Worm Factory® 360 Black US Made Composting System for Recycling Food Waste at Home – 4 Trays for Efficient Vermicomposting – Durable, Space-Efficient Design, Easy to Assemble, No Odor

Perfect starter bin for novice vermicomposter!
Product arrived quickly and everything neatly enclosed.At first I was slightly disappointed because all of the starter “ingredients” were in plastic baggies with a twist tie (the advertising photos depicted nice looking packaging for these items). But I used nearly all of these bagged items immediately to set up the bin, so who cares if it’s in a baggie vs shrink wrap…I will note that the mineral dust was the most difficult to work with in that baggie. It’s advertised in a little shaker/ spice jar, which would be ideal- I ended up pouring it into a spare jar. The baggie was very thin and had a tiny puncture, so it left a thin coating everywhere I moved around the room.But I used all of the shredded paper material, half of the coconut coir, and half of the pumice. So I just threw the half coir brick and the baggie of pumice into a heftier gallon zip bag.When mixing the initial ingredients, the coir is a little tricky to moisten: you need much more water than suggested.Stand the brick on a skinny side and pour water around it- it’ll quickly soak it up and start crumbling. Use approx 0.5 cup at a time, letting the brick soak and crumble each time. Only do this until you can break off the dry top half of the brick.(I actually went too heavy on the water here due to impatience, and had to use the whole bag of shredded paper, plus more from around the house, to soak up the excess moisture… also a great way to soak up moisture in an established bin!)Note to self: Don’t use your nice new kitchen bowls to mix the “ingredients”. The little bits of pumice are rough on good dishware…The day I ordered the Worm Factory, I set out a torn up drink tray soaked in water with some pear and apple cores in it. I left it on my counter until the Factory arrived.Once I’d mixed all the fresh new components, I also dumped the moist paper/ fruit mix into a corner of the new bedding.Covered it with wet newspaper per instructions and set it in the sunroom (luckily a shaded North-facing sunroom so we rarely get over 80F in there during the summer).PS grab a spare newspaper when you order this!You need a few sheets to place at the bottom of your first tray (you never do that again, it just helps your new work colony figure out up from down lol).You also need a nice thick layer of wet paper towels on top of the pile.And the rest you can shred up as part of your fiber/ “browns” for the next few weeks.They’ve changed a few advertised items too, but none of them are crucial to starting up.The moisture meter is junk, don’t spend extra money on it (I got one included in my package).I haven’t needed the flat edge scraper, I suppose it’ll come in handy when harvesting my first load of vermicompost?And the little mini-rake is actually replaced with a long handled wooden spoon. I’ll be honest… I used the spoon to mix the clean bedding and realized I liked it too much to stir compost. So I washed it up and it’s in my utensil drawer to use for cooking pasta. But I have needed to give the pile a good stir a few times, so I’ve used a regular old fork to gently stir things around.Hubby ended up getting me a little plastic children’s beach rake from the dollar store’s summer section, so I’d stop using our forks to stir moldy fruit haha.I initially did not receive the advertised thermometer with the order, but Squirm Firm was awesome about mailing one out the same week. The thermometer is actually the best tool included so far, it’s not digital but it’s super responsive and has the temperature ranges painted on it for quick reference!(Sadly the Worm Factory manufacturer discontinued the “sprinkler tray” advertised and shown in many of the photos. It’s just the little black box that fits under the open spigot…I’m using a tall round plastic Chinese carryout container under the Factory. It’s not glamorous, the pictured Sprinkler Tray just fits the look better, but it works fine.I haven’t had a single drop of leachate drip from the spigot in a week, but I know as soon as I move the trashy plastic container I’ll have a flood lol.So if you’re keeping your bin in a closet or basement, the lack of the nice catch tray is no loss. But since this is my big project, I’m proudly displaying it in the sunroom and eagerly show it off to everyone.)This bin does not come with worms, but that actually worked out better for me.I ordered my worms online the day the bin arrived, so the new bedding had some time to properly fester (I know it doesn’t sound appetizing but those little wigglers love things extra nasty).I hadn’t realized at the time that Nature’s Footprint, the Worm Factory manufacturer, sells red wigglers.So the best price I’d found online was from Uncle Jim’s: they always have promo codes, their worms are small but very active, and they ship promptly if you order early in the week (they won’t ship Thursday/ Friday so your worms don’t cook over the weekend in a postal warehouse). HOWEVER Uncle Jim’s only sells a “red mix”, which isn’t only Red Wigglers- they mix in Indian Blues and European Nightcrawlers. I’m not the biggest fan of the two latter worms, since Indian Blues can overrun a bin and Euros burrow deeper than I’d like in an upward migration system like this one.I think Nature’s Footprint has pure Red Wigglers for only a few dollars more, they may worth looking into!Otherwise it’s just been a tough week of patience (not too good at that) as the worms work through the bedding and little food.Luckily we didn’t have the infamous “worm exodus” some first timers describe, maybe a few lost worms in the catch tray the first day or two.48hrs after they arrived and I settled them in, I uncovered the newspaper to add some crushed eggshells and a little coffee grounds (I froze the eggshells in a baggie and was able to easily crush them by just smooshing them in my hand).After the first week, I then added approx a pound of fruit/ veggie waste from my juicer. It was mostly beets, apples, and carrots. This was only 2 days ago, and I’ve just noticed a mild smell in the bin for the first time. Not a stinky smell, but slightly acidic (I think the high sugar and high moisture content, plus the large volume, caused a little mold buildup). I added more shredded paper and used the fork (I mean er I used the plastic sand toy *wink wink*) to mix up the new food, to introduce more air into the bin.So overall the perfect product for starters, and a great way to keep going even when you’re an expert- it comes with a total of 4 bins, and you buy more bins for a reasonable price here on Amazon.I’m excited to see how the worms do in a few months, we may try to feed them some of our autumn leaves once they’re churning quickly through the bins!!

This is the perfect set up if you are tight on space and want something visually appealing. Instructions cover everything you need to know and there are a ton of Youtube videos on this specific unit. I have read some complaints on these Amazon reviews, but it’s obvious most did not research or read the instructions when setting it up. Make sure you add a layer of newspaper on the very bottom to help prevent your red wrigglers from getting into the lowest part of the worm box. Also, don’t wait too long before starting another layer. About 3 months should do it. I think I waited too long and now I need to distribute some of the lower castings to a higher tier as it’s a bit heavy. If your bin smells, ADD SHREDDED NEWSPAPER. the smell will come from what you are feeding your worms and if that food is exposed. It will not smell if the food is burred under shredded newspaper. Happy farming!

Had the Worm Factory 360 running for a month. Still early to give a complete review of it’s overall performance, but so far I am pretty pleased with how it’s setup and performance. I will give my overview of the first month to date:Positives:1) Received both English / French instructions was included compared to other people’s reviews here.2) 360 setup was simple and easy to operate.3) No bad odors, as long as you follow the instructions given. I have been operating this unit for 1 month now and only half way thru the tray. I have watched many youtube videos and tips from other 360 users and I have adopted to process my left over with the food processor. I find this method help speed up the process for the worms to eat the food faster vs. leaving the food in chunks and burying it under the compost. This takes longer for the big pieces to decompose and allowing the worm to feed on it. I just spread it on top of the compost and just cover it with sheet of newspaper. The food usually gets eaten within 24 hrs.Negatives:1) Ordered both the 360 and an extra 2x trays same time, but received the 360 week later than the extra trays.2) Wished the trays are bigger in size3) wished the trays have side stopper to prevent the tray’s weight from sitting directly on top of the sol and crushing the worms, when you add another tray on top. By adding the side stopper tab, it will rest on top of edge of the bottom tray to assist in reducing the weight of the above trays.