How do I turn a plastic stock tank into a vermicomposter?

Question

We have a Rubbermaid, plastic stock-tank.

It has an unfixable crack in it and we've been saving it incase we could find a future use for it. I've just started getting into composting and I plan to do that, but I thought this might make a good vermicomposter for getting worm castings.

My question is what do I need to do to turn this into a vermicomposter and would it even make a good one? I plan to put it in a shaded area and put a board or some other cover over the top. I'll remove the plug for drainage purposes. I think that I could just prop the cover up for enough air flow, but should I also run some pvc with holes drilled through it into the bed to increase oxygen. It'll be almost impossible to turn the mixture once it starts filling up.

I've never made a vermicomposter before, so I don't know how to make one correctly, but it seems like I could start the mixture out shallow and as that breaks down, I keep adding matter on top of the composted material till it's almost full. Thanks.

Answer 1

You don't need to turn it - that's the worms' job, to the extent that it gets turned at all. Mostly you add worm food, the worms eat it, you add more food, eventually you dump the whole thing, grab a few buckets of worms and start over from the bottom.

Stock reaction would be to drill the bottom full of holes, but if you want to collect the worm-juice/compost tea, might be easier to lay a pipe grid to the drain hole and cover over that with a perforated sheet (probably wood, unless you can find something suitable in plastic) - in either case you want LOTS of air to get into the bottom (and not to have the compost sitting in liquid.) If the crack includes the bottom, head back to "drill it full of holes since it won't hold water anyway." Probably drill up from the bottom (or down with it turned over, really) so you can put the holes between the reinforcing ribs.