Using a poly stock tank for worm bin?

I have a 200 gallon stock tank similar to this

Was wondering if i could use it as a worm farm without punching holes in it? Just a layer of damp shredded cardboard bedding, throw in some worms, cover with a layer of top soil and start feeding? My long term goal is to be able to make roughly 100 gallons of fresh ewc's every 90 days, but right now i'm just looking for a starting point.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

rkmcdon said:

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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Without a collection area and drain?

That thing looks like it was made to start a worm bin in. I would just make sure to have it set up so the liquid can drain from the bottom in some fashion. I haven't had a bin nearly that size though, I have 2x27 gallon totes and a 19 gallon tote. Mine are all indoors, but I imagine yours will be set up outside?

Boatguy said:

Without a collection area and drain?

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Yes, that's what i'm hoping to do, but don't know if i can. That and can I do this without drilling holes in it

loco41 said:

I would just make sure to have it set up so the liquid can drain from the bottom in some fashion

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So it sounds like drilling holes are a must?

rkmcdon said:

Yes, that's what i'm hoping to do, but don't know if i can. That and can I do this without drilling holes in it

So it sounds like drilling holes are a must?

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From my understanding you will need some drainage holes for the bottom, yes. I never really looked much into how people have done their outdoor bins, so hopefully they will come around soon and guide you further.

Thank you. Also, I missed answering one of your questions. This will be in my garage so out of the elements and should be warm enough for worms year round

You don't have to have a drain- just need to make sure your moisture level stays spot on. From what I've read so far- I'd suggest drilling a drain.
100gals of ewc in 90days- that's going to be a hefty $$$ worm order to get enough.
Soil- NO. Composters don't need or like soil. Leaves, straw, shredded paper or cardboard, manure, compost.

Oh and lastly- drain is there for the purpose of draining excess liquid. This liquid is NOT TEA. I personally would not use leachate on anything I'd consume or really cared about.

Thanks @chakup . I somehow missed the notification of your post. I appreciate the information

I found an error in my prior calculation and it turns out I actually need to make 175 gallons every 90 days . I do however have 6 months to work up to that capacity because i have to use up my current ewc's.

My plan was a good layer of cardboard bedding, a layer of compost and ewc's from my current supply then 5000 red wigglers. After a week I would feed family compost (I cant imagine we make enough to generate the amount of vermicompost i'm needing), more bedding, dried leaves, grass clippings and dried plants. Will those 4 components (bedding, leaves, grass and plants) be a sufficient addition to are home scraps (family of 4) to make quality compost ?

The problem of course is, I have no idea if that will get me to my goal. I don't suppose you have any insight into what setup i need for this amount of vermicomposting? I would appreciate any advice!

Btw, I came here to post that i was giving up on this idea and buying an urban worm bag, but your help has me rethinking that. Of course i may still get one and try both methods

rkmcdon said:

Thanks @chakup . I somehow missed the notification of your post. I appreciate the information

I found an error in my prior calculation and it turns out I actually need to make 175 gallons every 90 days . I do however have 6 months to work up to that capacity because i have to use up my current ewc's.

My plan was a good layer of cardboard bedding, a layer of compost and ewc's from my current supply then 5000 red wigglers. After a week I would feed family compost (I cant imagine we make enough to generate the amount of vermicompost i'm needing), more bedding, dried leaves, grass clippings and dried plants. Will those 4 components (bedding, leaves, grass and plants) be a sufficient addition to are home scraps (family of 4) to make quality compost ?

The problem of course is, I have no idea if that will get me to my goal. I don't suppose you have any insight into what setup i need for this amount of vermicomposting? I would appreciate any advice!

Btw, I came here to post that i was giving up on this idea and buying an urban worm bag, but your help has me rethinking that. Of course i may still get one and try both methods

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Nice man, glad you didn't give up on the idea. Once it's all set up and you figure it out a bit it's super low maintenance and fresh ewc is a strong base for starting your organic soils. Again though i don't have near what you are setting up so take what I a am about say with a grain of salt, just my thought process for what you've described so far.

Some things to think about if you haven't already. That's a huge bin, so moving it around after it's up and running is going to be a challenge. Even half full, 100 gallons + tote weight is gonna be pretty hefty. So I would make sure to have your space figured out for the long haul. Moisture control is one of the more important factors so you are going to have to have the bin elevated somewhat above a catch bin of some sort below it and be able to drain said catch bin. You don't want an anaerobic bin, so it needs to be able to drain excess moisture at some point. If you aren't set on using the 200 gallon tub, maybe buying several smaller size totes and making your own would still be cheaper than buying a pre made product.

Also, what is the reason you need 175 gallons every 90 days? That is a ton of ewc and I'm just curious why you need that much. I don't really harvest my bins too frequently, just keep adding fresh scraps and then some fresh bedding/compost every so often. I just take a few scoops as needed and keep things rolling. My oldest bin hasn't been harvested in over a year to be honest. I keep saying I'll get around to it, but that means bringing another tote into my small ass apartment and space is getting limited with all the random stuff I do here.

https://rollitup.org/t/locos-organic-grow.1007161/#post-15430682 in post #8 you can see a quick summary of my bins I just started up to give you a little idea of what it looks like. There are tons of great threads here and on other sites with far more experienced and knowledgeable people explaining and documenting all things vermicomposting. If I can help with some more of the basic type things, let me know though and I hope you see it through. It truly is a lot easier than what I expected when I first set a bin up.

Just drill a hole and install a drain line that you can open/close. Shouldnt be too hard with a bit of pipe, and silicone

Also, if you havent bought the worms yet, I have a 10% discount code from Uncle Jim's worm farm (UJW10)

The Urban Worm Bags work great, but for the amount for your goal unrealistic. There's a larger CFT bin that would better suit needs size wise (I can Google it if can't find, has a rotating blade bottom of the barrel to harvest).
Leaves are great- but again with quantity wanted I'd try to source free manure from local farms. You can always add leaves and food scrap but manure can act as both food and bedding.

BluntMoniker said:

Just drill a hole and install a drain line that you can open/close. Shouldnt be too hard with a bit of pipe, and silicone

Also, if you havent bought the worms yet, I have a 10% discount code from Uncle Jim's worm farm (UJW10)

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Don't order from UJ!! Sooo many better quality, quantity and price places. Also UJ is known to sell "red wigglers" and send a mix bag of various species.

Thanks @loco41 !

The reason for the volume is i start a new crop every 60-90 days and plant just over 100 plants in 5 gallon pots. so 520'ish gallons and my mix is approx 22% ewc which works out to 132 gallons. I don't want to be harvesting the entire bin so i upsized to 175.

I will definitely set it up in a location where moving won't be necessary. I have a corner in my garage I can use. I have considered going with a smaller set up and may still go with a urban worm bag. It looks to be able to hold up to 40 gallons at a time and i could just empty periodically into my larger bin for storage and if one doesn't produce fast enough i could easily add a second in the future.

I think my biggest issue right now is not knowing what it will take space and feed wise to be able to produce this volume of vermicompost, so that makes planning a little difficult. I wont plant again for another 70 days, and i have enough ewc's for that entire crop, which gives me 150 plus days to get things in place. Hopefully that will be enough!

chakup said:

There's a larger CFT bin that would better suit needs size wise (I can Google it if can't find, has a rotating blade bottom of the barrel to harvest).
Leaves are great- but again with quantity wanted I'd try to source free manure from local farms. You can always add leaves and food scrap but manure can act as both food and bedding.

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Wow! just looked those up and it looks perfect, but they get expensive quickly. It looks like the only two options in my price range would be diy or a warm wigwam for $600.

I knew this volume would be a challenge, but it looks like it may be even harder than i anticipated. I may have to start with a urban worm bag and then expand to a worm wigwam after i have the hang of it. I can just supplement purchased ewc's with my fresh until i'm up to volume

You need to keep in mind something like the UWB is meant to be harvested continually, but you'll only be getting a small percent of the whole each harvest.

Here's a system i might be able to make if i can find the time. You have to remove the compost manually by raking from below, so i'm not sure if that will create any issues.

rkmcdon said:

Thanks @loco41 !

The reason for the volume is i start a new crop every 60-90 days and plant just over 100 plants in 5 gallon pots. so 520'ish gallons and my mix is approx 22% ewc which works out to 132 gallons. I don't want to be harvesting the entire bin so i upsized to 175.

I will definitely set it up in a location where moving won't be necessary. I have a corner in my garage I can use. I have considered going with a smaller set up and may still go with a urban worm bag. It looks to be able to hold up to 40 gallons at a time and i could just empty periodically into my larger bin for storage and if one doesn't produce fast enough i could easily add a second in the future.

I think my biggest issue right now is not knowing what it will take space and feed wise to be able to produce this volume of vermicompost, so that makes planning a little difficult. I wont plant again for another 70 days, and i have enough ewc's for that entire crop, which gives me 150 plus days to get things in place. Hopefully that will be enough!

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Haha nice, I can only dream of an operation that big. I hope you find that right balance of everything. Worst case scenario it seems like you could always stop feeding the bin/bins a month or so before you need to harvest and just have a slightly less concentrated end product of castings, but still have an active and viable vermicompost source.

Do you recycle/reuse your soils or do you mix a fresh batch of soil every new round of plants?

We have been making fresh soil for each crop and it was less heavily amended so we fed age old bloom/grow as well. We are now switching over to a more heavily amended living soil. I will compost the soil from this transitional crop and mix fresh with the next crop so the entire crop will be the same recipe. I'm not 100% sure after that, but right now I'm planning on using that crop to transition to ROLS