5 Tray – Compost Worm Bin System – The Worm Factory Terracotta
Product Description
Worm composting is an incredibly efficient way to convert kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost for your garden. But sorting out the undigested scraps can be messy and inconvenient. The Worm Factory automatically separates food scraps from finished compost. Simply fill the bottom tray with red wiggler worms, bedding and food scraps. As the worms finish digesting, they will migrate upward into the tray above, leaving rich castings behind. In full operation, the Worm Factory houses 10,000 to 12,000 worms, consumes 5 to 8 pounds of food a day, allowing you to harvest a full try of castings per month. Each Worm Factory comes with full instructions to get you started. The Worm Factory is made in the U.S.A., cons... More >>
- Year Round Production
- Odorless Operation
- Easy to Assemble and Manage
- Worm Tea Collection Tray and Spigot
- 5 Year Warranty
5 Tray - Compost Worm Bin System - The Worm Factory Terracotta
This has a nice look it’s not too large and easy located slightly larger than a kitchen garbage can.
Rating: 3 / 5
During shipping the bottom of the bin was broken. It’s a hard plastic so it just snapped and cracked. Luckily it was the bottom of the bin so it doesn’t affect the purpose of the product and can still be used (and you can’t even see where it was broken). It’s a nice red brickish color and so far the worms have adapted well. I couldn’t tell when I purchased this, but the bin has just a plastic ‘roof’ (a sheet of hard black plastic). I was looking at bins on line that have an actual roof and may have purchased that set instead, however the worms are not crawling out of this one and it is helping to allow air in on the sides so it seems to be doing okay. Feels good not throwing away compost and I’m really looking forward to using the worm poop and tea in the garden this year
)
Rating: 4 / 5
I purchased this system 6 months ago and I have been very happy with it. I previously had a homemade worm bin and I have found that this stacking system is much more efficient. I was very suprised with how quickly it was able to generate “worm tea”, a very good liquid fertilizer for your garden. My system generates at least 1 quart of this fertilizer every two weeks. (In the same time period my homemade system produced less than 1 cup).
It is also very good for producing waste free castings. By the time I added the 4th tray to my system, the 1st tray was completely converted to castings. This took about 3 months.
I use the system in a very “low maintenance” fashion and it works well for me. I don’t microwave any of the scraps (microwaving is completely unnecccary), and I generally don’t do any extra cutting before adding food to the worm bin (sometimes I even put in whole fruits or vegetables that have gone bad). The worms eventually eat the food. The worms don’t eat anything until the bacteria in the bin have broken it down. If you cut up the vegetables small, the bacterial will break it up faster, so the worms will be able to eat it faster. If you don’t cut it up it just takes longer, so you might need more trays. I have found that 5 bins is sufficient to compost 3-5 lbs of vegetable waste per week using the “low maintenance” method.
I have only one small complaint about the system. The manufacturere claims that the worms will eventually separate from the castings. After 6 months I haven’t found this to be true, the worms are still present in significant quantities in the 1st tray. Since the worms have greatly multiplied since adding them to the system, I’m just going to proceed with dumping both the worms and castings into the garden. I’m confident that there will be sufficient worms in the system to keep it going. If you need to have your casting free of worms, I’m afraid you’ll be separating by hand.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have had this bin for a year now and I have only good things to say about it. If something went wrong – it was me; the bin is designed very well to allow oxygen in and extra water out.
A feature worth mentioning is that unlike systems with just one bucket or bin, the worm factory allows you to easily correct mistakes. At one point, I dumped the contents of two trays in my backyard because of maggot infestation. Nevertheless, I didn’t lose my worms that remained in the other two trays.
And please don’t give up on your composting efforts if you make mistakes. And you will make mistakes. Make sure to keep the bin out of the summer sun or your worms will attempt to flee their housing complex. Also I made a serious mistake by overfeeding the bin. And adding shredded paper is not always enough – it compacts and gets wet too easily. In this case, I would recommend using some older castings or soil.
If you do everything properly, collecting castings should be very easy. If you have a tray with food right above, worms typically won’t stay in the tray with castings and no food.
It is great that a well designed system such as worm factory allows apartment dwellers (like me) with little space to divert their food scraps from landfills and compost them with relative ease.
Rating: 5 / 5
Like the other reviewer, I was worried about all the rules and chopping. Believe me, you don’t have to chop everything up super fine. It will probably be faster if you do, but I don’t bother. I do run fruits through the microwave to kill fruit flies though.
The system works great and it is easy to harvest the castings.
Rating: 5 / 5