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Worms or Japaneese bacteria?

by britt on September 6, 2007

2 comments

bokashi, composting, food-waste, wormery

I live in a house with a patio, but not garden, and I want to find a way of composting my food scraps. I bought a Bokashi kit - a bucket and bag of some friendly Japanese bacteria, only to find out that you need a garden to use it (had missed the small print). Now I'm considering going for worms, but want to be sure before I acquire my new pets. Does anyone have experiences to share with wormeries?

Worm

Image by Gary & Anna Sattler

After staying somewhere with a garden compost over the summer I find it hard to through perfectly compostable things in my bin being back in London, so I decided to look for a way around this. I live in a house with a patio, and after some web research I bought a Bokashi kit - a bucket and bag of some friendly Japanese bacteria. The great thing about this set up is that you can "transform ALL food waste, including bread, meat, fish and cheese, into a super healthy nutrient rich, juicy compost with a small and compact system in your kitchen". However when I got the box I found out that I had missed the small print about the fact that you had to have a garden with a compost to do that last bit of composting. So I now have to return it.

I have been reading on the web and it looks like a wormery would be best suitable for me, although it doesn't take as many different things as the Bokashi. But I want to be careful not to spend money on something that ends up not working and just filling up space, so I want to hear if any of you out there have any experiences with worms that you can share.

My only experience with worms was at my old office where we had decided to get a wormery, and everyone were quite excited about our new office pets until a point in the summer where it apparently got too hot for our wiggly friends and they all escaped their box and tried to "run" down the carpeted stairs, but sadly all died there on the carpet. The smell of dead worms in the carpet stayed for weeks after they were removed. But I think we probably did something wrong here.... like placing the black worm box on a black roof top in the sun. (Bless their little worm souls!).

Anyway I still haven't lost faith in worms, and I'm quite looking forward to getting these new low maintenance pets. I also imagine they will be quite an educational project for my son... when he get a bit older. Right now he would just eat them if he got the chance, so I have to be careful not to get more worms on my consciousness. Worm experiences, anyone?

Comments

by Bokashiman on September 9, 2007

Hi britt,

Don't give up on bokashi yet. Here's a link to a website that shows you how to make a small compost bin for your patio:

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/garden/urbancomposting.php

I always encourage people with no gardens to:

1) Find a community garden [allotment?] in the neighbourhood and take it there

2) People who do have compost bins will often welcome additional material if you ask/explain it to them

3) Dig it into the ground of your local park.:)

Cheers,

http://www.bokashiman.com

by Bry on September 8, 2007

I go in for large-scale composting but I have tried the basic wormery using red brandling worms. That seemed to work. Of course, you have to have a final use for the compost that remains and if you don't have a garden, maybe you could use it as a substrate for pot plants on a window ledge.

Worms or Japaneese bacteria?

Worm

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