the reason your plants have alternating nodes is coz there clones so the mother that they came off would of all ready had alternating nodes as well! as startbud said a gd flush now and again should help alot are u ph'ing after you add the nutes like ur supposed to or are u doing it befor? im glad to see u got the spider mite problem undercontrol i hate them little fuckers i had a really bad fungus gnat problem a couple of weeks ago it was so bad i had to throw my baby in the garden lol any way can u post some pic's i would love to see ur babies! laters peace!