Worm Factory 5-Tray Worm Composter

by Worm Factory 360

• Made with post-consumer recycled plastic, Dimensions 16-inch x 16-inch x 16-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 16 x 28 inches ; 14 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15 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: B000S6LZCS
• Item model number: DS5TT
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,257 in Patio, Lawn & Garden (See Top 100 in Patio, Lawn & Garden)
  • #24 in Patio, Lawn & Garden > Gardening > Outdoor Carts & Bins > Composting Bins

Product Description

Color: Terra Cotta

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

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing worms is easy April 25, 2008

By Stephanie Manley TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Color Name:Terra Cotta

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.

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Worm Composting October 18, 2009

By Corey L. Carter

Color Name:Terra Cotta|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sturdy and pretty easy to use January 14, 2010

By secret squirrel

Color Name:Terra Cotta

I've used the Worm Factory 5-tray for about 8 months now, and i had previously also used a can-o-worms. Both products seem to work about equally well. I like the Worm Factory because it just seems like a sturdier design - the legs on the can-o-worms are a little wonky and require it to be set on a firm (ie concrete) pad or they sink unevenly into the dirt, and seemed ready to fall over. So the Worm Factory legs are a lot better. However, the Can O Worms top was much more rain resistant. The worm factory is definitely not rain resistant, it is practically open on the top, which lets in too much water when it rains.

Some other notes:
Either product, it does take a little extra time to run these things, every few months so often you need to collect some leaves, empty a tray, etc. daily, i find myself cooking and crushing my eggshells and finely chopping up my fruit peels, but that is probably more from obsession than necessity. i've never microwaved the scraps ... it seems a little nutty to use my 'green' worm farm as a power consuming device.

The 5-tray is not quite enough to keep up with the scraps from 2 people who cook a lot, but it probably keeps up with 75% of it.

You need to keep the Worm Factory under cover to avoid rain, but my experience is that it will attract a plague of fruit flies if you put it in a basement. I think optimally you want it in a garage, or in a mild climate, a carport or covered porch.

it seems to put out pretty nice dirt, though i haven't had it long enough to tell if it really makes the plants grow better. but it does reduce the trash load a little. And, basically, it is surprisingly fun to put trash in one end and pull black soil out a few months later.

i tried making my own worm bin. both of these products work a lot better than my home made one ever did.

bottom line, a little bit of work to figure it out and get it going, but once you are in the groove it's pretty effortless and seems worthwhile.