Apartment Worm bin/ Vermicomposting

Hi all
Does anyone have experience with Vermicomposting in an apartment. I'm thinking of getting this unit.
Worm Factory 360 ( it has a small foot print)
Questions I have are, how much of a smell does it have?
Does anyone have experience with this unit? I'm thinking it wouldn't smell any worse than a hamster cage?
Where do you keep yours?

I would do it outdoors, but it gets -40 in the winter here on some days
Cheers
CCG

I'm in a condo. My bins are just 15 gallon fabric pots. Less maintenance, more airflow. But I have to screen the castings when i
I harvest them.

hyroot said:

I'm in a condo. My bins are just 15 gallon fabric pots. Less maintenance, more airflow. But I have to screen the castings when i
I harvest them.

Click to expand...

Much smell in fabric pots? Thats the reason for looking into sealed unit.
Cheers
CCG

Canadain Closet Gardener said:

Much smell in fabric pots? Thats the reason for looking into sealed unit.
Cheers
CCG

Click to expand...

Worm bins don't smell much if everything is balanced. If its too wet then it can smell. Fabric pots or cedar wood is best for worm bins because it allows enough air flow so it doesn't get over saturated air flow.is key to happy worms.

I use a 7 gal fabric pot as a lid for the 15 gal worm bin. You can also just throw some mulch on top too. Like barley straw or rice hulls.

There's also worm inns at build a soil.

https://buildasoil.com/products/worm-inn-make-your-own-vermicompost

Don’t over do it on food trim. Keep a high carbon to low nitrogen ratio. Bury your food trim under some coco and/or shredded paper but make sure to freeze your food trim first, then thaw, to make it easier for the worms to compost it.

avoid kitchen food scraps and all will be fine. I had dozens of those operating inside my grow space, they at only a five gallon bucket of dried floor sweep/trim weekly and a bit of water. the multitude of pests may upset your apartment living if things are out of balance.
I'd skip it in an apartment personally. you can buy cheap castings, composted poops online and they are perfect, not as fun of course....

You can keep a worm factory in a kitchen. No bad smells at all. I know alotta peeps just use a smart pot but not sure you want that in an apt only because you'll need to dump out the pot and sift through it or screen the castings to harvest them. The tray system makes separating worms from the castings pretty much effortless.
I also give kitchen scraps to my worms but avoid certain foods that take way too long to break down like potato skins. Only fruit or veggie scraps & peels are given along with coffee grounds, eggshells, alfalfa meal, corn meal and dried cannabis leaf. I add coco for bedding, perlite for airflow, and crushed oyster shell flour for grit when starting each new tray. Airflow is key as Hyroot says which is why the waffle bottom trays in the worm factory 360 design work so well.

Respectfully, I say you can use kitchen scraps all dang day, just eat good so the worms eat good, right.. in other words, avoid a 99% fruit diet too high in sugar and acid, and you will be fine. I like to keep mine vegetarian now, no fruit, but they do love watermelons. strawberries too but they do mould quickly

freezing and thawing will also make things disappear super quick. like 2 3 days vs one to 2 weeks. you can even skip thawing, farms are packed with kinetic motion that warms things up quick

imo, also avoid using paper as the by far least quality bedding out there,
dont use cardboard either.

use old castings to cover .. buckwheat hulls, rice hulls, even leaf mould from local tree'd area, or my fav, spent root balls.

I've used multiple 110 Litre strong totes with success, indoors with no issues, as well as fabric pots, and home made farm towers out of wood with 1/4 mesh on each layer

the key is being in tune with them, knowing how much food is left, ("watch the hump / pile technique") keeping it moist but not wet, and aerate it 50 50 or so, once it gets established. Keep it aerobic and keep the food covered and you will never have gnats, smells, etc.

avoid brocolli chunks, cauliflower, and dense cruciferous veggies, those are the stinkiest by far! those are some of my personal tips!