Skill level seems to just be based on using as few flowers as possible. So go as slow as possible and let some bugs hit the water, you don't lose skill level for one or two hitting if it means you conserve flower use. I ended up with 240% skill level on first round by just sending the front row of flowers out every time it refreshed.
Well I've collected every clue at the party and then gave up and went to the walkthroughs which told me to "talk to kid dregg" next, but I have no idea how to do that. Click on him does nothing. I'm completely stuck.
You can switch power off by clicking the circle again