About My Worm Factory

Posted by lunatactics on May 13, 2012 · 7 Comments 

Previously I explained some of my motivations and benefits of Becoming a Worm Wrangler. AKA a “vermicomposting system.” Now I’m going to show you the most luxurious worm habitat that I could possibly come up with.

Worm Factory

A past and highly uneducated attempt at a DIY worm bin resulted with a very tragic, and quite disgusting end for the worms. A steamy bucket of worm stew fumigating from below my kitchen sink put my wife’s support of my worm farming adventures on hold. So this time, I decided I would do it right and do the home work.

Although there are lots of ways that you can create very affordable and effective systems all by yourself (not what i did), I decided to go with a professionally manufactured system for red worm vermicomposting. There are lots of good ones out there but I ended up with the Worm Factory® 360 by Nature’s Footprint.I decided to go with this system for the following reasons:

• Convenience. Its done. No buying stuff, no drilling, no stacking, no installing drains.
• Its design eliminates much opportunity for human error (me) and therefore gives the worms, and myself, the best odds of success.
• It is highly aerated. My system is indoors in my kitchen. Per wife’s orders it must not stink!  Good air flow should prevent anaerobic bacteria and smell should not become an issue. If it does then it means I’ve overfed the worms and I need to remove stuff.
• Its and upward migration system which should reduce or eliminate the need for me to separate worms from compost. Upward migration systems use trays with grids (or containers with holes drilled in them if you DIY) to encourage the worms to travel upward to a new tray after they have finished eating all of their num nums in the bottom layer.

Nature’s Footprint certainly does not want me to fail. They sent me a documentation overkill. A very nice instruction manual, a pro DVD on setup and maintenance, and they even printed the basics on the lid of the box. In addition they also sent me a bunch of extra stuff that isn’t really required but may be considered optimal for establishing a new bin. I was pretty suprised at how much thought they put into this.

Alternatively, if I lived in climate that was more suitable to redworms, I had a basement, or a climate controlled garage or workshop then I would seriously consider one of a bazillion online guides on how to do this yourself and save the cash. But, I chose this road because this needs to be small, clean, and it needs to smell pretty (and because I’m lazy too).

If you have the DIY personality, and a good place for worms, you might come out ahead setting up something yourself. However if you have a surplus of cash, laziness, or restrictions such as mine perhaps consider a manufactured system.

To DIY or learn about it, check out this awesome post  Lets Build a Worm Farm by the Soulsby Farm!

See how I setup my kitchen vermicomposting system.

Filed under Counter Culture, Gardening, Recycling, Vermicompost · Tagged with 360, red wrigglers, Vermicompost, worm bin, worm factory