Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Eric Lancaster's avatar

Hi Cathy,

Thank you for the comment.

During the fermentation, the materials go through multiple reactions mainly through the numerous metabolites produced by the microbes. By the time fermentation is complete, the sawdust would be a stable material that would be good to add to soil, especially for the organic matter it provides. Since there are microbes on the bokashi, it will act as a food for earthworms, which will leave their castings in the area.

Nitrogen (N) is needed by fungi, and other microbes, to break down the lignin and cellulose. There should be enough N in the soil and being fixed by microbes in the soil. The microbes in the EM will help with preparing the sawdust for digestion by fungi and also help with the nitrogen fixing. Sawdust is a great option for making bokashi since bokashi is focused on fermenting carbon materials and carbon to nitrogen rations are not important in order to ferment the materials.

After fermentation, the fermented materials will not rob the soil of nitrogen, unless you put several tons per acre. A common application is gardens is a third cup of bokashi every other week throughout the growing season. If there aren't many other inputs being added to the soil, it would be beneficial to amend the soil with some more nutrients with some food scraps or even some raw manure.

I think I got them all covered. Let me know if I missed anything and if you have any more questions or comments.

Eric

Expand full comment
Eric Lancaster's avatar

Thanks for the question!

Expand full comment
6 more comments...

No posts