My Bokashi Bin is Full…Now What?

So you’ve managed to fill your first bokashi bucket. Congratulations. Now you want to know what to do next, right?

Well, the first thing you do is pull out a second bokashi bucket to use while the first one goes into phase 2. Phase 2 means you’ve got to place your filled bokashi bucket someplace out of the way to let it sit and ferment for at least 2 weeks.

Don’t put it too far out of the way because you still have to drain the bokashi tea every other day or so. The tea is precious and you don’t want to waste it. Dilute it and water your plants and/or lawn with it.

If you don’t have plants or a lawn, or you already watered everything a day ago with the last ration of tea, pour it undiluted down the drain. Drains and septic tanks love bokashi tea microbes.

Take a sticky pad or tape a piece of paper to the top of the filled bucket and jot down the filled date. Also, jot down the date two weeks from the fill date. This way you’ll know when you can proceed to the next step.

Start Bokashi Bucket # 2

Hopefully, you purchased or made two bokashi buckets. When bucket number one is fermenting, it’s time to pull out bucket number two and start the process all over again.

If you have a large family and fill your buckets quickly, maybe it’s time to think about making (or purchasing) a third bucket. Since they’re so inexpensive and easy to make, creating your own is recommended.

For the next two weeks, you’ll be filling bucket number two and draining buckets 1 and 2. You’ll have twice as much tea to cover twice as much lawn or clean the drains more frequently.

Things to Think About

While bucket number 1 is fermenting, think of how you want to complete the process. When the bokashi is properly fermented, it has to be buried. It can be buried in a yard or in a container with soil.

If you opt for the yard, think about where you want to bury it. If you opt for a container, think about what type of container and where to put the container. By the way, it’s perfectly acceptable to complete the bokashi process indoors (just a little food for thought if you’re reading this in the middle of a harsh Hudson Valley New York winter and the snow is knee-deep outside).