WICKING BED The wicking bed system is a way of growing plants in which water wicks up from an underground water

reservoir. The reservoir can be deep to store bulk water, generally resulting in a varying depth. Water in a shallow reservoir can maintained by an upside down bottle or a float activated filling system. You generally want to keep rainwater off, and not surface water once a new seedling is established. (Surface watering compacts the soil & seals off air penetration.) There are two types of wicking bed, open and closed. In an open wicking bed system the water reservoir is in direct contact with the parent soil. This means that water can wick upwards into the parent soil, then sideways and downwards outside the water reservoir. The water in an open wicking bed can wick or siphon out water deep into the soil. This makes the open system very suitable for deep rooted plants such as trees. It also has the advantage that the local micro biology and worms can readily enter the system. In a closed wicking bed system the water in the reservoir is separated from the parent soil. This limits its use to shallower rooted plants. Filling the liner with a coarse aggregate, such as wood chips will reduce surface tension forces even further and increase the water holding capacity. Volcanic rock works. As our systems show, setting soil pots into the wick works. Our largest (to date 2013) was at London Drive, a 4x8 hole, around 16 deep, lined with plastic. Weed block cloth, then some dirt then volcanic rock (4) then covered with more weedcloth (fiberglass). Hole filled with water, the rock & cloth leveled, then drain holes slit along the side just above the water. Finish backfill with soil. We then had upside-down shag carpet, which provided a moist air space above the soil but kept the direct sun & wind off. (12 is about the maximum water will normally wick in soil.)