Bokashi Compost Anyone?

So I've been reading about bokashi composting. Anyone out there using this method?
Is anyone cultivating the own bacteria or do you buy the bokashi culture?
This guy uses newpaper rather than buying oat bran
http://bokashicomposting.com/. He states that one can use yogurt whey to start the culture. Has anyone tried it.
If I introduce lactobacilli from yogurt whey onto my existing compost pile will this create a same or similar effect? I have 1-2 gallons of yogurt a month available. Or is the absence of oxygen vital to the process?
It states that people compost meat, fatty foods, cooked foods and pet waste. Does anyone do this and how does it effect the quality of the compost?
Do you bury your bokashi or leave it in a tub or some other container?
It sounds as though I can get rid of a lot more waste with this method.
Thanks for the input.

I 've been doing it for a bit over a year now.

Works great and easy to do. Cheap after the initial investment and even that isn't much.

No time right now, but I'll expound on it all later.

Do you have a worm bin? If so, you are 85% there already.

Wet

Yeah I have a worm bin and an outside compost heap.

A couple of vids first. I suck at links, so I'll just give you the titles. YouTube

"How to make Bokashi" by Podchef

"Activating Effective Microorganisms (EM)" by gardenerspantry

The really nice thing about EM is you can expand it quite a bit. Off the top of my head, you can make ~8 gallons from 1 qt of EM concentrate and it works just as good.

My first Bokashi, I made with the wheat bran like in the video, mainly for use as worm food. Then, I tried alfalfa meal, first as a supplement for my mj and then as a worm food. The worms loved both and I still use both. The castings produced are unreal, as you can imagine.

As a supplement, everything is available much sooner after the fermentation. It's really a win-win situation.

I did not spend the money on those overpriced Bokashi buckets. What a rip off! I either use 5 gal buckets to make the Bokashi in, or Plastic coffee cans for the food scraps, with a handful of the bokashi bran added.

I'm also doing my worm bins a bit different, but that's another thread.

Wet

So do you feed a 5 gallon buck at a time to your worms?

No, after it's done, I just keep the bucket next to the bins and toss in a handful or three. Depends on what else I have to feed them.

Wet

I swear by the stuff. It is some bad A$s. I love Bokashi. Started using it long ago when I grew Awa plants. I also have implemented them in my vegetable garden and have some humongous results. Literally. Leaves are larger, plants get larger growth. I make my own Bokashi too. It takes about a month for some good quality bokashi, but its worth the wait. I use rice bran. It is by far the finest texture and is the best for mixing. I am implementing this bokashi in all of my gardening needs. Bar none when it comes to micro organisms. Mix it up with some blood meal and bone meal in your soil and let sit for 2 weeks. When it has aged do your transplants and hold on. You might enjoy the experience. Less bugs also. You can also use the EM added to your nutrient program for better uptake. You will also use half the nutes you normally would use. Saves money. Bokashi rules!

Very intresting stuff. I am going to be haveing above ground garden beds installed in my backyard as my soil is not good for gardening. I am gonna try and recycle my leftover soil from my indoor garden and use it in my raised bed garden. Would this Bokashi be good in those type gardens? I guess as soon as the soil gets installed in the garden I can start building the soil. Is keeping worm bins much work? How much time is involved careing for them? Sounds like soil building is as much a hobby as it is work.

Grasshopper

<Grasshopper> said:

Very intresting stuff. I am going to be haveing above ground garden beds installed in my backyard as my soil is not good for gardening. I am gonna try and recycle my leftover soil from my indoor garden and use it in my raised bed garden. Would this Bokashi be good in those type gardens? I guess as soon as the soil gets installed in the garden I can start building the soil. Is keeping worm bins much work? How much time is involved careing for them? Sounds like soil building is as much a hobby as it is work.

Grasshopper

Click to expand...

I spend about 1/2 hr/week on my 2 worm bins, sometimes less. Worms mostly like to be left alone.

The bokashi works great indoors, outdoors, wherever. The mj is perhaps 20% or less of what I grow, so I'm mainly using the bokashi/fermented organics on my raised bed garden and container veggies. All the containers get the same organic mix. After the third recycle, it goes on the raised garden.

It is time consuming to get both the worm bins and bokashi up to speed, but once there, it is pretty much a constant supply.

Wet