ok i think i got this... back in the day when i first started using smart pots, i used to put plant dishes under my smart pots to collect the run off. at first i started to suck out the run off from the dish using a turkey baser. after a couple of times of forgeting to suck out the run off i noticed that my plants would eventually drink up the remaining nutrients in the dish. thinking this was good, i allowed it to continue. for a while my plants were growing amazingly well due to the increase in nutrients it was provided. however, during flower the signs of a nute lock out started to appear and i realized that my medium was in fact toxic as hell. (Yes this was a noob mistake but now i know better). This was because all the salts from my nutes were not able to drain out of my pots completely allowing it to remove the salt build up. instead, the medium was just getting hotter with each watering.
I think this is whats happening. since your are flowering from clone, you first got an increase in growth from the increase in nutrients. however, you are now just starting to see the first signs of the nute lockout 4 weeks in. eventually your medium will get too toxic and give your some serious problems. good thing you caught it now.
on another note... i totally agree with not allowing the medium to completely dry out. i believe coco has a 70/30 water to air retention rate if im not mistaken. it might be 60/40. this means that as long as the coco has the ability to drain, no matter how much i water it, it will still retain only 70 or 60 percent water to 30 or 40 percent air in the medium. the only thing that will change is that your rez will be full of water more frequently. there is no reason for me to let the coco completely or near completely dry out as it wont do me any good.
just my thoughts....
