I'm sorry to hear things have hit a snag. Perhaps its time to organize a Cannabis.com picket of the hydro store until they give you something that works.
:cursing:

Regarding the stretching and drooping, I hesitate to make suggestions given my track record, but the plants' issues look to my inexpert eye like lack of light and improper spectrum for flowering. I think Faithless meant for you to bend the plants literally horizontal, halving their height or more. Even thick stems'll take more flexing than I thought possible before trying. Below is one of mine that I'm re-training after a cat attack. Two days ago that stem was bent to nearly that angle in the opposite direction.
[attachment=o103595]


Brainstorming(drizzling) now...

I think if limited to one overhead T5 fixture I'd make a screen, find the point below which the stems can't be easily flexed, place pegs in the walls there, pull all the plants over with a hooked hand, put the screen in place, then arrange the plants under it to form a flat, filled canopy. Eyeballing the first picture, if our plants are similarly flexible I'll bet a 2" mesh screen at the level of the scribble would let you weave everything to the same height.
[attachment=o103598]

Then visit the hydro guy and pummel him with your faulty ballast until he coughs up a working HPS. Seriously, that light is liquid schwarz. This last week mine have been bent, chewed, squeezed and pruned, but they're greener than ever.

I think one of the older growers said switching to 12/12 before alternating nodes or preflowers appear is a stressor. Maybe that's delaying maturity?
CCIE Reviewed by CCIE on . joe-grow's first grow Long time reader, first time poster. Long time smoker, first time grower. So, I've finally decided to take the plunge into growing. I spent the last month just reading up on the postings here, as well as some magazines I picked up at a local hydro store. This board was the most helpful, and I hope to repay that help with a grow report which I hope helps at least one other person out. During this time, I'm sure I will ask for assistance from some of you out there, and I hope that I am Rating: 5