After I bought my first hydroponics kit, I stopped buying most of its parts except for the nutrients. I've always been curious how I can make the nutrients myself. I also wondered why when planting in soil, it seems to be the default to buy a bag of soil and some fertiliser. I know you can compost food scraps and make a nutrient-rich soil but what if I want nutrients that I can also use for hydroponics? I want to make both my hydroponic plants and soil plants happy.
While looking up composting, "bokashi" came up. As someone who lives in an apartment with a small balcony and no garden, the idea of a pre-composting method that requires little space and produces no foul smell was appealing to me. I ordered a set of two bokashi bins including a bag of bokashi bran from Amazon.
I placed our kitchen scraps - egg shells, vegetable trimmings, banana peels, pieces of brown paper bags shredded into small pieces, and even small pieces of meat. Yes, meat is allowed in bokashi. I was reminded of my cherry tomatoes that grew so many branches and leaves. I trimmed them every week and kept the leaves out in the open until they are brown. I put the brown leaves in the bokashi bin. I added some fresh leaves too. I also have some Thai red chilli plants that grow a lot of "suckers" or little plants at the base. Now I can put them to good use.
I followed the instructions - sprinkle a bit of bokashi bran into the bottom of the bin, add a layer of food waste (about 1 in or 2.5 cm), add 1 tablespoon of bokashi bran, layer of food waste again, bran, repeat.
The bins came with rubber lids that are supposed to help push the materials down and remove air since this method works through anaerobic (without oxygen) fermentation.
I add food scraps to the bin and check the bottom of the bin for liquid every few days. It's recommended to collect the liquid to avoid foul smell. It was after a week that my bin produced what is called "bokashi tea". It's the nutrient-rich liquid produced during fermentation. The liquid smelled like alcohol and.. banana. I remember putting only three banana peelings in there but it doesn't matter. The point is it didn't smell foul at all and that's a good thing since I have the bins in my office.
I read that you are supposed to use the liquid within 24 hours of collection. At the time, I just fertilised my plants so I ended up using the liquid to clean up the drains in the apartment. I read that it's good at breaking down debris. I just poured it directly down the drains, left it for a few hours and then washed it off with water. The liquid can also be added to existing compost piles to speed up the process of composting.
I will keep posting updates about this topic since this process takes a while. Next, I would like to:
- Make a comparison of two plants where one is supplemented with bokashi tea
- Harvest the solids from the bin and turn them into soil
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