If you've been adding kitchen scraps to your bokashi bucket for over a week but still haven't seen any bokashi tea production, you're probably wondering why.
Little or no tea production doesn't mean the process isn't working. As long as the contents of the bucket smell fermented or yeasty, the process is probably carrying on just fine.
It is not necessary for the bokashi to be producing leachate in order for fermentation to occur. However, if you like using the bokashi tea, there are a few things you can do to get your bucket producing juice once more.
There are a few likely reasons your bokashi isn't producing liquid:
- You've added too much bokashi bran and too little fruit and vegetable scraps. If you aren't using bokashi bran but a bacterial culture spray only, you may want to spray down your scraps more generously, but don't overdo it. If there's condensation on the lid of the bucket when you open it, you've added too much moisture.
- Alternately, your scrap to bran ratio may be technically correct, but the items you have added are predominantly low water content things like eggshells, dried-out vegetable peelings, or compostable paper products. When you start adding high water content scraps like wet coffee grounds, melon rinds, or apple cores, the situation should correct itself. In the meantime, if you want tea, you can try adding a small amount of moisture anytime you add dry scraps to the bucket.
- You may be keeping the bucket on the cool side, which slows down the fermentation process. Try putting the bucket in a warmer location but out of direct sunlight. Bokashi should be kept between 60-100 F or 16-38 C.
- Your spigot might be clogged. Take your bucket apart and see if there is liquid that has formed in the reservoir.
More FAQs about bokashi tea: (links coming soon)
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