Hi Marty, Physics will tell us that the water comes up the wick, the only place it has to go is where something is more absorptive (and has the capacity for it). This is in fact, why the water comes up the wick! The soil has to be dryer than the wick to draw the water from it-and can't have a barrier against it. Now I know you're saying that the soil is dry but read on... Just IMHO, either: 1. There's not enough soil at the bottom of the root ball for it to draw water from it. 2. The circumference of the wick isn't big enough to really provide the needed moisture. 3. The wick isn't letting it go-perhaps it's coated with something that doesn't allow water to escape. 4. The soil is too dry and has formed a non-permeable barrier against it. So number 4 I have run into. Sphagnum moss *can* get this way sometimes. In fact, I have placed a couple plants into a container to water them from the bottom and found they wouldn't draw water up at all. I had to water them from the top-ensuring the "soil" got damp-before they'd draw from the bottom. It's not quite the same as just watering them first. You have to ensure the Sphagnum moss gets wet. That being said-next time I repot I'm going to amend my soil-less soil with something that enables it to better draw the water up-retains more moisture. In your case, you might want to try the soil thing first. If that doesn't work, then change the wick to something else. Or vice-verse! I'd just do one thing at a time-take one plant and try one thing. If that doesn't work try the next. Otherwise you might not know what the cause was! Best, Judy This post was edited by judyj on Tue, Sep 2, 14 at 19:25

My FT system is working well at present. I harvested a bucket (10 litres) of castings today just by using a shovel in the access hole. It sure beats bending down and scraping! I just checked, and already some more has fallen in the hours since I harvested. As an excercise, I went through the bucket of castings and found about 30 - 40 worms and a few cocoons, probably not enough to justify the time spent. I decided to put them back in, as they can keep working the castings until I am ready to use them, which will also help stop them going smelly as they dry out a bit more. My defnition of FT is that raw material goes in the top, and the finished product comes out the bottom. Simple as that. I would love someone to prove that they can get air to flow through what is essentially 2 feet of mud. The open area at the bottom does increase the surface area exposed to air, and worms working the bottom probably cause a bit of added aeration, but I really don't see a system of air galleries from top to bottom that would be required for air to flow. If this forum software wasn't so weird, I would add some photo's.

Thanks much for all the comments - sorry the excel layout leaves a lot to be desired to understand the flow to the rest of the house and the exterior - which is pretty important. I'll try to lay something out - but basically, the backdoor comes in off the driveway which is at say elevation 0, then there is a first step down into the first part of back yard, about where the steps down are from the EIK that takes you down to -4...to a lower bluestone patio that goes into a walkout basement right below the butler pantry. Then, the backyard slopes down yet again another 4 get to -8 total to the right of the end of the house. I will draw up. What do you think right min. size is for a 4-top round EIK? In my "excel" lingo, the black rectangles are doorways and the orange are windows, so the thought was to create a floor to ceiling glassed in EIK, which is the best view of the backyard. (Top of plan is north, so is going to be south facing which is a concern). The door out of the EIK is the secondary access to the backyard - and the grill. Good point about the location of the refrigerator - thanks again for all comments...

"I like Jan's sketch. I totally get the reasoning, I grew up in a house from the early 1900's in NY and just sold one on the same street that my dad restored in the 1980's. See the left window? Two, not three.. " My problem is I grew up coveting all the mcm houses where my rich friends lived and my tastes developed in stark contrast to my family's. But that's for a therapist to sort out." But you HAVE this house. Not Craftsman, not mcm ...and you live on the inside, not in the damn driveway. .......... "The all oak floors and sunken living room in this house with no two-story walls of windows or wide open rooms sold me from the beginning, so I always wanted to bridge the interior with the.......... Just sayin: ) Interesting. It's not ALL about the windows, is it? "coveting all the mcm houses where my rich friends lived " I grew up in a home with a ton of mismatched wonderful and worn oriental rugs . Family inheritances, a grandfather who owned a wonderful rug store. I loathed them, all my friends had wall to wall carpeting. I loathed them until I loved them, and would have all of them now, if I had fitting rooms for size. Time to get the big girl panties up: )? Love where you're at.