What is a Bokashi system?

Answer 1

Bokashi is the Japanese term that means literally fermented organic matter. A bokashi system is the collection of components required to convert organic matter, typically food waste to its "pickled" form so that it can then be put into the ground to be converted by soil microbes to its most stable form. This process is very rapid taking about 1 week and puts nearly 100% of the nutrients back to the soil. The soil microbes are intimately involved in the process and this results in a great increase in the diversity and number of microbes. A key component in the process is a mixture of microbes usually sustained on wheat bran with molasses. The wheat bran is used to innoculate the food waste that is added to a fermenter that is then closed to exclude oxygen. In the anaerobic chamber of the fermenter the microbes immediately activate and began to metaboilize (pickle) the food waste.

Bokashi systems help restore soil and reduce the dependence on pesticides and fertilizers which are well known to kill soil microbes making farmers and gardeners dependent on these petro chemically derived toxins use to encourage plant growth. A bokashi system for fermentation immediately results in the reduction of greenhouse gases as the process occurs in a closed system where oxygen is excluded. It is done under acidic conditions because of the microbes that are used in the system produce weak acids in the metabolism of the food waste as they break down the food waste sustaining a low pH. This eliminates any possibility of methane production because the organisms responsible for methane production (methanogens) can not survive in acidic environments. Other potential organisms that could harm man or animals (pathogenic microbes) are out competed and can not survive in the harsh anaerobic and acidic environment that occurs in the bokashi system.

Bokashi fermentation may be useful if used properly in recovering arid lands, is widely used in many parts of the world to sustain farming practices without a dependence on fertilizers and pesticides and appears in many tests to increase farm crop yields. Gardeners use it to improve their soil for vegetable and flower gardens and are able to eliminate or greatly reduce pesticide and fertilizer dependence.

Bokashi systems are normally used in the home making it easier for the consumer to deal with food waste. Smells are virtually eliminated and vermin like rats and mice are not attracted to the material in the sealed container. Animals are not attracted to the fermented end product while it is broken down in the soil (see www.bokashicycle.com)