“Composting” for the small scale grower with limited space
When I first started growing vegetables on my small patio in my townhouse, I wanted to be able to use my food scrapes to “feed my soil”. But with limited space, I couldn’t compost the traditional way. That’s how I learned about the Bokashi Method!
What is Bokashi?
Bokashi is a Japanese method that essentially “pickles” food waste to convert it into a soil amendment. Food scraps are put into a double tiered bucket and a microbrial bran inoculated with Lactobacilli is sprinkled on top of the food scraps to facilitate the picking process. The first bucket has holes, which allows water residue to drip into the second bucket, which many growers (include myself), dilute with water to create a “bokashi” tea filled with lots of yummy microorganisms to feed the soil life!
When the bucket is full, you set it aside for 2 weeks for it to fully finish fermenting and then after, you dig a trench about 10-12 inches deep and bury the waste. Upon covering with soil, you wait for about 10-14 days and then you can plant on top! Some people will direct seed immediately after covering.
How is Bokashi different from typical composting?
Bokashi is an anaerobic process, which means it doesn’t need oxygen. This is a big differentiator because it means that the bucket needs to be sealed shut for the microorganisms to do their work and keep rotting at bay
The resulting fermented food scraps is buried directly into the soil and one can plant on top of it 10-14 days later. It does not need as much time to “mature” as with traditional composting
Because the process occurs so quickly, there is debate as to how long it takes the pickled food waste to turn into humus. Regardless though, the food waste is a haven for earthworms and microbial activity. You WILL see your soil improve with this process and the food WILL disappear. Things like eggshells and avocado skin tend to remain for a longer time.
What kind of food waste can be Bokashi’d?
Hypothetically, any kind of food waste can be Bokashi’d but we personally stick to vegetable, fruit, spent tea leaves, spent coffee grinds and egg shell scraps. There are people who successfully Bokashi animal scraps (like bones, meat, skin) but the process takes alot longer to break down and there is a higher risk for rot. Luckily, we have a dog and outside of eating the bones, he basically eats all of our other animal related scraps!
How much does it cost?
It can cost as much or as little as you want. There are two primary things you need to buy- the buckets to house the food waste and the microbial bran.
Buckets: There are Bokashi bucket kits out on the market that I’ve seen range from $60 to $120. You can certainly opt for those kits as they are definitely better looking than our $10 setup. Our setup consists of two, 5-gallon buckets (found out at our local hardware store) with 1 lid. We drilled tiny holes onto the bottom of one bucket and layered that on top of another bucket (without holes). Viola! All you have to do is put food scraps into the bucket, spread the bran and put something like a plate on top to help keep it anaerobic. Then seal with lid!
We have 2 bucket systems (4 buckets total) so that when one pair is finished, we have another pair of buckets. It typically takes us about 2 months to fill a whole bucket but this will depend on how often you cook, your household size, etc.
Microbial bran: We get ours on Amazon and this bag has literally lasted us for over 2 years for a household of 2 adults. While you can make your own bran, in my view, it’s not worth the effort, especially given how easily accessible to is to buy the bran and how relatively cheap it is given how long it lasts for.
What about rodents?
We personally have not had any issues with rodents when we buried the waste in our townhouse setting (no fencing) nor when we buried it in our current field (has a deer fence). Supposedly, rodents are less attracted to the pickled food waste, especially if you let it ferment long enough.
Can I Bokashi in the winter?
Yes! In the summer, we keep our buckets outside but in the winter, we bring them indoors. Temperature plays a huge role in how quickly the lactobacilli work, so you certainly don’t want to keep it outdoors.
You’re probably asking, won’t it smell? The good news is that when done properly, Bokashi’d food scraps have a sweet fermented smell. It doesn’t at all smell rancid and we’ve never had an issue keeping it indoors.
Does it really make a difference in the soil?
My answer is a resounding yes and there are studies done on this. I have seen my clay soil build layers of black and rich organic matter and have even seen new construction dirt turn into beautiful organic matter at the townhouse. My soil was so amazing that when we moved from the townhouse to our current place, we made it an effort to transport all of our soil that we had “built” through bokashi’ing over 2 years!
Here’s what some studies have shown:
In a study conducted to study soybean yields, research results showed that bokashi improved soil chemical properties and even concluded that the use of bokashi could help overcome environment pollutions caused by agriculture waste. This was a complex study where the farmers made their own bokashi so there’s alot of variables at play but overall, soybean production was significantly improved with bokashi amendments. Source linked here.
Another study showed that the growth of tomato plants was highly influenced by applications of Bokashi. Bokashi also positively affected the number of leaves, with those plants treated with bokashi being the tallest. Source linked here.
In a study with several Costa Rican fields, soil samples from cilantro and/or cabbage farms engaging in Bokashi organic farming were taken. Overall, samples were found to contain a diverse array of fungi with dominance of phyla belonging to Ascomycota and to a lesser extent Basidiomycota. Source linked here.
Is Bokashi right for you?
If you’re a small scale grower or a hobbyist gardener, yes!
Bokashi is an excellent alternative to the small scale grower precisely because it needs so little space. One could argue that the constraint most people would have is where to bury the food waste if you don’t have a yard.
My personal constraint with Bokashi is that I don’t generate enough food waste for my 40x90ft field. I’m at a point where I am asking interested friends to Bokashi their food waste and send to me where I’ll bury it. We still do traditional composting for weeds and spent blooms. It was hard to do real composting until we got a tractor because turning the compost to incorporate air is a real workout!
The other “elephant in the room” for Bokashi is that for someone who is trying to practice “no-tilling”, burying food scraps is technically a mechanical form of tillage. But because my field is so big and there are so many areas where the soil needs amending, the pro’s of burying the Bokashi food waste outweigh the negatives in my book. Besides diverting food waste from landfill, it is also a fantastic way to amend your soil with inputs that YOU trust!
If you enjoyed this content or this content helped you, consider joining my Patreon where I’ll have more content like this, exclusive for my members. Help me experiment and see what works and doesn’t work so that you can learn from me!