1. Parts List
2. Building your Gusanito Worm Factory
3. Getting Started and Additional Helpful Information
   
   
   

Part List : Remove all parts from the Box

Pedestal Base (legs piece)
Base Tray (tray with one hole in one side wall)
Liquid Collection Tray (one hole) Roof (several holes)
Spout  package
Bolt packet
Coconut Coir (pronounced  "choir")
Worm Trays (3-5 depending on Model purchased)
Instruction Manual

Building your Gusanito Worm Factory

1.  Put Pedestal Base down first (un-cut side is toward the back).

2. Align Base Tray on top of Pedestal Base.  The hole is for the spout/spigot and is facing the front of the Worm Factory.

3. Insert Bolts down from the top through the Base Tray into Pedestal Base through any outer holes near the corners of the mesh bottom.

4. Attach wing nuts onto bottom of bolts under the Pedestal Base and tighten down.

5. Lay Liquid Collection Tray into Base Tray, aligning the spout/spigot holes together.

6. Insert a white rubber washer onto the spout/spigot then insert the spout/spigot into the hole of the base tray.  Once in, insert the other washer on the spout/spigot on the inside of the liquid tray.

7. Screw plastic nut onto back of spout inside the Liquid Collection Tray that is inserted into the base tray. You might need to turn the spout rather than the plastic nut, or both.
8. Lay the “weed barrier” cloth on top of the Liquid Collection Tray.  This will prevent worms from escaping downward
9. Stack all the trays on top of the Liquid CollectionTray.Keep the “weed barrier” fabric between the Liquid Collection Tray and the first tray.
10. Roof goes on the top tray.  The tallest part of the Roof faces in either of four directions away from the wind direction.  The wind will flow over the roof and increase the natural draft up through the ventilation holes of the Roof.

Special Note: We recommend laying the weed barrier cloth on the Liquid Collection Tray to cover the mesh holes of the tray above. This will keep the worms from crawling down into the Liquid Collection Tray. The worms are not settled in their new home yet and might crawl upward or downward. The weed barrier cloth will also prevent the castings from filtering down with the compost tea.

Getting Started

1. Presoak the coconut coir.  After soaking, scoop the coconut fiber out of the bucket in handfuls, squeezing out excess moisture, so that the Coir fiber is about as moist as a wrung-out sponge.  You want the worm bedding to be damp, not dripping wet.  Worms can’t swim.

   Mix many handfuls of soil and / or compost with the coconut coir to seed the bedding with the microorganisms that break down the organic

2. material and add grit. Then mix enough food scraps with the dirt and the coconut coir to fill up a tray and a half.  Half in the second tray.
   
   
3. Remember all materials are a food source for the worms including coconut coir. Allow time for the worms to consume and process the bedding.  You can jump start your worm factory by buying a larger quantity of worms.   A Gusanito Worm Factory can accommodate up to 10 lbs/4.5 kg of worms

   Note: Please remember you are creating a soil amendment (worm compost, vermicompost) that will become the nutrient for your own plants and garden. Consider what you put into the worm factory because it may end up on your dinner table in the form of vegetables and fruits from your garden. Even though worms can totally transmute chemicals into safe useable garden soil amendments, chemicals like ink take longer to breakdown.

4. Worms will migrate upward into the next tray after they have composted the bedding they are in. They will migrate upward in search of food.
   
   
5. The food material in the trays will naturally settle and condense as the worms compost it
   
 
6. When you are ready to add food to another tray, the bedding in the lower tray must come in contact with the bottom of the next tray above it to allow the worms to migrate up to the food and bedding in that next upper tray.
   
   
7. If you are into growing worms for fishing, fill up all of your trays so you can easily harvest worms by simply lifting each tray.  When you lift a tray, you see the worms in transit and they will hang from the bottom of the tray.
   
   

Important Note that needs repeating:  Worms re-eat their bedding and previous food sources. Worms consume their weight in food each day however it is difficult to say the worms will eat their weight each day of freshly added food.  The longer you wait (the more times the worms re-eat the same food), the better quality the worm castings will become.


8.  When the tray is fully composted by worms, the worms will leave the tray in search of food. Worms will migrate upward until they find food. Red worms will die if there is no more food to compost.

Another Important Note During temperature extremes, add more coconut coir to dry out the worm bedding.  The dry bedding will act as insulation to protect the worms.

9. You may leave the spout open continuously in the Liquid Collection Tray and keep a small container under it. Or you can keep it closed.  Either way works.  Your choice. If you keep the spout open at all times, you allow moisture to drain from and through the trays while promoting the oxygen flow through the system. This leachate can be used as long as you don't leave it in the container too long. If the worm tea has an offensive odor, don't use it until you have poured it from one container to another several times to promote aerobic bacteria growth or you can use an aquarium air pump to aerate it.

BEFORE YOU ADD FOOD TO THE NEXT TRAY:

Scrape enough compost/bedding/castings from a lower tray and place it into the next tray making sure that the top of the bedding in the lower tray comes in complete contact with the bottom of the tray you are adding food into.   Mix the new food with a mix of coconut coir and more dirt and add it to your tray.
Do not pour water over your bedding.  The worms will reproduce faster in a dryer environment.  Dryer worm bedding means it is moist, not soaking wet. Condensation produced from decomposition provides enough moisture for your system. The roof was designed to create an eco friendly habitat.  If your bedding is too wet, simply add more coconut coir.

WHEN TO HARVEST:

You should only fill up your last tray when you no longer see most of the worms in the first tray.  The worms will migrated when the cycle is complete.  Worms are hungry... Worms will migrate from tray to tray if the Gusanito Worm Factory gets too wet or too hot or too cold. Worms always seek the safest environment.  Depending on the weather and how often you feed your worms, you might harvest the worm casting from the top tray instead of the bottom tray.

MAINTENANCE:

We suggest cleaning out the Liquid Collection Tray occasionally.  Spray off with a hose over a flower bed so as not to waste any vermicompost or tea.


If you want more “worm tea” simply fill up a cup of well processed castings from a lower tray and steep in a gallon of water overnight and use the worm tea within 12 hours to water plants.

Feeding Worms

Acceptable foods are: fruit rinds, cores and peels, grains, vegetative matter, egg shells and hair. They like materials high in cellulose such as sawdust, leaves, paper and cardboard.  
Unacceptable foods are: cooking oils, meat, cheese, butter, animal products, cat and dog feces, fish, and paper with colored inks. Materials will be eaten faster if you chop food wastes first. Avoid food with yeast.  Grass clippings

You can use a plastic container with a tight lid in your refrigerator to accumulate scraps for your worms. This refrigerated container keeps the scraps from drying out, smelling up your kitchen or rotting too fast before you use them for worm food.

Worms should be fed about once a week. It is much better to give them small amounts of food on a weekly basis. You can also feed once every 3 week. Use less quantity if feeding more often.  The softer the food, the faster the worms compost it.

If you have a lot of food which the worms did not digest, you must monitor the situation.   Please be patient as worms have no deadline.

Worms are expected to eat a pound of food per week for every square foot of surface space in their bin. The worms will show you when they are ready for more food. The best way to judge the amount of food to add is to see how much un-eaten food is left (if there is) at the end of the week. Add more bedding (dirt) to cover the kitchen scraps to keep the insects away.  Put the Roof back on.

Coffee grinds and citrus fruits are acidic. It might be a good idea to add some garden lime to sweeten food source especially if you see lots of small white pot worms (they are good guys) however they are telling you that the conditions are too acidic. In that instance you add  garden  lime to balance the worm bedding and scraps.  Two tablespoons mixed into the top layer of the bedding and scraps should balance it.  Only add garden lime to the top trays that has worm bedding.
Worms do not like to be disturbed.  You can lift the trays to look and monitor the rate of composting.  Worms are our friends.  Be patient and the reward will be beneficial to your own body as well as to the planet we live on.

          Thank You for composting with worms. The planet needs our help.
                    

Vermicompost is the key to a healthier environment.  Join us on an international march with worms.  Our planet needs all the help we can give her! 2008©worms