There is any number of ways to set up a worm farm, as long as the worms have a suitable environment to do their work in turning organic waste into rich compost. One of the easiest ways to manage your worm farm, in taking the finished compost from the farm and adding it to the garden without disturbing the worms is to use a multi tray worm farm.

Multi tray worm farms comprise stackable trays in which you can put your bedding material before sitting the new tray on top of the existing trays. As the worms work over the food in the lower trays they will work their way up into the new tray, leaving behind the completed compost.

There are a number of different brands of multi tray worm farms and they are only different in the size of the actual trays, including depth and circumference. You may also get an option of choosing a 3, 4, 5 (or more) tray worm farm, the one you choose will come down to the amount of scraps you produce and will need to get processed. If your family produces a lot of kitchen scraps on a daily basis, then you will most likely have to get a 4 tray worm farm. The number of worms that will populate the farm will grow to accommodate the available space. So if you supply plenty of food, the worms will thrive, reproduce and be capable of turning over even more scraps. The result will be even more worm castings that make beautiful, rich compost.

A stackable worm farm such as The Worm Factory is ideal for a family that produces a medium to large supply of kitchen scraps. The Worm Factory can accommodate around 12,000 when it is in full operation and will produce a tray full of worm casting each month. You will find that the worms will go through around 5 pounds of waste per week. An even more attractive draw-card with this kind of multi tray worm farm is that you don’t necessarily have to stop at 4 trays, if you have the spot for it you can keep stacking if you need to process more scraps.

So what kinds of scraps are ideal for worms in a worm farm? Well, pretty much any organic material is okay, although the worms will have a preference for food such as shredded newspaper, vegetable and fruit scraps, egg shells for the worms to use when grinding in their gizzards, coffee grounds and shredded leaf litter.

These multi tray worm farms also recognize the value of another by-product that is produced by the worms, and that is a worm tea. Because the worms prefer a damp environment they need a certain amount of water in their home. This water gradually soaks through the vermicompost and collects towards the bottom of the tray system. A good worm farm provides a tap that can lets you drain away the worm tea to be used on the garden. This worm tea is a terrific boost to plants, particularly to young seedlings.

As alluded to earlier in this article, the major advantage of using a multi tray worm farm system is the ease with which the worm castings, also known as vermicompost, can be harvested without disturbing the worms. With other types of worm farms, separating the worms from the castings can be a bit of a time consuming ordeal. In the case of the tray system, the worms will go looking for the richest source of food and leave the completed castings behind. All you have to do is remove the tray from the bottom of the pile. You may still have the odd worm hiding in the castings, but you won’t be removing enormous numbers from the farm.

Worm farms are a great way of turning your kitchen scraps into usable compost that will benefit your garden and the most convenient, compact and smell-free type of worm farm is the multi tray worm farm. You can pick one up for around the $100 mark and for the most part they are made of 100% recycled plastic.