Just saw this thread for the first time and read probably 60% of the post. Took about 2 hours. I know they were about 12"-15" when you induced flowering. How tall was the one you chopped and how tall is the other pheno about to be chopped? I am currently growing 1 Big Bang (fem), 1 Church (fem), and 2 KC Brains (reg). Trying to figure out when to induce cause I am growing in homemade grow boxes. One box is 2 of the round rubbermaid tubs, the kind people use at cookouts for beer, with the rope handle (removed) stacked on top of each other. The other box is 2, 30 gal. rectangular rubbermaid boxes. They look really ghetto but work. Especially if you LST the plants. Lower buds are not very good but the upper canopy is awesome. I'm still building them so I have some options. The round one I already put a LED UFO (90w) in and I might add 2 CFL's (26w). The other I am going to put in 6 CFL's (26w).
I grew using 20gal boxes before with 6 CFL's and got about 2 ounces off one plant. It was sativa dominant but very short and the nodes were about an inch or less apart. I was new to growing so I screwed up a lot and they got root bound once before I transplanted. I tied it down and started wrapping it around the pot. After it filled out a good bit I topped it to get it bushier and more even. Heat was a problem (about 90-95f in the box)and the buds were light and semi-airy but the quality was amazing. Everyone was impressed. Came from a bag seed out of some shwag too. Wish I had pics from when it was chopped. It was purple yellow and gold. I would pick the leaves as they were dying too. The last week or two there were no leaves on it. Looked like an upside down octopus. Had 18 arms. It would have been more but when I topped it I removed a lot of the branches so air flow would be better.
Oh, and I didn't feed it any nutes at all, except for sucunat (natural granular sugar). Gave her that every watering. Stopped the sucunat after last flushing 2 weeks before harvest. I think I did 3 flushes total because she was alive for almost 6 months. I really don't know how she stayed so small and compact. Flowered for 96 days I believe, and harvested when there were about 10% amber trichomes.
Also, I had problems with germinating the seeds too. I got a 5 pack fem of The Church and Big Bang. Tried germinating one of each. They sprouted but when I transplanted them they died. I think I might have had them too hot when I was germinating them. Tried it again and may have had same problem. They popped open in the paper towel but one turned brown and the other just stopped growing. Then this last time I tried both again with the 2 KC Brains. The KC popped and were planted and growing right away. The church was a day behind and BB 2 days behind that. I had to help all but one of the KC out of their shells too after sprouting. They all look pretty good now (germination started 10 days ago). KC's just started their 2nd set of leaves yesterday and the new leaves are purple. The 1st set have a purple vein running down the center, so I can't wait to see how they turn out.
So that's it. Just wanted to mention what I was doing and the problems I am having with the GHS seeds. I did not get them from GHS by the way. They come from another seed provider who says they are approved by GHS. Came with cards that normally come with GHS orders describing the seed. The GHS seeds were extremely small also. Like a 3rd the size a normal seed is. Might be they were just not fully developed or something to do with the feminized seeds. I have no idea. I'll look around for a pic of that bag seed I grew and if anyone is interested I can see about getting some pics of the boxes. I might start a grow log myself but that depends on how motivated I am when I get it going.
Great job on your grow. Can't wait to follow your next one from the start.
Oh and here are some links for how to build the box and a home made carbon filter. I used these designs but tweaked them a bit where I thought it was needed. For example I used white duct tape instead of silver tape, and I used individual light sockets I screwed into the box instead of the 3 light strip he uses. Make sure every strip of tape you put down is half over the last also. If the layer isn't doubled up then the box glows fairly bright. 2 layers and it isn't too much light, almost no light at all. I also used a more powerful fan.
http://boards.cannabis.com/growroom-setup/80747-how-rubbermaid-tub-growbox.html
http://boards.cannabis.com/growroom-setup/90173-how-carbon-filter.html