Is Bokashi Good for Plants?

Adding Bokashi pre-compost, or bio pulp, to a raised bed veggie garden

TL/DR: Yes, abundantly.

Bokashi composting is so many things: fast, effective, helpful, and easy. We think everyone should try it and reap the benefits in your garden.

How to use your Bokashi

When your bucket is full of food waste - including things like meat, bones, pizza, and citrus - you let it sit and ferment for just 2 weeks.

Since Bokashi is anaerobic, or without oxygen, you use an airtight lid which helps the bucket keep any of that fun and funky fermented scent out of your kitchen.

We think it smells like a subtle sherry vinegar, and delight in the smell. But we may not be all the way normal.

Once your bucket sits and ferments for 2 weeks it’s turned into pre-compost, or bio pulp, and it’s ready to add to your garden. 

Adding your Bokashi bio pulp to your garden is simple:

• You can dig a hole (or trench, depending on volume) and bury the pre-compost right in your garden beds for your flowers, shrubs, and veggies to enjoy.

• If you’re tight on garden space, you can use a wheelbarrow, bucket, pot, or other container to mix the pre-compost with some soil and use it on your plants after the food has broken down enough to no longer be recognizable.

• We’ve found this process usually takes another 2-3 weeks depending on how small you cut your food scraps and the weather (if it’s really cold, the process could slow a bit).

Why is Bokashi composting so great?

Microbes are all those teeny, typically invisible organisms that do the heavy lifting in soil. (See our article on The White Fuzz growing in your bins here). 

Microbes include fungi, yeasts, and bacterias, but don’t be alarmed - they’re the good guys in your soil.

They help break down byproducts that your plants send out through their roots, and attract macrobes (the bigger organisms like worms) to your garden. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic friendship. 

Bokashi bio pulp in your garden helps plants by:

• Inhibiting plant pathogens, especially in the root zone

• Decomposing waste while attracting good microbes

• Contributing to nitrogen fixation

• Degrading hydrocarbons in the soil

• Improving the bioavailability of nutrients in soil

So, pat yourself on the back for diverting your food waste and turning it into mystical microbes, helping your plants grow nice and strong.