[Willow_Warren]

Does anyone have one of these composters:

http://www.bedford.getcomposting.com/Shop/HomePage/KCOMSLV2SUB_Blackwall_Kitchen_Composter,_Twin_Pack,_Grey.html

I'm looking to get my composting back on line (after I kind of gave up once my pallet composter filled up and I ran out of a supply of pallets to make another, but a new year and I think I'll get a couple more darleks).  Does anyone have experience of using these and if they are a good addition to a standard compost bin?

Thanks

Hannah

Hannah

[bobr1960]

Hi Hannah

It does not look very large? I would stick with the pallet idea if I were you!

Happy Sowing

Bob

[Jamrock]

I havent used one but I know some of the theory behind Bokashi and other hot-composting methods

Should allow you to dispose of cooked food waste, (including meat) aswell as the usual suspects

You do have to add the bokashi granules to the compost so this is an ongoing expense

Something I think I will try myself in the future

[arugula]

I've seen bokashi discussed a few times on the forum, you could do a search? The most recent one I seem to remember is someone discovering that they could use horse feed bran in it, as the bokashi bran in small bags is expensive.

[Cake Lady]

I bought one in a sale at the garden centre a few months back.  I save it for cooked food & stuff you wouldn't normally compost as i have a dalek in the garden.  This has meant it's taken an age to fill, but then you become more aware of how much or not you throw away.

I've only emptied it once and I put it in my dalek, although i was tempted to start a runner bean trench, but as it was the first empty I chickened out.  The food didn't look particularly decomposed when it was emptied, but apparently it should go quickly.  Verdict still out at the moment.

One warning, the bokashi smell is not great, not really foul but not odourless either.  You do only notice it when filling, otherwise you wouldn't smell it. (My bran is in an airtight container)  The liquid that you drain off wasn't too bad at first, but after a bit was really really smelly - a rotting stench.

I may be off to look at other sources of bran now as it is expensive and nowhere local seems to stock it.

[snowdrops]

I bought 2  in a garden centre sale in the autumn with the intention of selling them on ebay as I know how expensive they are,I only put I on & sold it & about doubled my 'investment' 1st ebay sale. The reason I didn't want it for my use was I bought a sealed compost bin at reduced price through our council at the beginning of last year & have been using that,you can put cooked & raw foods in that without the bran. In fact I have just taken all the kitchen waste from Christmas down today.It's the size of a dalek bin & is now full. Wish I had bought 2 so I can leave this one to rot completely before emptying as it can be a bit smelly. The bokashi allows you to tip the contents into your ordinary compost bin after a couple of weeks.

[angelavdavis]

I now use my purchased bokashi bins as kitchen compost bins as I bought them ages ago and never used them.  I had such a bad experience with a green cone composter which I bought at the same time, that I didn't want to introduce food into the garden that would be really appealing to rats (this was pre-allotment).  

Personally, if you don't have the resources or room to build another composter, I would recommend you spend your money on something else and remove half the soil on a bed and stack it onto the other half.  

Then use this as a "bean trench" style composter.  You can cover the compost material with soil after every top up until you use up all the original soil, then do the same with the opposite half.  

I am going to try this idea on my new plot as I don't want to build another huge composting area as I have on the original plot - I would rather use the space for planting. The benefit of doing this is not only does it save space, but it also means you don't have to spend time topping up, turning and carting rotted compost around your plot.  

I see it as a "cold" lasagne bed approach to reusing waste material, so I will add a layer of old newspaper between the waste layer and cover in soil.  

I prefer to be more resourceful with my leftovers, give big bones to my friend who has a dog and give cooked non-meat leftovers to my animals.

[Willow_Warren]

Thanks for everyone's replies, I have decided to save my money for something more worthwhile... Afterall we do not have much waste cooked food that can not go directly into a normal compost bin so it would take us a good while to fill it.

Many thanks

Hannah 

[DaveJNeal]

one upside from these kinds of composters is the fluid that comes off - it's very good for clearing drains, as well as a concentrate plant food.

of course you dont have to put cooked food in, it's just that the bacteria/fungus in the bran that does all the work works best when it's not too wet, so heaps of wet green stuff usually swamps the poor *. lots of green kitchen waste and you're looking at a wormery really.

I personally have all three ( bokashi, couple of wormery's and as many compost bins as I can hid from the wife ) - local council does them at a better rate than the open market, so why not :-).

hope that helps

Dave

[Annen]

remove half the soil on a bed and stack it onto the other half.  

Then use this as a "bean trench" style composter.  You can cover the compost material with soil after every top up until you use up all the original soil, then do the same with the opposite half.  

That's a good idea, so simple.  I presume you are careful about what weeds you put in.  What do you do with the perennial weeds? Drown them? Put them in a plastic bag?Burning isn't an option for me for most of the year.

[snowdrops]

I don't think you have to let it get full,just leave it for the recommended time before emptying it, that's why you have two,so you can be putting the waste in the second one,you could always leave it longer before emptying then it might be more decomposed.

[angelavdavis]

remove half the soil on a bed and stack it onto the other half.  

Then use this as a "bean trench" style composter.  You can cover the compost material with soil after every top up until you use up all the original soil, then do the same with the opposite half.  

That's a good idea, so simple.  I presume you are careful about what weeds you put in.  What do you do with the perennial weeds? Drown them? Put them in a plastic bag?Burning isn't an option for me for most of the year.

I have old buckets, covered with bits of ply full of water and rotting weeds - makes good green liquid manure too.  Just add it to the pile when you don't recognise it any more!

We will be doing it this year, I simply don't have time to keep turning compost heaps mid-growing season - there is so much to do.  My covering with a good few inches of soil and even topping with cardboard, it is a smaller scale lasagne garden concept.  Of course, if I get hold of a few bags of manure and grass clippings, then I will build a lasagne topping before planting - it certainly doesn't do any harm.  I may keep the composters now for the larger stuff that takes long to rot down.