simply autoflowers...
much more volatile as far as resulting stature even if same strain.
i grow 7-8 strains off one reservoir all the time... so it's definitely possible to have a mix that works well for vast majority of plants. My last few grows of 6, 6 and 7 different strains at once all went off with no deficiencies or toxicities arising with healthy, lush foliage. About to start another with 4 different strains and they alllook great.. that's 23 strains with no problems and same formula give or take very minimal adjustments.
irrigation -- don't pick out random cycles and volumes... that is something the plant and pot it is in decides... irrigate at same weight and it'll need the same valume of water each time... as longn as you don't irrigate too soon, you won't overwater. Wait for top lyer to turn color and feel weight... fertilize every time with 10% runoff. Like i said, you'll learn the volume you need to use to achieve that after you consistently water at same pot-weight... if you use same coco/perlite mix, then it'll be the same net time too.
frequent fertigations require a properly sized pot to plant size... but if you get 25% loss of weight quickly enough you can irrigate 2-3x per day with no problems of overwatering... just to help put that in perspective.
now, if oyu ever see drooping after an irrigation and you didn't run a ton of excess runoff through it, that shouldn't happen. that's indicative of a substrate that needs better drainage qualities.. coco should be 70/30 perlite and you'll never see droop...
(assumes you aren't feeding 80F water that's stangnated for a few days and has little O2, lol, some needed common sense applied to my statement)
i also have hard water... 300ppm or more... it's probably a slight hinderance but does not cause such things as what you see here. it won't cause 1 random plant to be half the size of another.. that's genetics.
i think you'll be surprised... the taller one may very well yield more, but i bet the smaller one won't be as far behind as you think... it's got more than 1 cola beefing up... Try to raise it up if you can. Try to get teh canopy even for best result on the shorter one.
But, i think the biggest thing i read here is how you fertigate in coco... change those habits.. fertilize every time with 1.3-1.5EC mix and get 10% runoff religously.. this will maintain the substrates EC with neither buildup or loss over time. you still may need to do a little fine-tuning with your mix, but there'll be one less moving part and it'll be easier to diagnose what you see... and eventually dial it in to the point you rarely see isues if you track it.
soilless/hydro is easy from the mix standpoint.. use a nutrient ppm calculator to track how you feed over time... when a problem arises you can typicall see why it occured and how to avoid it. it speeds up the fine-tuning process too. this idea that someplants are picky and some aren't is foreign to me. i don't see it no matter how many different plants i grow off 1 reservoir.. so that is clearly an esoteric problem.