Bokashi not working but not smelly
Rachel Dodman asked 3 years ago
Hi,
I filled up my first bokashi bin with a mixture of food waste and bokashi bran. I sealed it (although I didn’t use a plastic bag at the top) and left it, draining off the tea every so often. After two weeks it looked exactly the same. It has now been at least a month, and the volume hasn’t dropped at all and the contents still look the same as they did at the beginning – I can still see the bokashi bran!. There is no bad smell, and no mould.
Should I leave it longer?
Nicki Casley Staff answered 3 years ago
Sounds like everything is perfectly fine! Remember, there is no breakdown (or rotting) happening in the bokashi bin. Instead, it is fermentation at work here. So… the materials should look very much the same as they did originally. But now they are physiologically very different, and are ready for rapid assimilation into your garden soil or compost pile. Two weeks in the bokashi bin is usually all the time it takes to complete the fermentation, but waiting a full month as you have can make it even better. We recommend that you now complete the final step, and get the fermented food waste into the garden.