Worm Factory 3-Tray Worm Composter

by Worm Factory 360

• Made with post-consumer recycled plastic, Dimensions 16-inch x 16-inch x 13-inch
• Built in "worm tea" collector tray and spigot for easy draining.
• Year Round Production
• Odor Free Operation
• Expandable up to 7 trays

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 16 x 13 x 16 inches ; 12 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 14 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000S6LZBO
• Item model number: DS3GT
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,765 in Patio, Lawn & Garden (See Top 100 in Patio, Lawn & Garden)
  • #19 in Patio, Lawn & Garden > Gardening > Outdoor Carts & Bins > Composting Bins

Product Description

Color: Green

Worm composting is an incredibly efficient way to convert kitchen scraps, junk mail and cardboard into nutrient-rich compost for your garden. Master gardeners agree that compost produced by worms will produce the best results and help your plants thrive. The Worm Factory's unique stackable, multi-tray design makes it the most efficient worm bin composter around. Worms begin eating waste in the lowest tray, and then migrate upward as food sources in that tray are exhausted. By allowing worms to migrate upward, the worms separate themselves from the finished compost that is ready for the garden. Besides the worm castings that are produced through this process, the Worm Factory also produces a second type of compost. As waste is broken down, moisture filters through your Worm Factory, taking nutrient-rich particles with it. This liquid fertilizer, know as leachate is gathered in the special collection tray of the Worm Factory and can easily be drained from the spigot. Simply add a handful of worms and your organic waste to the bottom tray. The worms will start processing the food. Once the bottom tray is filled add another tray. The worms migrate upward to the newest food source leaving the bottom tray full of nutrient rich compost. As waste is broken down, moisture filters through the system taking nutrient-rich particles with it. You can drain organic liquid fertilizer right from the spigot. It's compact square design gives the Worm Factory the smallest footprint of all worm composters. The Worm Factory's tray stacking system allows it to hold the largest capacity of compost in the smallest amount of space, making it the perfect composter for anyone with space limitations. The Worm Factory is simple to operate. When full, each tray weighs only 12.5 pounds making lifting and arranging trays effortless. The included 16-page instruction manual makes setup fast and easy and gives tips on how to best manage your Worm Factory composter year-round.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

301 of 303 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not one, but two Worm Factories! November 24, 2010

By Tere from Guatemala

Color Name:Green|Amazon Verified Purchase

I got my first worm factory about 3 months ago. I am a Guatemalan biologist, but even though I live in the mountain area of Quiche in Guatemala and work in rural development with the local families, the apartment I rent is in a town and it does not have green areas. I was concerned because I produce one bucket of kitchen leftovers per week. I had been donating my organic bucket to someone else's compost pile, but I wanted to do recycling myself. I went into Amazon in Internet and this was my first online purchase ever. I was lucky that a person flew into my country from the United States and brought it with him. It is expensive if you want it shipped, at least for me.
The Worm Factory is very simple to assemble. The booklet is very clear. I bought the worms from a man who is doing organic farming nearby and uses a huge wooden box he built himself, which is about 15 feet long, 6 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall. He is using the manure of his cows to feed the worms and he has hundreds of thousands of worms. Anyway, my worms came with a lot of cow dung but they immediately loved the box, and worked perfectly for the first month with my kitchen leftovers. I was concerned because I had not told my landlady that I would be introducing worms into my place. I did put a little sign on the worm factory that said: "Science experiment, do not touch". I did not have to worry: They are not noisy, they do not escape, and best of all, they are not smelly. I found out the worms love the vegetable leftovers from my juicer machine because those are really finely chopped. They take a lot longer to work through a banana peel. If I let the leftovers "age" about a week, they work a lot better. I was happy to see a lot of dark earth produced in a short time.
I did have big trouble a few weeks later and almost gave up on the worm factory. I was going to have to make a two week trip to Houston, so on the week before leaving I tried giving them a lot of food at once, hoping they would last OK for 2 weeks without more food. The result was a total disaster! My leftovers are very wet and by over filling the tray, I created excesive humidity, which made the worms want to escape all together. The morning before leaving the country I found most of them half drowning in the lowest box, the one with the little faucet. I quickly drained the liquid and tried to restore the worms "upstairs" and balance in the tray by adding a lot of dry scraps of paper. Finally I had to give up because by then it did smell and I was thinking about liberating them in a field and beginning all over again when I came back. Thank God a co worker who had been enchanted by the worm factory told me he would take care of it. His solution was to initiate the second tray because he felt the worms were already overcrowded and all balance returned to the place. So my lesson is to look for help when I am going to be away, not to overfeed them. As I returned from Houston to Guatemala I brought with me a second worm factory because another friend wants to start his own experience at home. I find this is an excellent answer to recycling in urban areas, although women who do have green areas around their houses (we work with organic farming with families in over 30 villages) have expressed they would love to have a worm factory inside their kitchen, because it saves them the walk to the worm box they have on the field near their cows. The price is of course impossible for these families who are in most cases living with less than $2 a day per person. So, the challenge would be to find a way to make this technology accesible to these people, indoors.
Meantime, the liquid from my worm factory I have donated to a papaya tree and I have seen the papayas on it grow fatter from it. The compost I will use to grow organic vegetables.
Teresa Samayoa, El Quiche, Guatemala

176 of 176 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Super convienience and function November 12, 2007

By Happy Skywalker

Color Name:Green|Amazon Verified Purchase

This bin looks good in the kitchen, is more than easy to use and my worms are very happy in it. It has large trays so you can keep using it for a good while before paying it any attention (like removing completed compost). The bottom collects "worm tea" which your plants will love and the lid keeps uglies out of sight but is well ventilated for the worms. And it's true: no flies, no stink, nada. Honestly, I will probably buy another one soon (there's always more waste to be wormed!).

159 of 164 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Vermiculture easy April 24, 2008

By Stephanie Manley TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Color Name:Green

I have had worm farms before, but this is the easiest way to actually seperate the food from the castings. You use a system of trays, intially placing the food in the bottom tray, and the tray above it is mostly fiberous material. Then you stop feeding them on the lower tray and then start adding food to the tray up above, and then adding another more fiberous tray.

This system eliminates the feeding the worms in one spot and then pulling out the castings, trying to leave all of the worms in there you can. I like that the worms have more mobility so just in case your feeding area is too wet they can move around. I also like there is lots of air in this system so everything doesn't get too wet.

The tray system was easy to put together, it took only a few minutes. It also comes with your initial bedding of coconut husks. Ideally you will want to put your farm into place, and wet down your bedding, and then get your worms. There are instructions on the top of the lid of the bin to tell you what to feed your worms with, and a great guide that also comes with the bin. I highly recommend this worm bin.