Extreme Bokashi - make your own innoculant

[biigblueyes]

How did the bokashi bucket making go? Are you ready for our next Bokashi adventure?

Inquiring Mind was thinking. Certainly all the good microbes don't live in Japan. How did they come up with the "perfect blend" of microbes? They experimented until they found one that was stable and marketable. Are there other microbes out there that will work too? I'm sure there are zillions of combinations of microbes that will give very good results.

Here's a method called Newspaper Bokashi. You start with the water you wash rice with, ferment it with milk, give your newspaper a bath in the potion, and dry the newspaper. The newspaper is innoculated with your microbes. You then use the bokashi bucket, layering your kitchen scraps with the newspaper instead of bran.

http://bokashicomposting.com/

COLLECTING WILD LACTOBACILLUS
Combine 1 part rice to 2 parts water. Shake or stir vigorously. Drain. The water will be cloudy. Lightly cover it. (Canning jar and ring to hold a coffee filter, cheesecloth or piece of paper towel should work) Air should be able to move in and out. The liquid should fill only 1/4 to 1/2 of the jar. Need a LOT of air exposure. Place in a cool dark place for 4 - 8 days. It should smell somewhat sour. Strain out any particles.

PURIFYING THE LACTOBACILLUS
Put the ricewater in a larger container. Add 10 parts milk or skim milk. Cover lightly, ferment for 14 days. Most of he solids should float to the top, leaving a yellowish liquid. Strain off the solids. This is your purified lactobacillus serum. (Don't you feel like a real scientist now?)

INNOCULATING YOUR NEWSPAPER
Take 1 part serum, 1 part molasses and 6 parts water. Soak newspapers, then drain. Put the newspaper in ziplock bags, squeeze air out and ferment for 10 days to 2 weeks. Remove newspaper, separate the layers and lay them out to dry.

[biigblueyes]

If you make yogurt, you can skip the first 2 steps. Use the live active yogurt whey that you get when you make yogurt cheese as your lactobacillus serum.

[Staff]

I'll be watching this thread. With a catchy title like 'Extreme Bokashi', who could resist?

[biigblueyes]

If you are not planning to save and use the bokashi juice, you don't need to make a special bucket. Any bucket with snap on lid will do.

If you want to harvest the bokashi juice, get busy and put that spigot in, or drill those holes.

NO-JUICE METHOD
Start with 2 to 3 inches of absorbent material - newspaper, sawdust, etc.

Use high-carbohydrate waste as the bottom layer. Layer no more than 1/2 inch of waste, 1 layer of newspaper, repeat.

Chopping the waste small gives a faster, more uniform end result. Press out as much air as possible each time you add waste. Save your scraps and try to only open the bucket once a day to add more.

[doccat5]

Very interesting, biigblueeyes. I book marked that url. I do have concerns about the "balance" of microbes available in this culture, but I'm willing to give it a try. And I got the buckets, no problem, LOL.

[Equilibrium]

"Oh, I’ve been experimenting with adding a tablespoon of healthy garden soil to the bucket after it’s started well (4-5 days) to culture more of the naturally occurring anaerobic digestive microorganisms, but I’m convinced it’s not necessary. The bokashi compost with just the lacto decomposed quickly in the garden" This makes perfect sense.

I caught at your link that this is a replacement for commercially available products. That interests me. The photos showed the whole process. This is the ultimate kitchen experiment. You are incredible for digging this up biigblueyes!

"Making your own bokashi starter culture in place of commercially available EM is incredibly easy.
My goal from the start was to produce bokashi compost without the use of expensive EM, bran or fancy buckets.
The most important component of the commercial EM in relation to bokashi is lactobacillus bacteria, the others are secondary (if at all necessary) and can be cultured in the bucket when conditions are favorable.
I culture my own lactobacillus serum starting with a rice wash water solution.
Making the serum is amazingly simple.
I mix one part rice thoroughly with two parts water (1/2 a cup to one cup). Mix thoroughly and vigorously. Drain. The resulting water should be cloudy.
Place the rice water in a container with 50-75% head space allowing plenty of air to circulate. Cover lightly (air should be able to move in and out of the container) and place in a cool dark spot for 5-8 days.
At the end of the wait the mixture should smell mildly sour.
Strain out any particles."

[Equilibrium]

"How did the bokashi bucket making go?"Not so good. I forgot I was going to be gone this weekend. I also didn't have time to buy a drill bit for the one spigot.

"Are you ready for our next Bokashi adventure?" Does a bear crap in the woods?

[LadySapphire22]

tablespoon of healthy garden soil

Do make sure you have chosen an area that preferably has not had any type of veg grown in it before. Remember both beans, tomatoes and potatoes harbor soil fungi and virus normally. You do not want to introduce something like that to the mix.

[biigblueyes]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

Are you ready for our next Bokashi adventure?" Does a bear crap in the woods?

If I remember correctly, as long as you're not using it on food crops, you can even throw THAT in the bucket.

[biigblueyes]

Gil Carandang is a Phillipine farmer and scientist who holds classes to show folks they can improve their soil cheaply - Cultivating Beneficial Indigenous Organisms. The article is about him and it's quite interesting. It doesn't give specific instructions to recreate the potions at home - but I'm still looking!

Using the ordinary to cultivate beneficial indigenous microorganisms