Bad bokashi tea
Harumi asked 3 years ago
Hi, While away from home the bokashi tea was not drained timely, a lot came out and has a horrible foul smell. The bin is normally stored in the garage and during the heat wave the temp reached over 90F for several days. I used to notice the white stuff when I would open to fill it but don’t see anything now, it looks wet, no mold. Can the tea in that condition still be used as fertilizer? Could the bin fail due to lack of drainage and high temp? If is bad, is it safe to dump it in my compost bin or should I burry it?
Thank you for the advice!
Nicki Casley Staff answered 3 years ago
90 degrees F isnt too hot to do any damage to the microbes. In fact, at that temp it will likely speed them up. But if you left the tea to accumulate so that it came into contact with the food in the bottom of the bin, it may have caused the tea (and possibly some of the food waste that was covered by the tea) to go bad. We cant say for sure, but if you think that the tea smells “off” from normal, then likely the tea has gone bad. It can safely be put down the kitchen sink, no worries there on any level. Seeing the white mold is not at all a requirement for success. We find that it appears rather randomly, and if you dont see it there is no reason to be concerned. As for the contents of the bin, we recommend that if you do not see any dark color molds in there (brown, green, blue or black), then it is likely still healthy and good and therefor can be safely dug into your compost pile (or garden) without any concerns.