FCMP Outdoor – The Essential Living Composter, 2-Tray Worm Vermicomposter Bin (HF-LC4000v2-GRY) Grey
$74.99
Price: $74.99
(as of Oct 21, 2025 15:05:06 UTC – Details)
Building on the tremendous success of the original “Classic” Living Composter, the Essential Living Composter offers all the same design features at a budget friendly price. 1) A moisture control water retention channel runs around the outside of each tray. Instead of allowing the liquids to fall directly through the tray this channel gathers moisture to prevent the bedding from drying out along the edges. 2) When it’s time to expand your living composter a collection of 52 angled tunnels extend down from the base of each tray directly into the bedding of the tray below. This provides ample opportunity for worms to migrate between trays. 3) Aeration is important for happy worms and good compost. A series of support points are molded into the lower edge of the trays. This raises the trays slightly allowing 360 degrees of airflow across the bedding. In addition to our proprietary features both models of the Living Composter have all the features traditionally found in top end vermicomposters. 1) The liquid collected in the reservoir base is known as worm tea. Mix 1 part tea with 1 part water to create an excellent fertilizer for plants. 2) The speed and efficiency of the vermicomposting process keeps typical composing odor to a minimum and allows the unit to be kept inside and used year-round. 3) Constructed from BPA free, UV inhibited, recycled polypropylene the plastic is contact safe and will not degrade if outside under direct sunlight. (2-Tray Version) ***Does not come with worms.***
Harness The Power of the Worm – Worm composters (vermicomposters) are an easy and efficient way to quickly compost a variety of food and other scraps found around the home. The resulting worm castings create a nutrient rich compost to use as a powerful soil additive. *** Worms are NOT included with the unit ***
Year-Round Indoor Use – The speed and efficiency of the vermicomposting process keeps typical composing odor to a minimum and allows the unit to be kept inside and used year-round.
Happy Worms Are Productive Worms – 1) The MOISTURE CONTROL WATER RETENTION CHANNEL running around the outside of each tray collects water to prevent the bedding from drying out along the edges. 2) A collection of 52 angled MIGRATION TUNNELS extend down from the base of each tray providing ample opportunity for worms to migrate between trays. 3) AERATION SUPPORT POINTS molded into the side of the trays allow excellent 360-degree airflow.
Worm Tea – The liquid collected in the reservoir base is known as “Worm Tea.” Mix 1 part “tea” with 1 part water to create an excellent fertilizer for plants.
Durable Construction – BPA free, UV-inhibited recycled polypropylene
Made in Canada
Customers say
Customers find the compost bin easy to assemble and use, with good functionality for composting veggie ends and no smell issues. They appreciate its quality and sturdiness, particularly noting it’s good for beginners, and one customer mentions it looks like an end table. The worm health aspect receives mixed feedback – while some report their worms are thriving, others mention many try to escape. The size receives mixed opinions, with some finding it nice while others consider it pretty small.
10 reviews for FCMP Outdoor – The Essential Living Composter, 2-Tray Worm Vermicomposter Bin (HF-LC4000v2-GRY) Grey
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Erika –
Perfect starter bin and good price!!!!
This is my first time vermicomposting, so I donât have a lot of experience but I thought this bin was perfect. Very easy to set up, comes with starter bedding and coconut coir to get you started. It also looks very nice, absolutely no one would know that I have 1000+ worms in my apartment. Iâve had this bin for about 3 months and my worms are thriving, Iâm getting compost, and no smell!For context I live in a 2 person apartment so no leaves or yard scraps being added to the bin. Just weekly cooking scraps and some small garden trimmings.
frugal athlete –
Love this system!
This was extremely easy to setup and get going. It’s pretty sturdy and built well. It was easy to get the bedding going, as you can see in the photo. I lucked out with finding a neighbor who was moving and needed to rehome his worms. I took them in and they’re doing really well. It doesn’t smell at all, and I’ve had no problems with escaping worms or mites. I’d just say that it does attract fruit flies, so we moved the unit into a shaded part of our backyard for now and have only brought it in when there have been bad storms. The spout is great for collecting the worm tea, though the filter can get clogged easily so keep an eye on it. But, the tea didn’t even smell (I’ve heard that can be an issue for some people with vermicomposters.) This is so much easier than taking everything to our big compost pile and waiting months to use it on our garden. Overall, seriously happy with this investment and just need to figure out how to buy another tray or two to add in!
Mo –
10 months going strong
Love this worm bin. I got this for my daughterâs 5th birthday â only âperâ we could handle in our apartment right now, good lessons in sustainability, life science, but especially worm multiplication. It doesnât compost too many scraps â we eat a lot of produce â but at least some. Weâve also observed the different ways different scraps break down, the molds that grow. Many mango pits were sprouting, so we planted one and have a mango seedling now. There is no smell at all outside the bin (and only the smell of fresh castings inside). We havenât had any vermin or insects. The internal environment of the bin is pretty stable. I was worried when we left to travel during winter, when our apartment is overheated and dry, but the worms did fine. It looks elegant, like a piece of furniture. Some worms do make their way down to the empty bottom tray and die, but very few. Most are happy in their tray. We only now filled the second tray and are preparing to harvest the first (couldâve done it months ago, but lifeâs been busy). Canât wait to repot my plants with this beautiful fertilizer. Iâve had a DIY outdoor worm bin before, and this one is so much easier to manage. Totally worth the purchase.Like others have said, starts slow, donât over-feed, have plenty of worms, keep your dry and wet materials in balance (I do like to splurge on a worm blanket once on a while â cardboard does the trick, but I love a good worm blanket). Happy worm-raising!
Matt –
So Far, the Product Looks Great – But it Needs More Instructions on Worms
We have an outdoor worm farm (Subpod), so we bought this one for overwintering worms. The worm composter went together easily, and the set-up instructions weren’t too bad. However, having had a worm farm for about four months, I have to take issue with the lack of detail provided in how to take care of your worms. First off, the Subpod uses “worm blankets” to maintain the proper level of moisture. This worm composter does not. So, I am a little uncertain how to proceed on this one. I may need to trim a Subpod worm bed blanket to size – too much moisture or too little moisture can cause big problems. Second, the worm composter instructions said to feed the worms starting on the day after they are placed in the farm. From all that I have read, and from the Subpod instructions, overfeeding is a major cause of worm death and worm composting failure. Since I populated my worm composter with worms from my Subpod, I did add some food the next day. I will be watching carefully, however, to make sure that my worms thrive. Third, as I just indicated, overfeeding kills worms. The worm composter says nothing about this. Subpod recommends feeding your worms no more than one gallon of compost per week to start, only increasing slightly after the worms are established. So, again, I am not sure how feeding will work with this composter, and I will be watching my worms carefully for signs of overfeeding. After all, no one wants a bin full of rotting worms… So, in summary, the product looks good, appears sturdy, and makes sense from what I know of worm composting. It does, however, need a lot more in the way of detailed instructions on how to feed and care for your worms.
Guitarzan –
Easy way to get started worm farming
This was easy to assemble and had clear instructions. It made for a fun project of composting with worms and a farm of treats for our chickens.
Lisa Pennock –
I love this set up so much! The worms really do migrate to the top level when the bottom one is full and this makes getting the waste material so much easier than just using a single layer bin.The bin holds a lot of red wiggler worms. If you are purchasing them, starting with the standard bag they sell would be perfect.Final thoughts, this is a great set up for kids, small spaces, and for teaching about composting. I initially bought one for my work with adults who have intellectual disabilities and loved it so much I bought one for me. I’ve had worm composters in the past and they were cumbersome and eventually I gave up. This one makes it easy to use and care for, I have no issues with odor or bugs, and I can see when the worms are migrating up. Very exciting ð
Ums –
Im Winter bin ich zu faul den Kaffeesatz, die Eierschalen und die Bananenschalen in den Garten zu tragen. (Alles andere kommt in den Biomüll). Der so entstandene Dünger ruht darin bis zum Frühjahr auf dem Balkon und wird dann an die Pflanzen ausgebracht. Ich habe das Produkt ohne Würmer genutzt, die sind im Garten.Die Farbe war auch ausschlaggebend, denn die Welt hat Angst vor LILA und weigert sich im Beige-Grau-Wahn Farbe herzustellen. Endlich Lila!
Andrea –
Arrivato puntuale, prodotto di buona qualità e il design lo rende compatibile con un arredamento moderno. Consigliatissimo!
Ich –
Pisitiv: gut verarbeitet und stabil. Da kann man nicht meckern. Aufbau ist einfach, trotz der fehlenden deutschen Anleitung. Gestern bekommen und aufgebaut und die fleiÃigen Helfer sind auch schon eingezogen.Heute Morgen die Kontrolle…Negativ: die Würmchen können gut Klettern. Leider ist der Deckel nicht dicht am Rand. Vor allem da wo die Griffmulden sind. Und nach unten können die auch. Trotz der eingelegten Zeitschrift. Also entweder die Würmer hauen nach unten ab oder sie ertrinken in Wurmtee wenn der mal da ist irgendwann.Ein Sieb nach unten und ein dichter Deckel wären toll! Muss mal schauen ob ich da was modifizieren kann…wenn nicht geht das Teil zurück.
Citygirl –
I really like this unit and my worms are very happy. I already had two but this green one was on sale so I bought a third. I will have lovely worm castings for my garden from now on. If you need info I learned most of what I know from Vermicomposting Learn by doing on YouTube.