Last week I finally got my balcony bokashi bucket dialed in and made 5 pounds of compost in 9 days | Apartment Composting

Viola Chen · 2026-09-24T01:35:04.961595+00:00

I've been messing with a bokashi setup on my balcony in Chicago for about 7 months and it was mostly a smelly mess until last week. The big change was that I started draining the tea every 2 days instead of once a week like the instructions said. I also quit putting citrus peels in there, which I think was slowing everything down. On day 9 I opened the bucket and there was no white mold on top like usual, just dark stuff that smelled like pickles and dirt. I mixed it with some old potting soil in a 5 gallon bucket and let it sit 2 weeks, and now I have about 5 pounds of actual compost for my tomato plants. The thing that surprised me is how much the tea draining mattered. Anyone else find that the drain schedule makes or breaks their bucket? Curious if 9 days is normal or if I'm just slow.

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Last week I finally got my balcony bokashi bucket dialed in and made 5 pounds of compost in 9 days | Apartment Composting - The Community Guide