Begonia, Repeat after me_I AM NOT SCARED!!! I swear plants know when you are afraid of them and will take every advantage to die on you. Confidence!!! Now on to your questions: Your soil mix is appropriate for wicking. Some people use a thinner wick for smaller plants and vice-versa. I do not. I like my reservoir go dry for a day or so before I re-fill it to let my plants dry a bit. If the plants become too dry, watering from the top will get the wick going again. You will have to experiment but as you are a confident plant person this will not scare you. Just stick your finger in the soil-if it's soaking, it's too wet but I don't think you'll have this problem. (Spraying the stem is unnecessary but not harmful). And you will have to pat your soil in somewhat. Just don't go at it like you're punching down bread dough. You do not need fancy grow lights. Go to HD and get a warm white and a cool white. Your fixture should have a reflector. (I have been using this combination since 1972.) I think the warm is labeled daylight or sunshine. If you want the reason for this, let me know. It's rather lengthy and it's very late so...you'll just have to trust me. (I can also rhapsody for quite a while on soil mixes in case you are interested). But...I digress...) I replace when my tubes get a dark ring around the ends, (very noticeable) or when growth and blooming start to slow. Be careful with new tubes. They are very strong in the beginning. As you have learned, plants of a genera are not all the same . Each cultivar and even each individual is different and will respond differently to your growing conditions. Just follow good AV growing practices and don't be afraid to experiment. And don't be discouraged when you lose some. We all lose some. Some plants are just naturally weak, some won't like you or your conditions and some are just suicidal. Just chalk it up to experience and move on. A plant that dies gives you room for something new! I have been at this plant business my entire life and there are still violets that refuse to bloom for me. Ex: Gillian. Grows like a weed. Will not bloom. I don't obsess over these non-bloomers. I give them to my neighbor and let her obsess. Instead of individual containers-why don't you get a tray-the kind annuals come in-with no holes. Add egg-crate and place your plants on this with the wicks extending through the egg-crate. This takes care of humidity (Question 4) and you won't have to figure out what containers to use (Question 5). It also makes it much easier to care for your plants when they are all together and all you have to do is water the tray. Let me know if you have more questions! Linda

Davidro1, the salesman told me that clean air was coming down but honestly, I didn't follow it up with him as to whether he meant from inside the hood or from outside as a function of air going up... If anyone has some engineering knowledge and wishes to follow-up on the mechanism, I will be very glad to hear back. Thanks, aprince. I clearly don't know about noise/power issues with 6" duct. As to fluorescent, yes, I would rather have warm white or neutral fluorescent than bright halogen that will generate heat and most importantly, will shine in my eyes. If I had the option of a deeper hood in which the lights wre recessed, then I would go for halogen. But, I want a low profile hood to open up the space. Carol08. It's worse than you think. I will soon have the cabinets in my LR (mind you, it's a condo) and the man who said he would demolish walls and ready the space is not answering his phone. But, I hear he does that until he finishes with the job at hand. I'm giving him till next week. I have worked for months to try to line up the ducks and it's totally futile in this area.

>>>"I'm sure gas is more economical to operate as we had to run a dedicated 3 phase 240 from the breaker ...Two comments in response: one on the relative "economy" of gas and induction and the other on the "3 phase 240 line from the breaker." On operating cost economy, the difference in cost of for running a gas cooktop versus running an induction cooktop is usually trivial. For starters, the energy cost for running a stove (or cooktop and ovens) is a tiny part of a household energy budget -- 2.8% is the figure (1.8% being the oven) I've seen tossed around by the Department of Energy and others. For an idea of how trivial the difference will be, go to Michael Bluejay's website and use his "Mr. Electricity" calculator. http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooking.html Somewhere down the page, he says to figure induction efficiencies by reducing the electric stove cost by 40%. The calculator asks for input of your local rates and how much you use the oven and each burner and how many days per week. When I ran the numbers for my kitchen, figuring in all the cooking I do, I found the cost differential for an induction range was about 70 cents more per month for induction over natural gas cooking appliances. Obviously, YMMV. Somebody in an area with high marginal electric rates --- say, $0.40/kWh --- would see more substantial savings with a gas appliance. Three-phase 240 from the breaker -- are you talking three conductor cable from the breaker or an actual three phase 240v line? From what I recall of the importing-induction threads here (gosh, was it a decade ago, already?), I thought the DeDietrich induction cooktops ran on single phase power. To me, three-phase 240v would be a commercial setup. (Cooktek and Garland make several of big induction appliances including rangetops with six 3500w burners. A "mere" $8k for that rangetop!) Upgrading a residential electrical service to a commercial 240v (or 400v) three-phase service would require a new transformer, a new service line to the house, and a whole-new breaker panel. If you had to go for a commercial hook-up, then that would have been very expensive, indeed! This post was edited by JWVideo on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 18:45

EXACTLY! After throwing a fit, I finally got my appliances ordered last May on October 18. They substituted a SHarpe microwave because the LG is now on back order at Lowes! (the microwave IS available thru LG website however) And they substituted another model for my LG Range. It was a slightly more expensive model, so we didn't gripe, but it came with no racks, no installation package, no warranty info, no user manual, no air fry tray, no built in thermomter. I spent hours talking to LG AND to Lowes. Finally had to order the installation package myself at $71 and Lowe's is supposed to give me a gift card for that amount. Lowe's optional solution was to order a completely new range (which is out of stock now and not expected til after the new year). They OBVIOUSLY robbed Peter to pay Paul. During this whole process, I have spent 2 hours with my Lowe's designer selecting appliances that were "in stock" and endless hours on the phone reporting delivery damages, missing appliances, and trying to rectify errors.