Pernicious Weed Bokashi Experiment

I've mentioned on another thread that I was going to try using a water butt (US: Rain Barrel) as a bokashi bin so that I could compost my pernicious weeds, and some of the other members have expressed interest in being kept informed about how it goes.

Well I am soooooo pleased to say this is going great, so I am adding some of the details and what I have found from the past 2 month project.

First, let me introduce you to my water butt, now bokashi bucket. A 220 litre barrel with the most airtight lid you can imagine.

The lid works in two layers, very much like a Kelner jar: there is a stopper inner lid. I have wrapped this with a layer of plastic to cover the hole which is usually connected to a down pipe for collecting rain water.

The stopper lid gets pushed in tightly, and over that is the screw top lid.

Screwtop lid (sorry, forgot we can't get two pictures on)

More later, AA man has just arrived to rescue car.

The only alteration we did to the barrel is that we lowered the spigot - I wasn't sure that we would ever get enough Bokashi juice at the level the spigot was originally.

Now, a confession, I am a systematic weeder. I know, its sad, but true. I weed with two buckets and (try) to put all of the pernicious weeds in one bucket and the compostible in another. (We have them all: Ground elder, nettle, thistle, creeping buttercup, marestail, couch grass - we've got it) The pernicious used to go on the bonfire pile and were burned off occassionally, and it was bugging me to lose all of that green material. I wanted those weeds!

Having gotten interested in the bokashi for kitchen scraps I just couldn't see a reason it wouldn't work on a larger scale - so I have been feeding all pernicious weeds, roots, and seed heads into the water butt, tamping them down (if you look at picture 1 the thing that looks like a ventilation pipe is my tamper - it weighs about 4 kilos), and adding bokashi bran for almost 2 mo. now. I was a bit concerned with how little moisture content there seemed to be, so having filled the butt about 1/3, I added a gallon (roughly 5 litre) bucket of AEM to the contents, and then continued the remaining filling by ending each weekend's weeding with a spray of AEM.

Yesterday was the first day I was able to draw off Bokashi juice - golden, slightly glaucous, clear, and completely odourless - in fact after the first 2 weeks there has been no odour at all - and yet the weeds at the top are decidedly different from when they went in. I am thrilled to bits. I'll leave this to sit now for 2 weeks, continuing to draw off liquid, and then add to my new lasagne bed.

This is the one snag I think I am going to face - getting it out of the butt. I realized as I was filling this its not the greatest shape for disgourging pickled weeds - I am currently trying to source another water butt that is as airtight as this one.

All I can say is it seems to work on a larger scale, and it is as easy as that. Love to have someone else give it a go and see how they get on.

Laurie! That is Great!!!! I sure like the look of that water barrel. Isn't that bokashi juice amazing? Using it on the areas in the yard and the AEM1 on the compost piles and my fruit and nut trees. I'm so pleased. My black walnuts seem to be taking on new life. They are a older type evidently, they started bearing about 15 years ago biannually. They were beginning to look a bit "rough" and scraggly, but I see more new leaf growth and the look like they are just standing up straighter! LOL

good for those trees!

From what I'm hearing about the bokashi compost method is , it works, now I need to find out more about it.I like your set up, BTW Laurie1, and do want to learn more about it.Wher on earth did you find thebut container?Looks like something hard to come by.Mike

I'm not sure where you can find this in the US - these were left by the previous owner of our farm, but I do know that he got them at an Army Surplus store - when is another question.

But I wouldn't let that put you off - it is quite a simple job to make almost anything work, and I think any large container with a good snap on lid should do the trick. Its incredibly easy to add a spigot at the bottom to draw off the Bokashi juice. We used one that just needed a starter hole drilled and then the spigot was self tapping into the hole.

I just googled rain barrel and came up with this http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/stewardship/nw-yard-and-garden/rain-barrels.aspx if you scroll down half way the orange barrel looks like a similar system

This message was edited Jul 1, 2008 9:00 AM

Yes it does, thank you.Also, do you know a source for how this works? I know nothing about this, and sounds good.I can't find this on DG anywhere.Mike

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/852349/ Here's the thread on Bokashi

mqiq - doccat got there first. Do join in on the bokashi thread, and ask all the questions you have - like you I came to this with zero knowledge until earlier this year, and found those already talking Bokashi here on DG were enormously welcoming of all my elementary questions. Through their generosity of spirit and the ease of the process I was up and running with this method in almost no time at all - and pushing its boundaries to 220 ltr. containers! It seems pretty forgiving system!

So, welcome - having another newbie on the thread will stretch us all to think even further about this wonderful way to compost.

Yeah! Laurie. I too just started about a year ago and absolutely thrilled with the whole process. The yard is looking good, and veggie area is really doing extra well. I had good soil to begin with, we've been practicing organic methods for many years, but I'm amazed at the results of the bokashi. I wanted to improve my soil even more and this is really working for us. Very impressed!

gosh, and in such a short time Doc, I just assumed you were one of the long-time users.

This has not been one of the usual weeks for me, I am trying to buy our daughter a dependable car, after her DH wrecked the other with a deer.I am going to get involved with the thread, and begin with learning what bokashi is.Mike

I have two 10 gallion milk cans, that I can use, will that work? You can make them air tight.Mike

This message was edited Jul 3, 2008 12:07 AM

This is the sort of question that throws me right out of my depth, Mike - but I am wondering if the milk cans are metal.

My understanding is that bokashi works by pickling the plant material which then allows it to break down quickly when exposed to soil, air, and microbial growth - I'm wondering if the pickling process and the metal might interact. I would suggest a plastic container with a snap on lid is a good place to start.

Makes sence to me, I understand more each time I ask an elamentry question. Mike

Its nice having you on board - and I do find that elementary questions often help clarify my own understanding. So ask away - but do check into the Bokashi thread too, that's where the real experts are.

Wow Laurie! Has it been two months already? How time flies when you're pickling weeds. :D

EM culture and Bokashi has a way of growing on you. Try a little here, great results!.......try a little there, great results!....where can we try it next?

One of the things I've noticed with the garden is that more EM of Bokashi I use, the less fertilzer (even organic fertilizer) I need for the vegetables. I realize that the Bokashi juice/fermented plant extracts provide nutrients as well, it just seems like the EM culture really boosts what the plants can utilize, so I don't need as much of the other amendments.

Interesting information GM.

I'm experimenting also with spraying one of our apple trees with EM - every year this one tree developes a black, smutty, fungus, none of the others are effected. I remember Eric saying that with EMA the good bacteria increases leaving less area for bad bacteria - so I decided to spray the entire tree on a fortnightly basis. So far, no smutty fungus. I'm trying it on the tomato plants too - to try and beat the botrytis wiping out the crop. Too early to know yet - it doesn't usually start up before August.

Do keep us posted on the apple tree and tomatoes. I've just decided to spray out whole garden plot with EM regularly. The plants seem happier when I remember to do this.

The APNAN manual did mention that many of the farms were able to use less fertilzer with regular Bokashi and EM applications, so I think I'm on the right track.
I need to find a larger bucket for the community garden. I want to ferment the bermuda/Johnson grass so that we can add the remains to the compost. I'll have to see if we can find something similar to your water butt.

I think I will follow your lead and now spray the other trees since the first one is doing so well and begin a programme of working through the rest of the vegetable garden. I have a lasagne bed that I am just about to top out with well rotted manure to let it rest now until next year. I was wondering about spraying out the bed before putting the manure on. Would this be beneficial?

Please keep us posted on the community garden bokashi - I think it would be interesting to have several of us try this on the larger scale and report back. However, what I would suggest when you are choosing a container is to be sure and get a water butt/rain barrel with no shoulders - I really am dreading having to prise this stuff out of mine (which is tomorrow's job, getting it onto the lasagne bed before I cover it over).

And by the way, happy 4th of July.

If you've drained the liquid out of the water butt, can you lay the barrel down and roll it over to the lasagne bed before scooping out the contents? Perhaps I have missed something in what you are trying to do?

No, you haven't missed anything - if you look at the barrel in the top picture, I used a barrel that is wider at the middle than at the opening. By the time I compacted the weeds (which I do with gusto!) all of the contents are in there, solidly. And it is now incredibly heavy, has a spigot so I can't roll it, and smaller opening means I can't slide it out (it gets congested).

Well, it is an experiment - method works, container needs a bit of rethinking.




This message was edited Jul 5, 2008 4:31 PM

Thanks Laurie, and doccat5, for the Bokashi thread, and I am learning a good bit about the method, and can see it being benificial.
Laurie, can you put an old "cow chain" down in your barrel, and then put the "pickles " in, and that can help you loosen from inside the barrel.You could lay the two ends of the chain on either side of the barrel,load your stuff, and lay the chain on top of every thing, and when time comes to empty, the chain would help dislodge the materal.Just a thaught.Mike

Mike, that is absolutely brillant idea! Thank you indeed!