Bag Worm Composting Bin Version 2 for 2021 with Fully Removable Bottom - No Zippers on Bottom and No Need to Manually Sort Worms from Compost

-Facil de armar-Buena calidad en los materiales

Update 2021:I still love this thing. My worm population has grown substantially. The seam of my second bag split when I went to zip it up and while contemplating what to do next, the Facebook fan group said it was still under warranty. Amazing! I contacted Steve and he’s sending me the third version of the bag. In the meanwhile, I emptied my second bin (with much less worms as it takes that bin three or four times longer to process the same amount of food) into my first bin and now my first bin is full to the top. I’m thinking of leaving them there for maybe six months before splitting the bins again. When I emptied the bin, I put the contents into my first bin from the top, until I got to the layer that was more castings than bedding. I harvested two gallons of castings in this way. I normally harvest half a gallon from my first bin every three to six months (I started with only enough worms for a four gallon system).Worms are so expensive here in Hawai’i, there is no other item in my house that pays for itself like the Urban Worm Bag. While you can get away with not spending money on a worm bin, the time you save sifting castings is substantial and absolutely worth the time spent and strain on your body you mitigate. The volume of it considering is amazing, especially when you factor in the amount of space it uses.Let’s talk about Steve for a moment. Between his presence in the fan group, his blogs and YouTube channel, his quick response and excellent customer service, I can’t think of another owner that is so approachable, responsive and stands by his product. Considering that worm bins mitigate trash that could have ended up in a landfill and recycles valuable resources, I admire the guy quite a bit.On to practical advice. My little worm bins and my larger tote were all in plastic containers. The UWB is breathable cloth, so a new system (or a slow system, like my second bin that started with just 50 worms or so) is going to take some effort to maintain proper moisture. New bedding dried out faster than castings. I found my second bin would have dried spots of bedding in the corners, so I had to dig around and mix those spots frequently. My first bin got over the moisture issues much faster. This is the main reason I’m going to let my combined worms sit for several months before splitting.Feed in pockets and make sure to check the previous feeding sites (I feed using the clock to remember. 12, 3, 6 and 9). Feed when the previous site has a worm ball and the site before that is gone. Being cautious when feeding is important in a new bin, once the bin has been established (6-12 months), you can get more experimental. The bin should never smell anything but earthy. Any scents otherwise means you should cut back feeding. My worms were slaying their feedings, so I put a whole mini watermelon in there. Smelled awful in about a week. Only time that’s happened to me. I broke it apart and put some into my second bin and by the time I checked the following week, no smell.The first few harvests will contain worms. After that, it won’t. Just setting expectations. Why is this? You put bedding into the bin at first and it’s all at the same level of being processed. Worms wander around and leave cocoons. Those worms hatch and if the spot they’re at is moist enough, they’ll hang out. As the bedding is processed, you add another layer of fresh bedding with your food. Worms move up to follow the food. The higher layers are also larger and as they go down, they get compressed into a smaller area. So the layer you feed a few inches from the top will take a VERY long time to work it’s way to the bottom, unlike the first few harvests that started at the bottom. There just isn’t as much time for the worms to travel at first, but once the process starts, you’ll have worm free harvests. Especially if you open the bottom before you harvest and make sure it is running a little drier than the rest of the bin.I will absolutely buy a third one, at full price, once my other two are full. By that point, I’d be processing a LOT of produce and I’d probably be able to stop at three for my fruit loving household of four.Original 2019 review:I got my first worms two years ago. They are expensive here in Hawaii and illegal to import from out-of-state, so I got a handful from friends. I had visions of composting everything eventually, but my homemade tote was too big for the amount I had and other critters moved in. I scrapped that project and went down to a 1-gallon bucket. Easier to manage and I expanded to 3 buckets but harvesting was always a pain.I knew about CFTs and thought to make one myself. $30 for a sturdy enough garbage can, hopefully repurpose some pipes, but there's the time it takes, figuring out where to put it, when will I have time with two little kids.... Wheelie bins would have been ideal but ..... Anyway, as you can see, I've over thought the process for quite a while. And kicked myself for not jumping on the UWB2 when it was on sale for $89 on Prime day. Which is funny because there was an insane moment when I thought of getting the hungry bin two years ago. I think that's why I had it in my head to make my own. If I had known about the UWB, I would have thousands of worms already.So anyway, I ask Steve if he'll have another sale in a few weeks so I could be ready and he sent me a coupon. What a great guy. I bought it and it was so much bigger than I expected! So pleased! It was ridiculously easy to put together. In fact, turning it and pressing the joints in more over and over until they couldn't be pushed in anymore took longer than putting the pieces together. Also, I shred all the packaging to put in the worm bin, so no plastic waste.It's been going well. I live in a temperate area and I'm composting with blue worms. They're in the shade on my lanai. I followed the instructions for letting the moisture equalize for a couple of days before adding the worms, I Spritz the top every couple of days because the top bedding dries out in my location (did the same with the buckets, I don't get it since it's so humid here). I have no idea how hard or heavy it will be once there's castings to harvest, so I'll have to come back and edit once I've done that. But I'm looking forward to picking out as many worms as I do to harvest my little buckets.Oh, and this Prime Day (2019), it went down to $89 again PLUS an instant coupon. So, now I have two.

Fast shipping, Quality construction and easy to assemble. Follow the included directions and you'll be well on your way to happy worms and plentiful harvests! This is my second Urban Worm Bin that I've bought, I thought I'd have an issue with my wife over possible bugs or smells. She's an avid gardener and already knew the benefits of worm castings so she was onboard before I got to the power point presentation After our first harvest we are both very impressed, we have plants that barely survive the winter indoors that are thriving! As for bugs and smell, no bad or invasive bugs and the only smell is when its open and the smell very earthy,I freeze any fruit to kill any fruit fly eggs and so far that and the zippered lid on the worm bins have kept me issue free! If you want a hassle free way to turn your garbage into fertilizer,I don't think it gets much easier.My first UW Bin is near a year old and the material is still new like (except for the dirt)

* Please note that this review is for the first version of the Urban Worm Bag *I bought this worm bag slightly more than a year ago after stumbling on several YouTube videos extolling the virtues of this continuous flow through vermicomposting system. Pros and cons listed below is after more than 1 year of using it continuously* Pros:1. Super simple to assemble - you don't need any tools to assemble it, just bang a few rods into the connectors and you're good to go.2. Very little maintenance needed when feeding the worms (but not when extract the compost; more on that later). Unlike other vermicomposting system where you need to rotate the trays/properly harvest the worms etc, all you need to do is dump food and bedding in - much less complicated! You just need to make sure that you have adequate bedding AND to err on the side of underfeeding your worms when first starting out.3. The material of the bag is extremely sturdy. After a year of intense using, there still isn't any rips or tears in the bag. The stand could be a little sturdier (it gets a little wobbly when there's a substantial amount of material in the bag) but overall, I'm happy with the build quality.4. Small footprint for the amount of compost generated. We are a family of 5 that cooks almost dinner almost everyday and this worm bag can almost keep up with the waste produced.* Cons1. Extremely frustrating to harvest. The zipper is always stuck and quite impossible to unzip OR to zip up. After the first time trying to unzip the bag, I just left the bag half-unzipped so I don't have to struggle with the zip for future harvest. To prevent worms from escaping/compost from leaking from the hole, I try my best to stuff it with beddings to seal the hole from half-unzipping the bag.2. Compost at the bottom of the bag is always wet. No matter how much bedding I use and how little I feed, the compost at the bottom of the bag is always a lot wetter than the compost at the top. It's not so wet that it drips (on occasion, it does leak a little) but it's wet enough that it starts to go anaerobic and smell really bad especially when you're trying to harvest the compost. I am using thinly shredded newspaper as bedding and have tried using completely dry bedding/not feeding the worms as much but the problem persisted.The main reason why this gets a 3 star instead of a lower rating is because the experience of using the bag is positive on a day to day basis. The only time it really disappoints is in the harvesting process (which doesn't happen that often! maybe once every 2 months or so)EDIT: Jan 2020I've changed the rating of this bag to 5 stars (for now), just to reflect the incredible customer service that Stephen provides. He reached out to me to explain that since my purchase was still within the warranty period, he will be sending me one of the version 2 bag. I've not had the chance to set up the worm bag yet and will update the review once I have a chance too.

Arrived in expected time, easy to figure out how to install it. It has a good capacity, so far humidity etc has been easy to control. Am keeping Euros and Reds in the same one, they are both doing well. I freeze any vegies prior to adding to the bin to avoid introducing bugs such as fungus gnats or fruit flies that may have laid eggs. Make sure that you read up on vermicomposting prior to introducing any worms to your substrate.