I don't have experience with the brand you're referring to, but I have used a similar stacking system for many years. Moisture control will not be any easier than your RM bin. The light and fluffy vermicompost you see photos of are usually screened to 1/8" or 1/4". It takes some work to get stuff like that. I do it when I want to give VC to family & friends, but I use the chunky VC myself.

Some suggestions to consider for controlling moisture better in your current bin:
 If you have a leachate collection bin at the bottom, put some dry bedding (egg cartons, cardboard, etc.) in there to soak up the leachate and give worms that wander down a place to live without drowning. Once a month, dump all that in the top of your bin and start with new dry bedding.
 Add as much dry bedding as you can on the top of your bin. Just move it aside when you add food, then cover the food with bedding again. This top bedding will slowly wick moisture from the decaying material and eventually become food for the worms.
 Carefully slide pieces of cardboard along the sides of your bin...as far down as you can. This can also help a little in wicking excess moisture from the bottom of your bin.

Andrew

I agree with Plumie's advice on managing your bin. I just spent the last few hours sifting compost to remove castings from one of my bins, then separating as many cocoons as I could from the castings. it was labor intensive but I had a reason.
The resulting castings are fine, 'fluffy' and pour like you might see in a TV ad (if anybody bothered to make an ad about worm composting on TV).

I generally sift to remove castings to make tea and return anything that bigger than the sieve to the worm bin, but right now I have a couple trays of compost drying on my patio so I can sift them and am seriously considering simply using them as compost. Most of it looks better than what I produce from my regular compost bins although it is a little chunky and moist right now.

I will probably try to retrieve a few of the cocoons from one of the trays as it is from my ENC bin and the population is nowhere where I want it.

I have a worm factory 360 and if I recall correctly, its difference was something to do with a slightly better venitilation system.
I also have a rubbermaid setup, right next to my 360. I made it according to how everyone says to do it.
My rubbermaid does not drain very well at all compared to the 360 setup.
The problem in my mind is the ventilation is much better in the 360, the rubbermaid does ventilate at all. SO when I add new food to the RM, it just keeps adding water. I end up taking the leachate and pouring it on plants. I started to add it back to the top but figured since the moisture is not evaporating hardly at all. That pouring back in would be even worst.

The worms in my 360 are happy, the worms in my RM I have to keep a light on or the crawl out and die. :(

Caution: I'm a verminoob. I started my Worm Factory 360 in January of this year.

The difference between the 360 and the Worm Factory, as I understand it, is the domed top which helps with ventilation. And the instructions printed on the lid.

I love my 360. I did research before I bought it and I continue to be happy. I have not killed my first 1,000 worms - YET. I harvested my first tray of vermicompost/castings two weeks ago. Those castings saved a Black Krim tomato plant that was otherwise just dead. I was amazed. That alone convinced my fiancee that the worms in the kitchen were fine; he even asked to feed them some frozen scraps.

xpoc454:

If you have to keep a light on a rubbermaid bin to keep the worms from fleeing, you've got an intolerable situation in that bin for those worms.

If things are right in there, it is a resort....not a prison.

I would re-examine the conditions in that bin because an established bin properly conditioned really doesn't even need a lid on it except to keep the moisture content stable.

Chuckiebtoo

Ive had the worm factory 360 in use for the last 3 years and Im guessing the difference is the worm ladder in the base tray. It allows the worms to crawl back up into the bottom tray if the drain tray becomes too wet. All the ladder is an insert with elevated sides which lead to the tray above. I find the system to be very efficient and it works much better than my homemade one. The only time I get drainage in the drain pan is when I feed too much watermelon.. Lately though I pretty much just scrape the rind so no/little water remains and they only get the rind.

I would have to agree with chuckiebtoo, something must be out of wack with the conditions in your RM bin. Try adding some shredded newspaper to absorb some of the moisture - I'd bet that's at least one of the main issues. Let us know what you do to solve your problems. Good luck!

Harry

It the moisture is like Hurricane Katrina, leave the lid off the thing for a few days. Light? maybe if they roam, but if the feed is right, they won't go anywhere.

chuckiebtoo

Lets face it if you have a plastic bin like I have [besides my fact. 360] it will sweat. I did a lot of adapting such as cut out the bottoms leaving a 2" lip. I replaced with 1/4" hardware cloth in that way it resembles the worm factory models. I also have wedges under neath so the bottom tray is not sitting flat on a base , it allows more air flow. After some trial and error I now leave the lid on , it has holes in it . But I do keep plenty of shedded paper inside more to deter fruit flies than anything else but I suppose it does serve a multipurpose. This works and worms stay inside as long as I keep a supple of food inside besides the paper/cardboard. The method of feeding that works best for me. Let me back up a step first. [ I save my food scraps in container until I have enough to run thru my hamilton beach big mouth juicer [800 watts] anything less than this is not powerfull enough to do the job when you have scraps like potato peels and cutup banana peels along with fruit peelings. Its usually enough to fill 1.5 gal container saving the pulp and recently started adding some of the juice back in to moisten the mix. ] Now, when I add the food it takes a couple of days for decomposition [teeming with microbes- bacteria] to take place . Worms feed from underneath first but once a mass of worms have moved on top of the fresh food I then start a new stash of food in another portion of the bin , usually opposite corner or side. In this way you can tell when the worms have moved to the new food usually 2 days before the new stash is ready. Sometimes the bacteria is working so well that you can see it before the worms get to it. This has happened before for me but now with so many worms I might not be able to.

As I mentioned before the difference is there is more aeration in the 360 along with the worm ladder which allows worms which end up in the drain tray to crawl back up into the harvest tray.

As for my homemade bins I was having a problem . Over a period of time there seemed to be more and more dead worms on the floor. I didnt know why they would even leave the bin. I had plenty of good bedding and aeration. I suspected that as the herd grew I also had become lazy about feeding them. Also knowing that the plastic bin would sweat I had been leaving the lid cracked thinking that was the problem for the exodus. So I moved everything out of the 6' closet the bins were in cleaning up everything so no dead worms remained. From there I decided to go with the thought that it was my lack of feeding that was the culprit. That was 2-3 weeks ago and I still have not seen even one worm outside of the bin and I even keep the lid on with no cracks, but the lid has plenty of aeration holes big enough they could crawl out if they wanted, but seems the problem is solved provided I keep food in the bin. Once I place section of food in the bin I figure 48hrs for the bacteria break it down for the worms , then another two days before a big gob of worms cover where the food is /was at that point I add more. So its about a 4 day cycle sometimes less. I just know that seems to work for me for others depending on how many worms , trays, bins, tiers you might have it could be a little different. The fact the worms now stay in the bin keys me in that the bedding, aeration, food supply is sufficient enough to keep them happy as long as I dont slide in my job .