Merlot lettuce started

Having decided not to fight the bugs and elements; I intend to grow my lettuce and salad greens indoors in my grow chamber permanently. Above is a batch of Merlot lettuce I just placed in one of the ebb and flow systems.

Here is what one seed company has to say about Merlot lettuce:

55 days. Striking, deep dark red, almost purple frilly leaves. A real eye-catcher in the garden and one of the darkest lettuces you can grow. The plant is nothing less than stunning. A very crisp and open headed leaf type that stands upright with a waxy shine that makes an ideal salad lettuce at every stage. It's very high in antioxidants and non-bitter.

The company is selling organic seeds, and I have to wonder what the benefit of organic seeds could be if you don't grow the crop organically?

On the subject of organic growing, I copied and pasted this quote from the CNN website:

"An E. coli outbreak linked to some raw vegetables has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds in Germany, national and global health authorities said Monday.

The European Food Safety Alert Network said EHEC, or enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, a strain of E. coli that causes hemorrhage in the intestines, was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain, packaged in Germany, and distributed to countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg and Spain."

These poor people, thinking that they were doing something healthful, purchased and consumed organic vegetables. Often people tell me that hydroponics is not organic, and that that they want to grow organically. To that I generally reply that the nutrients are made from natural elements found in nature, and in my opinion, that is organic enough for me. What is organic? Does growing your greens in animal feces make them more healthful, or appetizing?

Commercial hydroponic growing has been around since the 1930s, and I would seriously doubt that anyone has been sickened or died from consuming hydroponic vegetables in those 80 or so years.