Heard about this stuff recently and been doing light research. Anyone familiar with the stuff first hand and how it differs from traditional compost?
Supposed to help it break down compost faster. Personally I never needed it because my compost seems to break down pretty quick without it and it's expensive. I hear people using it in the bonsi world. Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
Here's some bokashi threads. It was a thing here several years ago but I don't see it talked about much anymore, I still have the better part of a gallon of the EM-1 brand that's been sitting around here since 2012. I wouldn't buy it again but would make it from scratch. I experimented with it on some plants and used too much and it stunted the growth. I found that the best use of it was to inoculate carbonized rice hulls and use the rice hulls on the floor of my chicken coop for odor control. Also used it to break down old root balls in a tote to help recycle my soil. I believe the KNF style of gardening leans on Bokashi/fermentation as part of it's protocol. I'm sure others will chime in and sorry for not being much help.
Get JADAM Organic Farming and it will answer any question you have in regards to this and lead you to any direction you so desire to go with it. Albeit I'm not linking you directly to bokashi, what I referred to is like "bokashi" refined and abstractly defined in a way that it is digestible for the common man.
I just started using it. Supposed to liven up the microbes Sent from my SM-N960U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Are you talking bokashi bran to use as an amendment for your soil? Or using bokashi methods to compost (what it was originally developed for)? If you're using it for your soil, I believe a few years ago it was a passing fad. Most people found it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. If you're using it to compost, then it's a great method and I'd be happy to share what I know about it with you.
My current method is ffof with worm casting, and a list of soil amendments. I was considering adding some of this to aid in breaking down the stuff like kelp meal, beam etc faster for my plants so I wouldn’t have to cook the medium as long. I’ll start my research into what you guys have mentioned so far. Appreciate the point in the right direction. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
The way I think about this is that you're really looking for bacteria and fungi to break down/make the nutrients available to the plants. This should be easily accomplished with the EWC and compost - both of which ought to be chock full of microbiota. Adding bokashi bran is unlikely to get you better or faster results. The bran is not a compost - it's literally wheat bran that's been inoculated with "Essential Microbes" (I believe lactobacillus, and a few other bacteria as well as yeast). So you'd use this to start bokashi composting - it's not a composted material on its own. Unless you're adding a TON of ingredients, particularly "hot" ones like alfalfa meal, you're unlikely to need to cook for a super long time. I see 1-2 months being optimum, though YMMV. If I were you, I'd skip the bokashi and try to stick with a mix like the coots/mofo mix (or as close as you can make it with the FFOF as a major constituent maybe replacing some of the EWC/Compost component). I'd still consider adding some *high quality* compost (i.e., not municipal compost. I highly recommend Bu's Blend by Malibum or Lobster compost by Coast of Maine) and go lighter on the EWC as EWC can make your mix muddy/sticky if you add too much. Hth!
Let’s pretend for a sec I’m not 100% sure what you mean by EWC... Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
But glad to know I wasn’t missing out on something extraordinary. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
2 bags of nectar 4 soil. 10 cups of bokashi, 20 cups of worm castings, 5 cups of one shot amendments Sent from my SM-N960U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Fox did something a few years ago to buffer the soils. I cant control its ph anymore. Plus it is filled with too much wood and rocks. Sent from my SM-N960U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Im thinking about getting more of these bags as I'm low on soil for my next grow. But there's rocks in it like big river stones.