Buried bokashi: animals, rats, undecomposed waste, yellowing plants – what to do?

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Your bucket fermented well, you buried it in the garden… and something isn't right. A hole scratched out overnight, peelings still whole a month later, a smell that won't go away, or plants turning yellow next to the burial spot. These situations are common and almost always easy to put right.

Most of them come down to three factors: depth, mixing with the soil and the time the soil is given to do its work. Here is how to recognise each problem and remedy it, along with a reminder of what we really know, and what we don't, about animals and bokashi.

An animal has dug up the bokashi

Dogs, cats, foxes, badgers, crows or magpies: many animals love scratching at freshly turned soil, and bokashi keeps a smell of fermented food for a few days. When an animal digs it up, it is almost always because it was too close to the surface, buried in a lump, or not covered well enough.

• Bury it 20 to 30 cm deep, never just a few centimetres below the surface.
• Mix it with 2 or 3 times its volume of soil rather than tipping the bucket out in a heap: the smell disperses more quickly.
• Fill the hole in completely so that nothing is visible, firm it down with your foot and cover it with leaves or mulch.
• Protect the area for the first two weeks: a piece of wire mesh, an old plank, a paving slab or a thick fleece laid flat is often enough to discourage the most curious visitors.

If an animal has already dug, gather up the scattered pieces, put them back at the bottom with a little soil, mix, fill in and protect. The whole method is explained in our guide Burying bokashi in the garden.

Emy's tip

If you have a dog that digs, bury your bokashi in a part of the garden it can't reach, or cover the area with wire mesh while the material breaks down. Freshly buried bokashi contains leftovers, sometimes bones, onion or chocolate, which it is best not to let your dog eat.

Bokashi and rats: what we really know

You often read that bokashi doesn't interest rats. The reality is more nuanced. As far as we know, there is no study on the subject. The idea rests on plausible reasoning: well-fermented bokashi is acidic, it smells sour rather than of rotting food, and is therefore probably less appealing than a heap of leftovers. But experienced users admit it: a hungry rodent may very well take an interest in it.

Our position: well-fermented bokashi, properly buried and thoroughly mixed with soil, is less attractive, nothing more. If you know rats are around in your neighbourhood or garden:

• bury it at least 30 cm deep, and deeper if your soil allows: experienced users go down to 40 or 50 cm in areas with rodents, and for raw kitchen scraps, trench composting guides recommend 30 to 45 cm of soil on top;
• never bury a bucket whose fermentation has failed;
• lay fine wire mesh over the area for the first few weeks;
• avoid spots close to a known rodent shelter (woodpile, dense hedge, shed);
• or finish the breakdown in a closed container, such as a large soil bin with a lid (see the guide No garden? What to do with your bokashi) or a rotating composter.

To find out more about rodents in the garden, our composting guide has a dedicated page: compost bin pests.

Did you know?

Bokashi is not a repellent. It is the fermentation, followed by careful burying, that makes it less appealing than peelings left out in the open. A failed bucket that smells rotten, on the other hand, is as attractive as a bin.

The waste is still there after a month

First of all, don't worry: it is normal to find a few hard pieces. Bones, fruit stones, corn cobs, eggshells, thick citrus peel or cabbage stalks take much longer than the rest. Bones in particular can take months, or even longer. Crush or break them if you come across them, then bury them again: they won't get in the way of your planting.

If, however, almost all the contents are still recognisable after a month, the breakdown has been slowed down. The usual causes:

• Cold soil: in summer, two to three weeks is often enough; in spring and autumn, in cool soil, allow up to six weeks, sometimes more; in the depths of winter, almost nothing happens until the weather warms up.
• Compacted, heavy clay soil or, on the contrary, poor sandy soil: soil life is less active or air circulates poorly.
• A compact lump placed at the bottom of a hole, without being mixed with soil.
• Too much bokashi in one place, or successive buckets always buried in the same hole.

To get things going again: reopen the area, chop up the contents with a spade while mixing them with fresh soil, add one or two shovelfuls of mature compost or dead leaves if possible, then fill in. In spring, a dark sheet or fleece laid down for a few weeks warms the soil and speeds things up. And for your next buckets, spread them over several spots.

Plants turn yellow or seeds don't come up

Fresh bokashi is very acidic and rich in salts and ammonium. Until the soil has broken it down, it can damage any roots that touch it. Plants that turn yellow or wilt, or seeds that fail to come up above a burial spot, almost always have one of these causes:

• Planting too soon, less than two weeks after burying, or earlier still in cold soil;
• Bokashi that is too concentrated, mixed with little or no soil;
• Roots in direct contact, because the bokashi was buried at the foot of an established plant;
• Bokashi juice used neat or not diluted enough. The juice must always be diluted, at least 1 in 100, and poured onto the soil, never onto the leaves: see the guide Bokashi juice.

What should you do? For a plant in open ground, water as usual, without adding anything else, and give the soil time: the acidity generally disappears within a few weeks. For seeds, sow again nearby or wait another two to three weeks. For a potted plant, repot it in fresh compost, leaving the bokashi mix to rest a while longer before reusing it.

Key points

Wait at least two weeks, preferably three or four, and longer in cold soil or in pots; always mix bokashi thoroughly with 2 or 3 volumes of soil; and never let it touch roots directly.

The smell lingers in the soil

Well-fermented, properly buried bokashi hardly smells of anything at the surface after a few hours. In the soil, its sour smell should disappear within one to two weeks: this is in fact a good sign that the area is ready. If it lingers, or if the soil smells rotten:

• the bokashi was probably too concentrated, not buried deep enough, or buried in a lump in cold, waterlogged soil;
• or the fermentation had failed in the bucket, which shows in a putrid smell and coloured mould (see the guide Mould in bokashi).

Reopen the area, add soil, spread and mix the contents over a larger area, then fill in. Well-aerated soil that isn't waterlogged makes the smell disappear quickly.

Good habits

• Only bury buckets that smell sour, after at least two weeks of fermentation.
• Dig 20 to 30 cm deep, about thirty centimetres away from roots.
• Mix the bokashi with 2 or 3 times its volume of soil, and never leave it in a lump.
• Fill in completely, cover and protect the area if animals are around.
• Choose a different spot for each bucket.
• Wait at least two weeks before planting, longer when the soil is cold.
• If your garden isn't suitable, finish the breakdown in a composter well covered with brown materials: see the guide Bokashi and garden compost.

In summary

Most problems after burying have a simple cause. An animal digging is a sign that the bokashi is too shallow or poorly covered: bury it 20 to 30 cm deep, mix it in and protect the area for two weeks. When it comes to rats, well-fermented bokashi is less attractive, but not immune: use fine wire mesh or a closed container in at-risk areas. Waste still intact after a month points to cold or compacted soil, or a poorly mixed lump. Plants that struggle have almost always been planted too soon or too close to concentrated bokashi. With a little patience and good mixing with the soil, everything falls back into place.

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