WORMWood Worm Composter

We recommend keeping it indoors, in the kitchen, pantry, or garage, where the WORMwood is designed to fit right in. Wood swells and shrinks with humidity and ages faster than plastic, so it's best kept out of the weather.

If you do set it up outside, choose a fully sheltered spot:

• protect it from rain and never leave it in direct sun;
• bring it indoors during heat waves; cover it or bring it indoors when temperatures drop below about 23 °F (-5 °C).

Worms do best between 59–77 °F (15–25 °C).

All our tips: How do you protect your worm composter from cold and heat?

For the WORMwood, plan on 8.8 oz (250 g) of worms for 1 to 2 people and 1.1 lb (500 g, about 1,000 worms) for 3 to 4 people.

Setup happens in the first tray of the WORMwood: place a piece of cardboard cut to fit at the bottom so the worms don't drop down into the leachate tray, fill the tray halfway with damp bedding, add your worms, then cover with a hemp mat. Their population will then adjust on its own to the space and food available. Start with small amounts of food, then increase gradually.

All our tips: How do you start your worm composter, step by step?

The WORMWood comes with a lid, 2 wooden trays, 2 micro-perforated plastic base grids, a wooden leachate tray stand, a plastic leachate tray, geotextile membranes with thumbtacks, and our vermicomposting guide with detailed instructions.

You'll need worms if you didn't order them with it, some bedding (coco coir or cardboard), and a moisture mat to cut to shape. Made in Europe, the WORMWood worm composter comes with a 2-year warranty; a replacement base grid is available.

In the WORMwood, your worms eat about half their body weight in food scraps every day, sometimes as much as their full weight: 1.1 lb (500 g) of worms will digest about 8.8 oz (250 g) of scraps a day. Their population doubles every 3 to 4 months, then adjusts to the space available. The WORMwood's 2 trays of 6.9 gallons (26 liters), the largest in our lineup, can handle the food scraps of a household of 2 to 3 people.

Bonus: your cardboard, paper, and egg cartons get recycled too, in equal parts with your peels, and it's this balance that prevents odors. Depending on the household, that means 30 to 50% less organic waste in the trash can.

All our tips: What can you feed the worms in your worm composter?

To get your WORMwood off to a good start, we recommend:

• our Eisenia composting worms: 8.8 oz (250 g) for 1 to 2 people, 1.1 lb (500 g) for 3 to 4 people;
• a 2.4-gallon (9 L) coir block, as starter bedding;
• our XXL hemp mat, cut to the shape of the WORMwood's trays and placed on the active tray;
• our RegulaWorm, one tablespoon a week to keep the environment neutral;
• our mini mixing rake, with rounded tines, to aerate the active tray once a week.

Find all our tips in our guide: What accessories do you need for your worm composter?

Start your WORMwood with just one tray. Once it's three-quarters full, set the second tray on top and feed only in that one: the worms will move up through the micro-perforated grid.

Since the WORMwood worm composter has 2 trays, harvest time comes when the second tray is three-quarters full: move the bottom tray to the top with the lid off, place it under a light, and scrape off the vermicompost in thin layers. Then leave this empty tray on top, where it becomes your active tray. Its large 6.9-gallon (26-liter) trays give you a generous harvest with every rotation. Rinse the plastic grids, which won't rust.

All our tips: How and when to harvest vermicompost and compost tea

The WORMWood worm composter produces two natural fertilizers for your plants:

• compost tea (worm tea), after about 2 to 3 months: it collects in a tray hidden in the base of the WORMWood. Because the wood absorbs some of the moisture, the bin produces less tea, a sign of a well-balanced environment. Dilute 1 part tea to 9 parts water;
• vermicompost: first harvest after 3 to 6 months, then roughly every 1 to 2 months. Mix 30% vermicompost with 70% potting soil; it keeps for 2 years.

Find all our tips in our guide: How and when to harvest vermicompost and compost tea