The Original VermiHut® Plus 5-Tray Worm Composter – Dark Green | Indoor & Outdoor Vermicomposting Bin | Sustainable Design for Food Waste Recycling

Wanted to try my hand at this and took a chance on this item. Upon arrival, the bottom liquid catching part had a massive crack due to shipping and was unusable. I contacted Vermitek directly and they responded within 24 hours that a new part will be shipped and arrive within the week. It was and now we have everything setup. It was an easy set up for the most part. The instructions were a little confusing due to diagram and all items included were not labeled on instructions. There were bonus items I'm still not sure of their purpose. However, it was genuinely nice they included these hidden surprises. The one design opportunity I think is the bottom tray and guard board do not have a more secure lock in to each other and the bottom feeding tray. I think some sort of tray guard rail would help instead of being flush. While there are cheaper variants out there, I decided to buy this one as it appears to be a legitimate business attempt at a product and not a knockoff trying to cash in. The value has been great overall and the customer support was fantastic. The size is suitable for a small operation with opportunity to grow. I would definitely recommend.

This composter is very easy to assemble. You basically attach a spout and layer the different parts. Add worms, dirt, food, and cardboard. I started with 1000 worms from Uncle Jim, which is 1 pound of worms (compost about .5 lb per day) definitely recommed purchasing worms from them. I followed the instructions that came with the kit, and day 3 I had worms slithering on my laundry room floor every time I checked on them. After more research, I think either 1) their exceptionally traumatic ride through the mail (y'all, I've never seen a box so crunched, they had to tape it together, covering the airholes) meant they needed a little longer than average to settle, 2) my washer and dryer vibrations freaked them out (laundry day...family of 4), or 3) soil slightly dryer than it should have been. I blended some food for them, adding some watermelon to their smoothie, and they seem very happy! There is a YouTube video mentioned in a another review here that uses this composter, and he uses a layering system. During the phase when my worms were escaping out of the bottom using the method described in the user manual, I decided to mimic his bottom layer, having shredded cardboard and newspaper below the worms (this tray and it's contents will eventually become a new top tray). I think layer may also help keep the worms from escaping out of the bottom. Definitely recommed watching his videos. As mentioned, I keep my composter inside my laundry room (I live in the south, they'd die in our heat). It isn't odorless, but it isn't a terrible odor, kinda smells like damp dirt with a tough of sweetness. I'm okay with this in my laundry room, but I don't think I'd have it in my kitchen or anywhere close to where we spend a lot of time, or anywhere guests would be. Side note, my kids love these little guys. My 4yo said they are the best pets because they don't bite or scratch. My 8yo loves making smoothies in the blender using our scraps (not necessary, but it makes it easier for the worms to eat). I'm looking forward to using the worm castings for the garden, especially since the wild critter keep chowing down on my compost pile to the point of having very little compost to use in my garden. Definitely recommed this product!

The picture gives the impression that each tray sits equidistant from the bottom of the one beneath it, as if they lock in place. This is not the case. Each tray sits pressed directly against the compost in the tray below it. No trays lock in place. The tower could easily be knocked over and fall apart by a person or big animal. I keep a broken cinder block piece on the lid to discourage this possibility Worms do escape at night (I find them dead in the ant traps around the feet, and sometimes I see them noodling out in the day before trying to squeeze back in). They aren't escaping en masse but a few every day is going to add up. This is also problematic because I had planned to take them indoors when it gets super hot in summer. If I do that, I'll have to worry about worms exploring my house. 😔 All that said, the price is pretty good compared to some other models, it came with a couple unlisted extras including a little hand rake and a nice coir mat for the bottom tray (the instructions suggested using cardboard but the coir mat is perfect), and the overall design makes sense (though perhaps not optimal for my summer needs).

My first worm-bin traveled through several moves but died a tragic death in the late 1990s when mice chewed their way in and feasted on my hard-working worms, so I'd been leery of keeping one in the cellar ever since. We started this one at room-temperature in a seldom-used space with mixed worm species from a local professional supplier (worm castings are big with the marijuana trade) and they'd multiplied happily, but they needed to move to our cellar and I was fearful that the mice or the cold would put an end to them. There's probably a little heat from normal composting processes, however, and it turns out that mice can't crawl upside down so I moved a stack of four trays onto a 40" square of 3/4" plywood on top of sturdy former router table table (and out of jumping distance from nearby climbables) and everyone is doing great. There must be 3 or 4 pounds of worms now and even when it's under 50°F they go through a couple pounds a week of well-vetted scrapings, rinds, too-spotty veggies and fruit. The worms can only process so much shredded corrugated, b&w newspaper, and other "browns", however, and this design produces more liquid than models with more aeration, so another advantage of the 40"x40" plywood square is that I can position a container under the tap and tip the square with the bins on top of it to empty the bottom reservoir weekly (which is a nice bonus for the houseplant forest, too!). Moisture is also an issue when the bottom bin of castings is ready to "harvest", so you'll need to do some air- and/or sun-drying, but that's all part of the worm-husbandry fun, right? The bins are sturdy and fit together well. The coconut-fibre top pad won't last long but the worms don't seem to need it. They'll thrive as long as the human factor is consistent and considerate! No onions, no potatoes, and nothing too watery... and the worms are happy and remarkably odorless.

I purchased my first Vermihut approximately 19-months ago when I was brand new to worm composting, a.k.a. Vermicomposting. Prior to purchasing my first Vermicomposting system, I reviewed several worm composting bins and decided on the Vermihut Plus 5-tray Worm Composting Bin System. The instructions regarding set-up were very easy to follow. I set up my Vermihut, I added my worms and they instantly took to their new home. They wasted no time laying worm castings down. I was so happy with the results of my Vermihut Plus, I obtained a second system, to double my Vermicomposting capacity. My worms have never been happier working for food. They eat, poop and multiply, exactly what you want in a composting system. My worms provide me with high nutrient worm castings, which make my garden vegetables grow bigger, faster and healthier. It’s the only way to grow and it’s all organic. Moreover, it keeps pests at bay too. Happy and healthy soil doesn’t get sick. Sick soil lures in pests, which is not an issue when you have a Vermihut Plus because you will always have rich, dark, healthy worm castings available to keep your soil happy and healthy. Therefore, I highly, highly, highly recommend the Vermihut Plus for anybody wanting to grow organic. It is designed with beginners and professionals in mind. I would bet experienced Vermicomposters would rate the Vermihut as one of the best farms on the market; if not the best, when it comes to effective and efficient Vermicomposting. Oh, I would be remiss if I did not mention triubleshooting. The instruction manual covers just about every problem a worm farmer may encounter. Fir example, world crawling down and out of the bin onto the worm saver tray. I initially encountered this problem so I went to the manual and discovered my bedding was too wet because the other reason was failing to put paper or cardboard in the bottom of the bin before adding bedding, which I did, leaving bedding too wet as my problem. If the bedding gets too wet the worms can break up the paper or cardboard in the bottom as they are trying to escape the bad living conditions. Therefore, I mixed in some dry newspaper shredding and it solved the problem. Finally, this review would not be complete without mentioning the outstanding Customer Service the company provides. Good Customer Service is a lost art but not at Vermitek. Their Customer Service sets the Gold Standard. When I first started Vermicomposting, I had a lot of questions. The folks at Vermitek not only answered all of my questions, they followed up to check on my progress. Let’s see other retailers do that. VermiTek, my forever go to for all my composting needs.

Nice system - well put together!

I'll start with saying that all of the vertical stacking worm farms operate pretty much identically. There's no big differentiator between them in terms of producing worm castings. With that said, I bought the Worm Factory 12 years ago and it's produced a large amount of worm castings over the years, but with that amount of time, a couple of things cropped up; 1) the trays are starting to crack at the corners, and 2) I don't feel the legs are designed well to support the weight of five full trays; the legs have been splaying out over time. Given that they all operate on the same principle, it came down to design and, to a lesser extent, price. I like the base on the VermiHut as there's no way the support legs will splay out over time. I also like the rounded corners of the trays as I believe this design relieves some of the stress that my Worm Factory experienced with cracking at the tray corners. And I'm happy that everything's allegedly made from 100% recycled materials. I guess the second criteria for selecting a product is what's included. Mine came with a brick of coconut coir and a woven mat made of some kind of organic fiber. I don't need either one as I just moved the contents of my existing trays to the new VermiHut. I also didn't use the included sheets of nylon mesh as I'm using mine outdoors, nor did I need the trays for preventing ants from invading (good design though). The one thing the Worm Factory came with that the VermiHut didn't was a small bag of vermiculite that worms apparently like for digestion (it deposits in the worms' guts), but I haven't used it in years and it doesn't seem to impact the quantity of worm castings produced. As another reviewer mentioned, you should be producing little to no leachate. If you are, you're ecosystem has too much moisture and the whole bin is likely to smell pretty bad. When I moved the contents of my old trays to the VermiHut, there was literally zero smell at all, no liquid in the base, and thousands of happy worms. We've tuned what we put in the bin over the years and are now down to just espresso machine coffee pucks (very low moisture), banana peels and the occasional overripe banana. The worms love it, but I think it comes down to the moisture level that makes them and the ecosystem thrive. The VermiHut is clearly designed for very little leachate production based on the volume of the base which is fine with me. All in all, I'm a satisfied customer and expect the VermiHut to last at least as many years as the Worm Factory. I did contact VermiHut to ask about a couple of things not mentioned in the owner's manual and they promptly clarified everything. I'll close with a lesson learned a long time ago.... you should never give your worms hot chili peppers. I literally murdered almost every worm in all of the bins and felt horrible about it! Poor little guys.

This has everything you need to start worm composting except the worms and compost. The instructions are well written and it includes all the tools and accessories. All I needed were the red wigglers and i bought some cocoanut husk bricks. I had it it ready to go in a day just in time for mybworms to arrive. The trays are sturdy and fit well within each other so the worms cant get out. I am two months in and I have not lost any worms they are happy making castings and hopefully I will havw worm tea soon. Steve from customer answered all my questions promptly. Great sevice and a great product.I am a novice worm farmer but have been an avid Bonsai and vegetable gardener for years. This is an easy and fun hobby and takes little skill or work. Just feed them once in a while and monitor the moisture level, the worms do the rest!