failed

[submariner]

I have persivered with my "Bokashi", but nothing has happened. I've had lots of juice from the both, but the contents have not gone down appreciably at all. They have been full for about six weeks now, with lots of the powder all over. The bananna's have just gone black, and the rest just a gooey mess.
Can those members who are sucessful, please let me know where I have gone wrong? I have followed the instructions too the letter.

[Shallot Man]

Do not despair, we also run our own site, but with seventeen on the waiting list and only 40 plots.We sound out the other plot holders, get a consensus of opinion, we first of all use the grapevine, this is then followed by a letter that does not come as a surprise, with a months warning. [ unless the plot holder has say trouble at home] followed by eviction. To date we have had no problems. Shallotman

[Colin_M]

Back to Bokashi, all I can say is that our two just seem to work.

Initially I was worried because our gets mostly vegetable peelings & offcuts, so the mixture stays fairly dry. Reading the leaflets, I got the impression that they expected people to be putting the left-overs of meals in, leading to a moister mixture (sorry, it's a clean plate policy in our household ).

Anyway, despite this, our ones produce increasing quantities of fluid over the two weeks and by the end of that time, has wisps of white mould over the surface. I wouldn't say that it doesn't smell when you open the lid, but it doesn't smell as bad as the dustbin used to.

Colin

[Chantal]

Submariner, I think you're expecting it to behave like a normal compost heap and it's totally different concept.

To begin with, it won't go down at all. You need to layer material with bran and then when it's full put the lid on and leave it for a fortnight. After this time you should have the same quantity of stuff but with a white fluffy mould appearing all over the place. The material won't have started to rot, it will be more "pickled". You should then drain off the liquid and tip the contents into a conventional compost bin.

I mix the bokashi contents with regular compost components including weeds and cardboard and it all seems to be rotting down nicely.

[submariner]

Thank you Chantal & Rosie, et al.
I think that is exactly what I was thinking. The resulting sludge(?) is all gooey and has the white stuff on it. I was as you said expecting something else more akin to normal compost.

[Belinda]

Well my bokashi bins have just arrived - finally!

Can't wait to get started, but did notice something in the accompanying leaflet that surprised me. It says teabags cannot be put in - does anyone NOT follow this advice and put them in anyway? Does anyone know why you're not suposed to put them in?

And finally, if you're not supposed to put in teabags, what about loose tea leaves or coffee grounds?

Any and all advice welcome.

[Colin_M]

Well my boIt says teabags cannot be put in - does anyone NOT follow this advice

I'd be interested to know reasons for & against too.

I have to admit I've been adding both teabags & tea leaves. There seems to be advice both for & against - here are some "fors":
http://www.greengardener.co.uk/bokashi.htm
http://marlborough.govt.nz/content/docs ... okashi.pdf

Guess it's possible that anything still hot from being in boiing water would be unhealthy for the microrganisms?


Colin

[Shallot Man]

Re tea bags /tea leaves. Recall a friend telling me after a visit to India/Srilanka, being told during a visit to a tea plantation, that tea bags were the finest invention that ever happened to them, as until then the loose tea dust was thrown under the tea bushes as waste. shallot man