Wormery/Bokashi Bin Advice Please...

[Sally Jane]

My hubby and I are finding that the two of us just don't generate enough kitchen/garden waste to justify our full sized compost bin, and are looking into the possibility of buying a wormery and/or a Bokashi bin.
Are there any other Ishers who live in a small household, or alone, who have one or other and feel they get good value out of it?
I like the idea of a wormery as it produces usable compost quickly in a small space, and we have a very small garden. What will the worms 'process' other than peelings etc? Will they tackle teabags, coffee grounds etc.
The Bokashi bin will also compost cooked meat and fish scraps, which also appeals. However, the Bokashi bins I've seen seem quite big at 19 litres capacity, when we seem to produce little more than a litre or two of waste a week!
Do we generate enough to keep worms happy?

I would really value the recommendations and advice of anyone who has tried either or both. Thanks!

[george]

Me and my hubby have had both a full sized compast bin which we filled easily enough with a big garden plus kitchen waste and and bokashi bin (without the garden).

I like the bokashi because of the ability to compost meat scraps and so even with a regular compost bin I would keep the bokashi. We would fill the bucket in 2-3 weeks (we have a lot of coffee grounds which add up) but I am not sure how big our bucket was.

I have never tried a wormery so can't comment on that but was pretty happy with the bokashi system.

[mamos]

I have never heard of a bokashi bin before

What is it

Can we put bones in it

Chicken bones, I mean chicken bones. I don't work for the mob or anything.

You ain't seen me, right

mamos

[Sally Jane]

Bokashi is a Japanese system so is presumably fed with the bones of Yakuza rather than Mafiosi...!
The system from Wiggly Wigglers ( sorry, I don't know how to add a link to their website ) is based on 2 x 19 litre bins, so when one is full and composting ('pickling') you start to fill the other, layering your household scraps/peelings etc with active bokashi bran, which is a dry mixture of bran and molasses which has been impregnated with beneficial micro-organisms which speed up the composting process and prevent putrefaction and odours. It has a tap, so you can drain off the liquid produced. It looks pretty good-have a look at the Wiggly Wigglers website for details of Bokashi and various types of wormery.
I think once we get our garden organised we may be able to make proper use of the compost bin, but in the meantime I would like to be able to produce compost quickly and deal with organic waste - and if we go for Bokashi, produce our own eco-friendly drain-cleaner/plant food!

[Wombat]

One of the problems with Bokashi is you have to keep buying the stuff with the bacteria in it to sprinkle on top when you put stuff in. You also have to bury the output. I prefer the works, they take a bit more care but the output (worm castings) is good as fertiliser, to make potting/seed raising mix etc. You don't even have to buy a worm farm, polystyrene veggie boxes can be used as well!

Nev

[george]

Nev will the worms take meat scraps and coffee grounds though?

The ability to compost the meat scraps without a smell is the one thing that I really like about the bokashi.

[Green Aura]

I prefer the bokashi system to the wormery.

1)You keep it indoors, so no having to run out on cold winter nights to the bin - compost or worm.

2)It smells great, if you do it right, so you get a pleasant citrus-type smell whenever you open it, rather than the smell of rotting food.

3) You can either put the contents in the compost, or into trenches, once it's matured in the bin for a couple of weeks or so - great for growing runner beans on

4) I've never yet managed to keep the worms alive over winter - I don't know if they got too cold or we didn't "feed" them often enough (we usually filled a small lidded bin and took it out when full) but we had to replace the worms every spring until we finally gave up.

5) You need to keep the wormery slightly alkaline - not so much a problem if you're vegetarian, but if you want to put meat scraps in it you need to add regular eggshells or calcified seaweed. We're not big egg eaters.

6) Maybe we were just really bad at it, but the top of our wormery was always full of flies and was quite smelly.

So you have a cost with both - bran or seaweed and possibly replacing the worms. Once you're in full production with the bokashi, you can make your own bran, which cuts down costs a bit.

[Urban Ayisha]

how do u make your own bran GA? thats the only thing ive found annoying about using bokashi, that u have to buy the stuff! also, 3 out of 4 bins have ended up leaking and i cant get them to stop despite changing the washers!

other than that i am all for bokashi, it breaks down really quickly and doesnt smell at all in the kitchen (unless it leaks). makes great compost!

[Wombat]

Nev will the worms take meat scraps and coffee grounds though?

The ability to compost the meat scraps without a smell is the one thing that I really like about the bokashi.

Yup, you got me there George, definitely no meat scraps and the coffee grounds may be too acid for the worms (or may just give them a caffeine buzz! ). DFrom that point of view, Bokashi may be a winner, but overll I think the worms work out best!

Nev