Bigger pot = bigger plant. Too small pot = problems. Did you take a look at the roots coming out of the 1 gallon pot? If the plant gets root bound it loses the ability to uptake the needed nutrients. Also, they do not hold water and become dehydrated much more quickly. This stress together with low PH could well have been their demise. If the plants were not root bound then you should have no problem continuing with the 1 gallon pots so long as the plants stay relatively small. Then again, a re-pot to 3 gallons after 2 weeks of flower may be just the ticket to getting them through to completion.

I'm with you on the different strains. I've been busy reading up. For my first grow I'm looking for an easy to manage variety. I'll likely do two strains - AK48 and Chiesel. Both do well indoors and both are relatively easy. Depending on how that goes I'll move on to some others. I plan to keep some bonsai mothers around. Some I will flower off after the first cloning to be sure. I aim to find a few strains that I love. I'll then keep those longer term. I want to do clones in part b/c the seeds are pricey but also because clones are better suited to scrog grows due to heavy branching that they exhibit.

I'm still looking for sites with good strain information. I believe I posted a few earlier in this thread. Here is another one. Have a look at the links running down the left hand side of the page. Also, where did you get your tent? What did it set you back?