I would say it is becuase you don't have near enough carbon additive. You are heavy on the nitrogen side of the scale, thus the smell and the inactivity.

If one shoots for what is often considered the ideal ratio (30:1 C/N) to encourage active composting without odor problems then you need at the very least an equal amout of sawdust to kitchen scraps. Better yet is 3 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.

So using your measurements of cups and since sawdust is a very high carbon, you'd need at least 4 cups of sawdust for every 3-4 cups of chopped kitchen scraps. If you don't have enough sawdust then use shredded paper or cardboard, chopped straw, or shredded fall leaves.

You'll also want to consider the size of the container. How large is it? There are minimum size recommendations for proper activity.

And since it is kitchen scraps that are your primary component, why not consider vermicomposting as a more viable alternative.

Dave

Thank you!! I was having trouble figuring out the numbers-- that is so helpful. I am using a small office sized plastic trascan (maybe around 4 gallons).

I agree with Dave re. vermicomposting.
You might want to visit the GW vermicomposting forum and also
http://vermicomposters.ning.com/

Quite a few people living in limited spaces have worm bins and when kept properly, they really really don't smell at all. That is, not to overfeed and not too wet.

May I suggest bokashi composting to solve your problem?

Bokashi is actually the fermentation of your scraps (including meat and dairy and some bones)with and 'activator' that contains mostly lacto bacillus (fondly known as LB around hre) bacteria.

The link below is to the most inexpensive way I've found for bokashi composting.

You just need:

1. A bucket with a secure top (actually, have two of them. A five gallon bucket is nice but if you don't have room for it, find another size that has a top that is air tight.)

2.Some plain yogurt from which you've drained the whey. (Put yogurt in sieve lined with a coffee filter, placed over a bowl. Let it drain until the yogurt becomes like cream cheese. Store the whey in the fridge. Season up the yo-cheese with spices and enjoy!)

3. Newspaper.

4. Food scraps.

You DON'T need an expensive bokashi bucket with a spigot, EM (essential microbes) that are costly, or, the 'bokashi bran' that some folks use to layer between the food layers.

Go to the link, scroll all the way down to start from the beginning and read all the comments. GREAT info here.

Your bokashi scraps will not 'shrink' but ferment. It is then buried in your soil, after an appropriate amount of time has passed. (Not very long)

It attracts earthworms like crazy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Newspaper bokashi composting

You could always get a Vitamix!

Truly, I have an online friend who does this. Her husband says the concoction looks like "dragon vomit" and makes her cover it with mulch, not to prevent the "cracking" as described in the link, but to just cover it up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vitamix composting....

that's so cool! I have some acidophilus capsules- maybe I can break them open and use the insides.

The only problem was that you had 2 cups of sawdust and 4 cups of kitchen waste. It should have been the other way around... 2 cups kitchen waste to 4 cups sawdust.

yeah. All you need to keep it from stinking is a copious amount of saw dust. It'll help keep things from getting slimy and will absorb the ammonia.

Tried again with more sawdust and some store-bought composting bacteria. Most of the kitchen scraps are unrecognizable now. When I dug through the bucket, the top half wasn't smelly, but the bottom half was. I think it was wetter and had less oxygen (now in the half-filled darker bucket in the picture). I sprinkled more compost bacteria on top and drilled a bunch more air holes, but judging from the flies, I may need to find some more browns in a hurry.

{{gwi:280678}}

On Mon, Apr 20, 09 at 8:14 Penny related that, "You DON'T need an expensive bokashi bucket with a spigot, EM (essential microbes) that are costly, or, the 'bokashi bran' that some folks use to layer between the food layers."

I agree about the paraphernalia, but the cost of the EM (Effective Microorganisms) isn't bad.

A 12 ounce bottle is 15 dollars that equates to $1.25 an ounce, and if used straight it would be pricey, but it is used in ratios of from 1:100 to 1:10,000 depending on the application.

Once EM is "activated", the term used for making more, the price is 5.7 cents per ounce. I have to reread Dr. Higa's book OUR FUTURE REBORN, but I believe that the activated EM is used to ferment rinse water from the preparation of rice and then used in the desired ratios. If, indeed, that is the case, the price per ounce will drop to less than one cent.

In addition to the production of Bokashi, EM has many other household uses among them the elimination of odors.

Terran

I got the bonide compost maker- it was like three bucks for a pound of it. It doesn't name the bacteria, just says they're adapted to decomposing organic material. Seems to be working, though!

Another bokashi fan here! If smell is a concern, EM-1 has one major advantage over the homebrew recipe linked: rhodobacters are natural microbial deodorizers. There are IMO recipes that include rhodobacters, which may be present in your soil anyway, but I thought I'd mention it should you choose to start a new bucket.

Which might not be a bad idea. Bonide is more recommended for larger-scale aerobic composting; in a container likely to go anaerobic--as in a small bucket with a high proportion of kitchen waste--beginning by inducing anaerobic fermentation may be a better option. (You can either then compost the fermented matter, or use it as-is for a pre-release fertilizer.)

As for the spigot, no, it's not necessary. It does, however, make drainage a good deal simpler, which may mean the bucket is drained more frequently--another plus in the war against whiffiness. I buy spigots from my local brew shop, at about $3.50 each.

Good luck! And keep us posted, please.

DSF

http://bokashislope.blogspot.com
making compost--one bucket at a time

Can you bokashi people answer some questions for me?

-What is the purpose of fermentation? Why are fermented scraps preferable to fresh ones?

-Does it smell? If so, how much? Any rat or bug issues so far?

-Does fermented stuff take longer to compost than fresh stuff?

-Is anyone burying the fermented stuff without composting it first? If so, do you live in the city/ have rats?

The biggest benefit as I see it, is that I wouldn't need browns. I could probably filch a used newspaper here and there, but finding browns in three times the quantity of my kitchen scraps is not proving easy. If I can compost without having to drive around looking for bags of leaves/ begging home depot for sawdust, so much the better.

-What is the purpose of fermentation? Why are fermented scraps preferable to fresh ones?

--Purpose? In a kitchen bucket, it has the same general purpose as compostingto break down material into plant-accessible nutrients. Its just a different process, requiring conditions easier to maintain in a bucket.

I dont know that fermented matter is always preferable; that depends on your needs and situation. For me, bokashi means I can feed my container garden all my kitchen waste (including meats, dairies, and oil). The liquid has value as a fertilizer, too, and is harvestable in as little as a few days after starting a bucket fermenting. Also, materials compost more easily after fermenting than when fresh.

-Does it smell? If so, how much? Any rat or bug issues so far?

--If you have the right container, theres no scent at all outside the bucket, so nothing to attract pests. When you open a healthy bucket, the smell is like vinegar, though if youve added a lot of a strongly scented item, the bucket will smell like that and vinegar for a day or so. Mistakes will stinkas with any processbut I didnt run into any problems until after I started testing which of the retailer instructions I could safely ignore, so if you follow directions, thats probably not an issue. -G-

-Does fermented stuff take longer to compost than fresh stuff?

--No!!! Fermented bokashi speeds aerobic composting marvelously; you can add it to a slow pile as an accelerator. I get fresh compost from cured bokashi and dried leaves in about a month, ditto from bokashi and soil (as with any compost, it should be left to mature awhile before using in the garden, and Im still testing those times).

-Is anyone burying the fermented stuff without composting it first? If so, do you live in the city/ have rats?

--Sadly, I have no holes in the ground.

-The biggest benefit as I see it, is that I wouldn't need browns. I could probably filch a used newspaper here and there, but finding browns in three times the quantity of my kitchen scraps is not proving easy. If I can compost without having to drive around looking for bags of leaves/ begging home depot for sawdust, so much the better.

--This is true. If youre going to trench (bury) orplanter-finish your bokashi, youll need soil but no browns. To compost your bokashi in a container after fermentingI recommend that part be done out on a balcony or other outdoor spaceyou will need some browns, though not nearly so many as with fresh-matter aerobic composting. Ive been using equal volumes of bokashi and dried leaves; YMMV.

Retail EM bokashi bran is usually wheat bran in the US, but thats convenience and consistency more than anything, and you dont use much per bucket. Buying EM-1 inoculant fluid is cheaper than buying pre-mixed, and you can make your own bokashi "bran" with any number of things. Im playing with used coffee grounds right now, and have used EM inoculant fluid in shredded newspaper with some success.

Cant speak to the non-retail newspaper-and-whey technique, as I havent yet tried it (small space, lots of experiments, but I will, soon. Ish). If odors are a concern, you might add a handful of really good soil and hope for rhodobacters!

Obligatory disclaimer: while not a retailer, I do have a blog about bokashi, so am probably not the most unbiased of sources.

DSF

DSF,
Thank you so much for all the helpful information. I think I'm beginning to understand the process. If anyone has a picture of what it looks like after fermentation, I would love to see. Love your blog!! I have one side of the yard too shady, glass-filled, and shallow to grow produce. I would be curious whether I could do sort of an in-ground worm bin to finish the compost-- put the bokashi in the soil, and dump a pile of redworms on top. The worms could retreat into the soil when they wanted, but they might hang around if I kept putting food in the same spot?

I may just not have read far enough back, but do you talk about how you set up your bokashi buckets? The more methods I can read about, the better I'll understand the principles. And what kind of EM do you use?

Thanks again.
Jess

Well, thanks! Let's see... I'm still working on my first bottle of EM-1 (though I have tested a couple of other things); for the most part, I make EM bokashi bran with wheat bran and molasses according to the standard recipe, but scaled down for apartment needs. That's on the blog, "baby batches of bokashi bran", if you're interested. I also ferment non-bran carriers, but the technique's the same once you've got a dry material in small homogenous pieces. And sometimes, I just use the liquid and add dry matter to the bucket, which is not necessarily frugal but is effective.

Not sure there's a post about the basic nested bucket, but I'm sure there are links. It's just two matching buckets, one inside the other; holes drilled in the bottom of the interior bucket, but not on the sides; a spigot (from my local homebrew-supply shop) set as far down the side of the outer bucket as it can be without the nozzle grinding on the floor. Spigots make tapping the reservoir simpler, which means it gets done more often. But so long as it's air- and watertight and with a securable lid, practically any container will work. I've used a salad spinner, large nested yogurt cups, tupperware with a colander set in (that one I don't really recommend, unless you rig a handle)...

A two and a half gallon repurposed kitty litter bucket suits my needs. Also, much easier to open while juggling a handful of citrus peel than the usual recommended five gallon bucket with its so-stubborn lid. Though if I'm setting the kitty-litter/bokashi bucket outside to cure, I need to put a weight on top to keep out the 'coons. I have a two-gallon lemonade jar with a screw-on lid and spigot, into which I set a false floor made of a dog toy and some landscape cloth, too, but I think that's a bit much for normal people.

(It was free!)

Can't speak to worms in the ground, but Bentley the worm guy says it works, and he should know. The link below has a photo of bokashi that has fermented and cured. As you can see, it looks a lot like it did before fermentation. Not exactly pretty.

DSF
http://bokashislope.blogspot.com
buckets of ferment, of compost, of worms, of plants. Of fun? Well, maybe.

Update: sawdust buckets doing well!! No smell, and we are making compost!!! Amazing!!

Now I just need more sawdust.

Worm bin - I love my worm bins. I have 6 of them.

Deanna

Many people use shredded newspaper (nothing with coated paper or colored ink) as the brown in worm bins. I bet it would do fine in your buckets too.