Quote Originally Posted by rikb631
i think with the lighting change she is drinking less. is this normal? the soil around the edges is dry to about 5 inches down but i can tell the soil near the center is still moist.
The amount they drink can vary over the life of the plant and temperature is also a factor in how much they drink (on a hot day my plants can drink 20-30% more). I started logging the amounts of water my plants drink each day at the start of flowering week 2 (before I just made a weekly note). I don't recall a drop in consumption when I switched the lights to 12/12 but I wouldn't be to concerned if I were you. I did notice a big increase in water consumption at week 3 of flower on both my grows, but this may be due to Cannaboost which is a food additive that increases the photosynthesis rate of plants (I started adding it at week 3).

Quote Originally Posted by rikb631
the bottom foliage has started to trim itself, it may not be getting enough light. i may need to add a cfl or two near the bottom. although it may not be as big of an issue as i think.
Adding light at the bottom is a good thing to do. If the bottom buds don't get enough light they mature very slowly and end up being really small (called popcorn buds). This is the reason people prune away the lower branches during veg, it means the plant can focus it's energy on the main cola and secondary buds.

Quote Originally Posted by rikb631
for the next grow the whole cabinet will be repainted white i didnt forsee that the plant would get this big. I'd rather not paint it at this stage.
Just a thought, how about painting some cardboard white and taping it to the sides of the unpainted areas of your cabinet?

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Looking at the latest pics, have you had to remove the shelf the plants were on to give you more headroom? Those side lights were perfectly placed before, now a lot of the light they are giving out is wasted. Can you move them lower?