What is bokashi?

We use bokashi to give our jungle-curated seedlings a head start on life

Below is why Savimbo recommends and uses bokashi.

TL:DR bokashi is a fermented 'tea' that helps plants grow better

We originally learned it from the soil scientist Lexie Amisacho. But in general, what we learned, and use is a Latin American adaptation of a Japanese technique with a Japanese name. The word stays Japanese. The compost is half-naturalized.

We've also incorporated some recipes for "jungle teas" from local matriarchs who have a reputation for growing plants regionally with high survival rates. We recommend this approach for iterative local testing.

What is bokashi

Bokashi (ぼかし, Japanese for roughly "fade" or "gradation") is fermented organic matter used as a soil amendment — produced by inoculating organic material with microorganisms and letting it ferment, rather than letting it decompose/rot in the open air.

Strictly, "bokashi" means the fermentation method; people also use it for the finished product. Both are fine.

Basic characteristics of bokashi

What makes bokashi and not compost is that it is fermented anaerobically. It also has an inoculant (we're introducing beneficial live microorganisms to the cultivation. It takes about 2-3 weeks to ferment, and the temperature is a bit lower, ~40-50 °C. It has an acidic pH of 3.5-4.5, and the end state is fermented, not decomposed, so it smells sweet-sour (like silage). If it smells like sulfur or ammonia, the batch has failed.

The ratio for substrate is high, high C carrier (rice hulls, coffee husks, bagasse) + N source (manure, fish) + molasses (microbe food) + water to ~50%

Bokashi vs compost

Bokashi recipes

Bokashi FAQ

Notes

• It's not uncommon to find bokashi spelled differently in Spanish field literature as bocashi or even bocachi.
• Colombian and Peruvian recipes routinely incorporate 10–30% biochar. It loads the char with microbes and nutrients before it goes in the soil so that the biochar is full like a sponge, and doesn't soak up nutrients from the soil.
• Andean adaptations commonly have additions of rock-dust and ash for mineral content.
• We use local jungle teas and microorganisms gathered for free, captured from primary forest litter. This avoids paying for imported microorganisms from the Higa-Sangakkara lineage and means farmers can self-replicate.