sugar to make my own liquid fish fertilizer! Thanks for sharing the info! I was hesitate try my bokashi at home because I didn't want to pay for the bran.

[@francismeowgannou5322]

Also, my lab serum is kinda Cloudy and not quite clear. Is that okay?

[@tonyly6810]

Awesome! I channeled from my higher self Bookashi and found this!! Awesome!! Do you do sacred Kim Chi?

[@AuxhartGardening]

Thanks! I'm not familiar with sacred Kim Chi.

[@valeriexoxo]

Ma’am you can make regular compost in less than half the time. Also may I suggest that you manually break things down a little more before adding to your piles

[@bariaissa1737]

thank you

[@sjr7822]

Did you use a controlled compost and the experimental Bokashi compost pile to see the difference? The other question is, can dry milk be used to make the solution?

[@AuxhartGardening]

I didn't do a comparison at the same time, but I have done traditional composting in the past, and it definitely takes way longer. I don't know about dry milk... you need lactose for the bacteria to feed on and I'm not sure how well the protein survives the drying process.

[@6thregiondiaspora590]

Yes, powdered milk will work

[@kingtut4752]

im hoping to try this out soon!

[@AuxhartGardening]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes!

[@triciaoakley13]

Great info thank you

[@AuxhartGardening]

You're welcome!

[@arvellataratuta2150]

I started bokashi composting this last winter after watching your video. I ended up with 3 five gallon buckets full. At the right time, I transferred to another bucket without holes laying with a bit of bokashi and some black dirt. These buckets sat for at ,east two months, maybe three. Yesterday I opened them. One was beautiful black dirt, the other two were not fully broken down and had a strong odor, but I felt it was a strong fermented odor. The flies were attracted to it. I dumped one of these in a wheel barrel and saw that the coffee filters did not break down and I saw a few peelings and a couple egg shells. I put back in 5 gallon bucket along with a bit more substrate and will let it go longer. Question, do you continue to do bokashi composting in the summer? This spring I tried coffee cans with holes drilled in them (sides and bottom) and buried in my raised beds, leaving the top inch above soil so I could add scraps. I do not feel this is very successful. Supposedly worms come in and out of the holes, and I never see a worm in them. I do like the bokashi method and will continue. Next I hope to try your newspaper substrate.

[@AuxhartGardening]

Sounds like everything is going well with your bokashi. I also tend to see things like coffee filters and eggshells take longer to break down, but they do eventually break down. I bokashi compost all year, adding full buckets to my compost pile, so that I can continue to compost my meat scraps and such all year.

[@arvellataratuta2150]

@@AuxhartGardening in regards to my comment that you responded to, I took the two buckets that were not ready and put them each in a larger plastic tote. First I put composted wood chips on bottom, then the bokashi bucket contents, then topped with more broken down wood chips (really almost like soil), then I tamped it down good and put a lid on it and set under trees where it will be in shade. Hopefully by fall it will be finished. I am ready to start the next bokashi bucket now with my kitchen scraps. Thank you for your reply. I enjoy your garden updates.

[@DerekBlais]

I always rip up my egg cartons and chop up my food scraps to speed up the process. I do the same with my yard debris.

[@sjr7822]

IF you had a huge space, I wonder if composting between some rows would work the plants would get a slow release of the compost nutrients

[@AuxhartGardening]

That sounds like it would work well!

[@chriscaudill7326]

You are awesome.

[@AuxhartGardening]

Thanks! :)

[@bluemoon8268]

... if you break up your kitchen scraps into small pieces (a food processor works great) and shred your paper and egg cartons it will compost a whole lot faster ... you can even make your bokashi using feed grains which are fairly cheap in bulk ...

[@AuxhartGardening]

Oh yeah it would definitely compost faster if I broke it up, but I just don't have the time or energy to do that, and it ends up breaking down eventually. For me it's about the ease of throwing everything in a bucket.

[@aliciaspadaccino5338]

When drying the newspaper, can it be hung outside on a clothesline in the sun? What are some ways that I can dry the newspaper if I can’t put it in the sun?

[@AuxhartGardening]

UV light from the sun will destroy the microbes, so I hang mine on my covered porch. You can put a fan on it indoors as well.

[@ZE308AC]

You should look into buying a harbor freighter wood chipper.

[@nazrilhakim6773]

👍👍

[@scootermom1791]

How much bokashi do you use per bucket? I am just getting started with this. I got the 2 pound bag of bokashi. I actually started a small composting container and realized I'm going to fill that up way too quickly. So I'm going to get two five gallon buckets to use once the small container is full. At any rate, I just need to be prepared for the amount of bokashi I will need.

[@AuxhartGardening]

Hmm that's a good question. I think my last bag of bokashi grain lasted me for something like 6-8 buckets. It's hard to say for sure though, because halfway through using my grain I also started using some of my own homemade newspaper substrate.

[@scootermom1791]

@@AuxhartGardening Really? Does newspaper substrate work the same way? Does it break down food as well?

[@AuxhartGardening]

@@scootermom1791 It's been working for me! It seems to work just as well as grain.

[@scootermom1791]

@@AuxhartGardening Really? That's incredible! How do you make it? You mentioned you made your own substrate.

[@McSpuddles]

@@scootermom1791 It's in another of her videos. I might try it out as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3abpnZ5m8qCbrc

[@selmandedic7166]

Bokashi is the best.

[@Not_So_Weird_in_Austin]

I have a Bokashi bucket and also have two 40 gallon compost piles using my own yard waste. I am going to stop using Bokashi and go back to using my piles and air pipes to break down the material...Rapid breakdown and dealing with Bokashi Lechate isnt worth the extra effort when i have heavy duty composting in use. I only use vegetable and lawn waste nothing else...

[@AuxhartGardening]

Yeah bokashi is really necesary for composting meat scraps and such, but if you're only doing yard waste it might not be worth it for you.

[@gedhuffadine1873]

Photo bombed by a puddy cat! Well done little one Puurrr

[@triciaoakley13]

I couldn’t find the original bokashi post

[@AuxhartGardening]

Here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6KtlaSnrd6tpbs

[@kicknadeadcat]

Black cat compost?

[@robertthompson6382]

Bury the vines and let them sit for month or more.

[@joeekdahl8483]

I only have one question... Who has leftover lasagna???

[@AuxhartGardening]

Haha I'm guilty of forgetting leftovers in my fridge for sure.

[@infinitenumberofmonkeys3738]

Left over lasagna? I don't understand.

[@AuxhartGardening]

The general wisdom for traditional composting is that you can't compost meat, dairy, or processed foods. Leftover lasagna is just an example of a combination of those things that you wouldn't normally be able to compost, but can using this method.

[@infinitenumberofmonkeys3738]

@@AuxhartGardening No I meant the concept of left over lasagna was confusing me :)

[@AuxhartGardening]

OH haha yeah there's always something that gets hidden in the back of my fridge and forgotten.

[@sunhannah2937]

@@AuxhartGardening Doesn't cook food contain salt? have you try purely meat products? I always want to compost fish intestines(I know it sounds disgusting, that's why I didn't start yet). But back in China, fish intestines are the best rose and tomato fertilizer. I am wondering if the botashi method going to take all the horrible smells away.

[@abib2114]

Great idea. I love doing things on the thrift. However, it seems pretty time consuming. I watched this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYnRhn-ea6aArqs and have a couple thoughts. The video method I linked to looks like a simple hybrid of yours. She basically fermented the solution, then put it in a spray bottle and liberally sprayed the layers of bokashi with the solution (she adds rice husks or shredded paper to absorb excess liquid if her bucket starts to get too wet). I am excited to try it!

[@AuxhartGardening]

Thanks for sharing! I'll have to look into that.

[@bartacomuskidd775]

you need some redwigglies

[@AuxhartGardening]

I've never composted with worms intentionally, but they're all over the soil around here so I'm sure some of them live in the pile.

[@mrkvomiltato871]

Is your black cat still alive? If so, please take the collar off of its neck. Please.

[@AuxhartGardening]

Thanks for the rec!

[@mrkvomiltato871]

@@AuxhartGardening Seriously, collar can put your cat at risk of strangulation.

[@sino1449]

Nice video, but oh boy , you women talk too much, 🎉

[@frankytrevor7]

This is the worst video I ever see about bokashi

[@valeriexoxo]

1:15 😔