c/apartment-composting

16

jessec39•16h ago

My bokashi bucket started leaking black liquid all over my kitchen floor last night

Came home from work and smelled something funky. Opened the cabinet and there was a puddle of that sour leachate spreading under the bucket. I think I overfilled it with too many wet scraps like watermelon rinds. Had to mop everything twice and dump the whole thing into a contractor bag. Anyone else have their bokashi system fail on them like this and find a fix?

0

jenniferb53•1d ago

Was totally skeptical about bokashi composting but gave it a shot

I kept seeing people in this group talk about bokashi and I thought it sounded like a gimmick. Like how is fermenting food scraps in a bucket going to not smell? But I got a small kit from a local garden store for about $40 back in February. After 3 weeks of layering scraps with the bran, I opened it expecting the worst and it just smelled like pickles or something. I've done two full batches now and my plants are loving the end result. Has anyone else been surprised by a method they thought wouldn't work?

16

matthew864•1d ago

Got curious and weighed my compost bucket after a week - the number shocked me

I started measuring my kitchen scraps before tossing them in my little 5 gallon bucket under the sink. After 7 days I had 4.3 pounds of stuff from just me cooking meals at home. Found out from the EPA website that food waste in landfills makes up like 14% of methane emissions. Made me realize my tiny bucket actually matters more than I thought it did. Anyone else ever track how much they're actually diverting?

0

jessica_miller•3d ago

Wasted $30 on a fancy compost bin that claimed to be smell-proof

Turns out a $5 bucket with a tight lid and some holes drilled in the top works way better than that overpriced plastic contraption I bought online, has anyone else fallen for the gimmicky bins?

9

shanegibson•3d ago

My neighbor's bokashi bin smelled so bad I almost gave up on apartment composting

I was visiting my friend Maria's place in Brooklyn last month and her bokashi bucket reeked of rotten milk - turns out she wasn't draining the liquid every few days. Has anyone else had to ditch a method because the smell got too strong before you figured out the fix?

9

keith264•4d ago

My neighbor Deb said to just toss citrus peels in the bin and ignore the acidity warnings

She's been composting in her Boston studio for 8 years and swears all the worry about citrus killing worms is overblown. I tried it for a month and my bin actually smells less funky now - anyone else find the "no citrus" rule is more myth than fact?

22

wendy72•6d ago

Tried the bokashi bucket after months of hating my worm bin

I was really struggling with fruit flies and the smell from my worm bin in my tiny Chicago studio. Worms kept dying on me too. Friend told me to try bokashi for 3 weeks and I'm shocked at how clean it is. No bugs at all and the pre-compost just goes in a bag under the sink. Anyone else switch from worms and never look back?

16

jesse_nguyen•6d ago

I finally met a neighbor who nearly ruined her countertop bin with meat scraps

Ran into a woman named Carol in the elevator of my building last Thursday. She told me she'd been tossing leftover chicken bones into her Bokashi bucket for two weeks straight. The smell got so bad her roommate almost threw the whole thing out. I had to explain that meat and dairy don't break down the same way in apartment setups. Has anyone else had to convince a newbie to stick with veggie scraps only?

19

knight.taylor•7d ago

Pro tip: I spent 6 months piling in citrus peels before a friend pointed out they were killing my worm bin's pH.

It clicked when I pulled a handful of compost and it smelled like a sour lemon mixed with rotten eggs - has anyone else accidentally sabotaged their bin with too much acidic stuff?

25

morgan.mary•7d ago

Wasted $45 on a fancy bokashi system that just made my apartment smell like pickled garbage

I bought the Urban Bokashi Plus kit from a local shop in Portland thinking it'd be the answer to composting in my tiny studio. But after three weeks, the bucket was leaking this sour liquid everywhere and the smell was so bad my neighbor complained. Anyone else try bokashi and have it fail, or did I just get a bad batch of the bran stuff?

11

graceprice•8d ago

My bokashi bin vs worm bin experiment went totally sideways

I tried doing bokashi in my linen closet and worms under the sink at the same time for 2 months. The bokashi bin started smelling like pickled garbage after week 3 no matter how much bran I added. The worm bin just sat there quietly eating my carrot peels and coffee grounds with zero stink. Has anyone else had way more luck with worms in a small apartment?

3

tessa368•8d ago

My countertop bokashi bin cracked on day 3, leaked juice everywhere

I started my first indoor bokashi system last week and by day 3 the bottom cracked from the weight of all the scraps. Leaked this dark liquid all over my kitchen counter and dripped into the drawer below. Had to toss everything into a backup bucket I borrowed from a friend. I used a cheap $15 bin from Amazon, guess you really need to get the thicker ones for apartment use. Anyone else had a bin fail on them and have tips for picking a sturdy one?

29

casey393•9d ago

My bokashi bin turned into a science experiment overnight

I set up my bokashi bin last week and followed the instructions perfectly, layering food scraps and the bran stuff. The next morning I came out to find the spigot dripping this weird liquid that smelled like pickles mixed with a dead mouse. Turns out I forgot to burp the air out of the lid, and the whole thing was fermenting way too fast. Now I'm wondering if I can salvage the compost tea or if I just start over with a fresh batch. Anyone else had their bokashi bin go rogue on them like that?

15

keith264•10d ago

I finally found a worm bin setup that doesn't stink after 3 months

I picked up a Worm Factory 360 at the hardware store in Portland last spring and set it up in my laundry closet. The first two weeks were great, then the smell hit hard like rotten vegetables. I almost gave up until a guy at the local gardening meetup told me to add more shredded newspaper and stop overfeeding. I cut back to feeding them once every 5 days instead of every other day and layered in dry leaves. Now it just smells like damp paper and I haven't had fruit flies in 6 weeks. Has anyone else had luck with layering browns deeper than the instructions say?

4

kelly.daniel•11d ago

My downstairs neighbor called me out for using citrus peels in my bin

She said the smell was drifting into her bedroom window at night, so now I freeze all my citrus scraps for 24 hours before adding them, has anyone else run into that issue with acidic scraps messing with the balance and attracting fruit flies more than usual?

7

benk26•14d ago

My neighbor told me my bokashi bucket was gonna attract rats... now I'm second guessing everything

I was out on the balcony last week and this guy from 3B who gardens all the time sees my setup and says "you know that fermented stuff pulls rodents like crazy." I've been doing bokashi for about 4 months now with no issues but now I can't stop thinking about it. He claimed even a sealed bucket leaks smell through the spigot. Has anyone else had trouble with bokashi bringing unwanted visitors in an apartment complex? I'm on the 5th floor but still.

6

paulw63•15d ago

Three months of worm bin composting and I hit 10 pounds of scraps processed

Started a small worm bin under my kitchen sink back in September. I use a simple two-tote system with bedding from shredded newspaper. Yesterday I weighed my output and realized I had processed 10 pounds of kitchen scraps. That was way more than I expected for such a small setup in my 600 square foot apartment. The worms are doing great as long as I keep the moisture right and bury the food deep enough. No smell at all if I layer dry leaves on top after each feeding. Has anyone else tracked their total scrap weight? I'm curious what numbers other apartment composters hit with similar sized bins.

5

parkerh38•16d ago

Frozen banana peels are my new secret weapon for odor-free composting

I live in a tiny studio in Chicago and my countertop compost bin would always get funky after just two days. I tried baking soda, charcoal filters, even freezing scraps before adding them (which helped a little but not enough). Then I read somewhere that freezing banana peels specifically before tossing them in the bin cuts down on the sweet rotting smell they give off. I started doing that about three weeks ago and honestly it made a huge difference. The peels break down slower when they thaw, which means less of that sickly sweet odor that attracts fruit flies. Now I keep a bag of frozen peels in my freezer door and just grab one when my bin gets low. Has anyone else tried freezing specific scraps or am I just weird for keeping banana peels next to my ice cream?

11

the_jessica•16d ago

Coffee ground trick really helped my worm bin smell

I started tossing my used coffee filters straight into my worm bin about 3 weeks ago and the smell has basically disappeared. I wasn't expecting it to work that fast since I only use maybe 2 filters a day from my single cup maker. Has anyone else noticed their compost smells less after adding coffee grounds?

9

robert_smith36•18d ago

Just changed how I layer my bin after a mold disaster

I used to just throw scraps in and cover with a handful of bedding. Then last month my whole bin got this fuzzy green mold that smelled terrible. My neighbor who's been composting for years said I need to do a full brown layer every time, like 2 inches of shredded cardboard on top. Now I prep a bag of paper shreds by the bin and it's been totally smell free for 3 weeks straight. Anyone else struggle with getting the brown to green ratio right?

22

emery_taylor•20d ago

My bokashi bin gave up after 3 months and I almost gave up

I was all proud of my bokashi setup in my tiny kitchen, but last week the seal on the lid cracked and the smell hit me like a wall. Turns out the cheap plastic just couldn't handle the pressure from the fermentation. I ended up spending 20 bucks on a metal bucket with a gasket from a hardware store and it's been way better. Anyone else have a bokashi bin break on them and switch to something else?

19

keith264•20d ago

Shoutout to the coffee can method for apartment composting

Last month I left my countertop bin under the sink without a lid and came home to fruit flies swarming, so I moved everything into an old 2-pound coffee can with a tight snap lid and zero smells now, has anyone else had a sudden critter invasion from a forgotten bin?

24

blake_black47•20d ago

My bokashi bin just hit 100 lbs of compost in 8 months

I started doing bokashi composting in my tiny studio apartment back in January and I finally weighed my finished compost today - 100 pounds exactly from just my own kitchen scraps. That's way more than I expected since I live alone and thought I barely produced any food waste. Anyone else track how much they've diverted from the landfill?

27

emerycarr•20d ago

Last week my little worm bin hit the 50 pound mark

After about 8 months of adding scraps to my worm bin under the kitchen sink, I finally weighed the compost I took out. It came to just over 50 pounds of dark, rich soil from what was mostly banana peels and coffee grounds. That number surprised me because I started this just to cut down on trash, not expecting to actually make a dent. Has anyone else been shocked by how much compost you can produce from a single apartment bin over time?

5

harper_wright•22d ago

Overheard my landlord say composting is just 'dirt in a bucket'

I was taking out the trash last Tuesday and caught my landlord telling a potential renter that my compost bin was just a bucket of dirt that smells. It kind of stung but then I realized my coffee grounds and eggshells have been going in there for 6 months without any smell issues. I use a 5 gallon bucket with a tight lid and a layer of shredded newspaper on top. Has anyone else had to defend their setup to clueless people?