Sunday, November 16, 2008

Just how quickly does Bokashi break down? - compost bin

Further to Just how quickly does Bokashi break down? the wormery is looking rather wet and miserable after all the rain we have had recently.

wormery

Normally I would have added a good dose of shredded paper to help dry it out (as well as add some much needed carbon), but for the purpose of this experiment I haven't so that I can see what is happening with the added Bokashi. However, the temperature recently has dropped considerably, which has slowed everything down and, in true British fashion, it hasn't stopped raining so the whole thing is looking wet and slimy. Rather than hide the Bokashi with shredded paper I have added a Wiggly Wigglers moisture mat in the hope of drying things out a little and giving the worms some much needed warmth so they can continue their job.

wormbin with moisture mat

I also have a Bokashi bin ready to empty:

Bokashi 16/11/2008

and decided to add it to the compost bin so I can compare how that breaks down against within the wormery. Here's the bin before I added the bokashi:

compost bin before bokashi added

and here it is after:

compost bin with bokashi added

Let's hope the weather doesn't get too cold over the next few weeks so that we can see some progress...

2 comments:

Jane Perrone, Horticultural blog said...

A good alternative to the moisture mat in these recessionary times is an old woollen jumper (must be 100 percent wool). Breaks down beautifully and keeps the worms warm in the meantime.

Bokashi Bucket Dave said...

Great Site.
I have found that Bokashi breaks down a lot quicker when the contents are broken or cut into smaller pieces before putting them in. Especially things like orange peels. It also breaks down faster if you are alternating between 2 bokashi buckets.
Cheers Dave