thanks for weighing in, Weezard.

I had hoped you would.

strangely, I don't think there are junk yards as such here either, but it's a reasonable thought. but I'm not sure about light baffles and I don't have a light meter, per se.

what I can say is the first (F1) crop of this hybrid was grown on the patio but I convinced myself that the lack of dark was one of the issues. that crop never got to full ripeness and I began thinking there was a death gene spiced into this hybrid and that was reinforced by the second attempt which also died before it finished.

the original crop was mercilessly attached by bugs and ended up dying from fusarium. ( I came to realize that later ) I'm unsure what caused the second crop to fail but it could have been heat.

in any case you're NOT recommending I switch to all T-5 or removing the HPS in favor of the 6700K CFL's, right?

that would have been a quick fix.

damn the luck.