The way the bulbs were packaged, its very likely the bulbs closest the the edges of the box could have received some rough treatment. Its a long ride from Australia. I'd watch it, see how the bulb responds. Its normal for any damage to turn red on hippi bulbs.

Ah, hex you want this to be so wrong. Sorry but you can look up the "no nutritional value" on hydroponics it's well documented. An yes your right the plants don't care what the source of those elements are. But we're not talking about the plants but what "feeds on them". But lets talk about something else. You mentioned a perpetual motion machine. Well, yes that's what life is. it's in the very air we breathe. The plants breathe in bacteria that has the nitrogen cycle living inside it. The plant nitrogen (waste) cycle is part of that too. Even in an anaerobic system that still goes on. I have apple and pear trees that are ten years old that have been flowering, fruiting as well. With no intervention from me other than water if I notice. That means no fertilizer either. The bucket design captures rainfall so that wasn't often. Oh, that's right there's another difference. Capturing the rain water is taboo for your form of hydroponics. I mean with all the measurements and such. Haven't needed to take a reading ph or other wise in more than 20yrs. As for growing something..a tomato. Really. Is that the hill you standing on. I'm showing Cashews, Macadamia nuts,, coffee, 3 kinds of Bio-Fuel. Apples, pears, Plums, peaches all growing happily in the system. I bring pictures of everything. There even Strawberries flowering this year that grow anaerobically. Let's just off the top of my head there are Norfolk pines, Fiddle leaf figs, Sago palms, cactus, White and Yellow Birds of Paradise, Orchids, Pony Tail palms, Citrus. All growing quite happily. Those pictures are already on here. As for water consumption on average each tight 5gal container holds about three an a half gallons. That water last between 45 and 60 days with out rain. If I get a good rain once a month I don't have to water at all.

Just an FYI I was stunned to see just how much Baker's Creek was sold out of. I'm also frustrated with the lack of choices locally for OP or heirloom corn. The choice is what I should say. Local stores only have Golden Banton for heirloom/op corn. Anyway, a nice place to try for heirloom and op seeds is Victory Seed. They do NOT have anything too exotic but a good place with reasonable prices. I've read nothing but good things about them. They only have positive reviews on Garden Watchdog too. Here is a link that might be useful: Victory Seed Company

I'm curious about leaking electricity to ground...Can that happen? Are there other "leaks" that can be traced and eliminated? How? Some background on my mystery usage: We are fortunate to have a weekend house and a weekday house. Our weekend house uses 4-5x the amount of electricity as our weekday house. I can't figure out why. Needless to say we are only in the weekend house 2 nights per week and the weekday house 5 nights per week (on average). Weekdays the two flat screen TVs and associated stereo equipment are on 4-5 hours a day. Weekend house has no TV or stereo...The range/oven and dryer is gas at both houses, the heat and hot water is oil at both. Except for the weekend house being larger (but not 4x larger), all else is fairly equal. I never understood why the weekend house sucked more electricity than the weekday house. I even purchased an electricity meter that plugs into the wall to compare the electric usage of the refrigerators...exactly the same! No all night on lights at either house. Any help?! This is pretty significant for us since electricity is 19 cents a kilowatt hour in CT!!