Have you ever pondered about incorporating bokashi into your compost bin?
Bokashi composting is very beneficial and a great process, but what do you do with the waste afterward?
Does a bokashi compost bin decompose well?
The good news is that bokashi material process can be composted perfectly well, and it should vary the nutrients and microbs in the compost bin. Essentially the nutrients have just been pickled, and it will continue to decompose fine in the bin or pile.
It’s also good for compost, as the pickling process decreases the likelihood of vermin, such as rats or other rodents that would normally be attracted to the food.
Can You Add Bokashi Waste to Your Compost Bin?
Absolutely, bokashi waste can be added to a compost bin, and in fact, you will likely need to transfer the waste to a compost bin if you hope to use bokashi bins in your yard.
Bokashi waste is not ready to be spread onto the ground for plants, as it will still need to be broken down and processed further, even after it has “pickled” in the bucket you keep it in.
A bokashi compost bin does not actually compost the food at all instead, the bran that you add is the agent used to pickle the food.
It breaks it down, giving you “bokashi tea” valuable for your plants, but it does not actually convert it back into a soil like material for growing plants.
Eventually, you are going to need to:
- Empty your bokashi bins
- And get the waste transferred to somewhere else to refill the bins with fresh food and bran.
The somewhere else is usually your compost bin and bokashi waste is great for your compost.
Bokashi compost usually contains a ton of beneficial microbes, as a result of the pickling process, that will get added to your compost once you add bokashi waste to your compost.
These are partly what bokashi tea is so good for – if you are adding a lot of bokashi waste to your compost, you will get beneficial microbes added to it too.
Bokashi compost can also compost more kinds of foods than normal composting, such as bread, and dairy (which may cause issues in a traditional compost).
So, nutrients from these foods will transfer to the compost pile without the drawbacks.
In general, you would not add bread or dairy to your normal compost, because these are likely to attract pests but once they have been pickled in the bokashi compost bin, they are much less appetizing to wildlife.
From experience, you might get some very determined animals that will still try them but in general, very little will want to eat food that’s gone through the bokashi process which means you can use bokashi composting as an environment-friendly way of disposing of waste bread and dairy products.
How Do You Add Bokashi Waste to Your Compost Bin?
To begin with, you’ll want a working compost bin that has not yet been started with only bokashi waste.
If you simply add bokashi waste to a bin that contains only bokashi waste, you will not end up with “compost.”
If you want it to turn into compost, you need the microbes and worms that are present in traditional composting.
Step One
Prior to adding the bokashi waste, it is a good idea to turn your compost pile to aerate it slightly.
Make sure it is neither too dry nor too wet, and if so, add additional fresh ingredients to make corrections – card if too wet or greens if too dry.
Step Two
Once you’re happy and think your bokashi compost bin is working correctly, dump your bokashi bin into a container, or onto a sheet of cardboard or plastic, and use a garden fork to break the scraps apart.
This will allow you to spread the scraps evenly in your compost bin, which will help composting happen quickly and well.
Step Three
Next, punch a hole in the center of your compost bin, and pour the bokashi waste into the hole.
Once you have done this, you can cover it with normal compost, and this will also help deter any animals who pass by.
If you want to you can stir the bokashi a little, but don’t bring too much of it to the surface.
Mixing the bokashi with the other compost may help speed it up decomposition.
Step Four
Next, add some garden soil if you have it, and tear up some cardboard into smaller pieces; definitely smaller than 12 inches long!
Bokashi will be wet, and it contributes a lot of greens to the bin, so you will need plenty of cardboard or another carbon to keep the bin balanced and absorb moisture.
Other carbon-based materials could include, but are not limited to, newspapers, torn paper, straw, torn egg cartons, nutshells, etc.
If the bin becomes too wet, it will go anaerobic and will have the worst smell. Again, don’t forget to add something of some sort, it will help with drying out the bokashi and keep the bin balanced.
Step Five
Mix the bin thoroughly again to blend everything, and then bury the bokashi waste to keep the food out of sight, and help avoid attracting animals.
What Problems Might I Encounter?
Adding bokashi compost to a well-established compost pile will seldom cause you any issues.
If you want to obtain the benefits of adding bokashi to your compost, adding some dirt will boost the microbes that will assist with breaking the bokashi down.
You might notice a foul odor for a few days because wet bokashi often wants to go anaerobic quickly. As long as you have added carbon, this should go away.
If your bin remains wet and stinky, you can add more newspaper or cardboard to soak up the moisture.
Works Well: Structural items like sticks will also help by creating even more air pockets for beneficial bacteria to do their job.
Conclusion
In most cases, it is perfectly acceptable to add bokashi compost to your regular compost bin.
It is best to check that your bin is healthy first, which will allow it to handle the greens that come with bokashi added to the bin.
Otherwise, you can just mix bokashi compost into your compost bin and it will break down quickly, meaning that you will have added to your annual harvest of compost!