I buy a lot of stuff on EBAY even plant supplies but ALWAYS buy a marked bag from the manufacturer. It is a good idea to not buy bulk in unmarked packages. So sorry for your loss I know it must be distressing with what must be a shortened growing season tbere.
Growing season isn't a problem, it's all under lights. But since this is a hobby, not commercial, and I have to pay the power bills all by myself, light levels are not sun-comparable, so growth is slower. :Þ But I'm in the middle of adding more fixtures and swapping out older ones for more efficient modern ones, and the changes last winter were well received by the plants. I was supposed to be either moved into my new house or have my greenhouse built on my land by now, but both those projects have been taking ages. Then there's the huge commercial BioDome project, which would be awesome, but that's a couple years away from opening.
Just so bloody frustrated by how one seller screwup can do so much damage. It's been ages since I purchased any chemicals on ebay (these days it's all from horticultural wholesalers), but I still had the old stock onhand, and so of course I wanted to use up the old stuff first... I should have just thrown it away when I saw that it didn't look like the newly purchased K2SO4. The latter was bright white and formed chunks, while the other was offwhite and a very fine, non-clumping powder. I just attributed it to impurities or anti-clumping agents. :Þ
On the upside, I see some big seed / plant purchases in my relatively near future
And it didn't get any of my most favourite plants, like my dwarf coconut that was sent all the way from Fiji (if anyone here remembers me posting about it showing signs of potassium deficiency that just wouldn't get better... yeah.... suddenly that's very explainable ). Also really glad that I didn't hurt my annona reticulata, as it's nearly to fruiting size. But lost a miracle fruit, an inca peanut, a couple garcinias, and I think one small eugenia. And there's a sugar apple and a couple guavas that aren't happy but will probably be fine.