Frequently Asked Questions

For 95% of people, the answer is 2. Having two bokashi buckets allows you to continue to fill one bucket whilst the other bucket is fermenting.

But don’t be deterred if you only have space for one bokashi bucket. You can still be successful, but it may be harder to continuously collect and bokashi all of your food waste.

If you have a large family, or busy restaurant and you are filling your bokashi bucket in less than two weeks, you should consider adding a third (or more) bucket to your bokashi composting system.

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This will depend on your local climate. Remember that your bokashi kitchen composter should not be exposed to extreme temperatures or direct sunlight. Room temperature is ideal for the bokashi composter. Most people choose to keep their bokashi bucket in their kitchen. Conveniently located close to where food waste is produced. The airtight design of our bins mean that there is no odor when the lid is sealed.

Your bokashi bucket should be fine outside or in your garage during parts of the year. Be careful to keep it out of direct sun and ensure that the temperature remains close to room temperature. This may mean that you want to bring it in over the colder winter months (depending on your local climate).

No, bokashi composting is not difficult. Unlike traditional composting, there is no need to worry about mixes of green and brown material.

Bokashi composting is fairly new to many people so you may have questions as you start out, but most people soon find a rhythm that works for them.

Really, it’s all about the microbes. Science shows that the primary building blocks of all life begins with healthy, and diverse, microbial activity. Just as microbes play an essential part in our own body’s health, microbes also play an important part in the health of our soil and gardens. Simply put, plants thrive when the soil is full of beneficial microorganisms. And adding quality compost to the soil is the only way to get that.

Composting is, fundamentally, all about successfully harvesting microbes. These microbes multiply on the organic matter we supply for them, and ultimately end up in our garden soil where they produce wonderful results. For homeowners, food waste is the cream of the crop for feeding these microbes. It has a much higher value for building healthy, bio-diverse soils than general yard trimmings.

Bokashi compost is richer in effective microorganisms than any other form of compost!

Raccoons, rats and other pests are naturally inquisitive animals. So they may, from time to time, find buried bokashi. However, animals and pests do not like fermented food so shouldn’t be attracted to the fully fermented and well buried bokashi compost.

Our high quality bokashi buckets are completely airtight meaning that when the lid is sealed, there is no odor.

The bokashi’d food waste itself is not odorless. It should have a sour pickle-like odor.

Snow may cover your garden during some (or all) of the winter and your soil may be too frozen to dig into. This can obviously make the trench method of burying your bokashi pre-compost pretty difficult. But don’t worry, there are still a number of ways in which you can add the bokashi pre-compost to your garden:

1. Continue using the trench method
If you are still able to dig your soil then make the most of the winter months and use the trench method. Alternatively, dig a large trench before your ground freezes and use this to put your pre-compost during the winter months.

2. Add to your compost pile
Alternatively, add your pre-compost to your compost pile. The microbes in the fermented bokashi pre-compost will add life to your compost pile. This life is really beneficial particularly during winter when your compost pile is fairly inactive.

3. Make a soil factory
If your ground is frozen and difficult to dig then try making a soil factory. Using a soil factory eliminates the need to dig a trench in your soil and means that you will have plenty of compost ready to use in your garden in the spring.

4. Store the pre-compost
Another great option during the winter is to simply leave your pre-compost over the winter. Place your pre-compost in an airtight container and then add to your garden, containers, compost pile etc in the spring. Once it has completed it’s two weeks fermentation it is less sensitive to cold temperatures. Sub-zero temperatures will simply cause the bokashi microbes to become dormant. Avoid large fluctuations in temperature. It’s best to keep your airtight container out if direct sun or wind. Remember to add a thick few layers of paper (or other absorbent material) to soak up any excess liquids. Simply store your fermented food waste until you need it.

Read more tips for getting the most out of your bokashi composter through the winter.

If you don’t fill your bin every 2 weeks, don’t worry. You have two options:

1. Continue to add food waste and bokashi bran until your bin is full (the fermenting food waste can stay in your bokashi bucket for longer than the minimum of 2 weeks).

2. After 2 weeks, cover your food waste in your first bucket and start working on your next bokashi bucket. To prevent air getting to your fermenting food waste make sure to cover with a plastic bag, piece of cardboard or kitchen plate.

Your preferred option will likely depend on how quickly you want to add the pre-compost to your soil and start seeing the benefits of your bokashi compost in your garden.

Yes, you can add all of these items to your bokashi kitchen composter. Though be careful as most tea bags contain plastic so should not be added to any composting system.

However, remember that the bokashi process feeds off of the sugars and carbs present in food waste. If you want to maximize the quality of your bokashi compost, we would recommend keeping these items out of your bokashi bucket. Instead, save the space in your bokashi bucket for valuable food waste.

That said, if you are striving for zero waste and are happy if your finished compost still has larger visible items, then by all means add these items, Remember to be more generous with adding bokashi bran if you are adding shells and larger items to your bokashi kitchen composter.

It really is up to you.

Yes, both cooked and raw meat can be safely added to the bokashi bin.

Below is a quick answer, for more information about composting meat in a bokashi composter vs a regular compost pile, this post may be helpful: https://bokashiliving.com/composting-meat-bones-and-cooked-food/

The main problem of composting meat in an ordinary compost bin is the harmful pathogens that can may be contained in the decomposing meat. These can be destroyed by high temperatures, but these are hard to achieve in a regular compost pile, particularly year round. Other problems include pests and foul odors.

However, adding meat to your bokashi composter helps with all three of these potential problems. Firstly, the bokashi microbes help to destroy harmful pathogens in your meat. Secondly, the majority of the bokashi composting process occurs in a sealed environment meaning that it does not produce foul odors or attract pests. And, finally, bokashi composting uses a fermentation (or pickling) process. This, again, means that no foul odors or produced and is not attractive to pests.

2 weeks is the minimum amount of time we would recommend leaving your bokashi bucket to ferment.

But it is perfectly ok to leave the sealed bin for much longer than 2 weeks. In fact, adding an extra few days to the fermentation process if often beneficial. Once the fermentation process has completed, the bokashi microbes will simply go dormant. The well sealed bin can be left for months, likely years, before being added to your garden or compost pile.

Just remember to keep draining any bokashi tea so that the contents don’t get too wet and start to smell.

Compostable plastics need industrial composting conditions to break down. They may break down eventually in a bokashi composter, but these are not the conditions under which the suitability for composting has been tested. As such we would not recommend putting them into the bokashi composter. Save space in your bokashi composter for food waste which the microbes will feed on and thrive.