Bokashi composter

[Emily]

So I've gone from struggling to keep a mint plant alive, to planting out a vegie seedling garden over the weekend and just last night I bit the bullet and purchased a Bokashi composting bucket.

I hated the amount of food waste my house was putting into landfill so it was partly a purchase for my conscience, but the rich compost it produces should (hopefully) help my little vegies somewhere down the line!

Does anyone have any handy tips and tricks with Bokashi composting? Everything I've read says that you can even put meat&dairy in it - will the fats and oils in these foods affect the liquid that gets drained off the bottom? I plan on diluting the liquid to use as an organic liquid fertiliser for my vegie seedlings.

[AndreaNg · Accepted solution]

Good luck with the vegie garden! With the composter, make sure you drain your scraps as much as possible before popping them in. If it gets too wet it gets smelly. If there's condensation under the lid then it's too wet. If it gets that way try tossing in some newspaper to soak it up rather than just using more (relatively expensive) bran.

[Emily]

Thanks Andrea! The fancy system I bought has a draining system and a tap at the bottom so I'll make sure I drain it off as often as possible. However the kit came with the liquid Bokashi spray rather than the bran - is one better than the other? For reference this is the system I bought http://www.bunnings.com.au/maze-18l-indoor-compost-bin_p3160004 

I think the main fight will be getting the housemates to get on board, they're already hesitant and complaining that it's going to start smelling or attracting flies. I'm sure once the vegie garden start blooming they'll change their tune though (so pressure's on to get it right)

[AndreaNg]

Not sure about the spray, but looking forward to seeing how you go with it. Good luck with the housemates!

[Jason]

@Emily

At the composting workshop I attended today, @robbayswater told attendees that the Bokashi spray was superior to the bran in terms of providing the good bacteria you need for breaking down your waste. 

How is your system going?

Jason

[Emily]

Great to hear about the Bokashi spray! My system is going really well so far (my housemates have even been surprisingly enthusiastic) - I have found that anything oily tends to filter through into the compost 'tea' and smell/look a bit funky so I'm trying to avoid any more than tiny amounts of meat, dairy, etc. going in.
And aside from my aphid problem (see my other post) the vegie garden is going really well. I've got enough lettuce, rocket and coriander to last me a lifetime and I'm hoping that my broad beans will be ready to harvest in a few weeks.
The only downside to the Bokashi system is that after filling up it needs to be left to sit for a couple of weeks to ferment before being buried in the backyard, so I might need to get a second bucket to rotate with.