What's Going On Here?

The new growth on my clones is starting to come in strangely. Sometimes it corkscrews, sometimes it bends and twists. In this picture you can see both things happening.

I think that i have a water hardness problem that is causing my calcium, iron, and magnesium to be bound up. My well water's pH is 7 but it leaves behind a significant amount of scale when it evaporates. Is there a better (meaning less expensive) solution than buying distilled water or a RO system?

its too close to the light--too much heat

That was my first thought - but it doesn't happen only at growth closest to the light. And the hand test says that the temps at the top of the plant are fine.

My first guess would not be your well water, I am also on a well and it is very hard 700 PPM however I run a R.O. filter but still prefer to root my cloans on straight well water (I found they root faster, don't know why) Are you checking the PH of your water, what medium are you using? looks like a diffecency problem or a nute lockout problem becouse of PH being off.

My well water is a neutral 7 on an aquarium test kit, i pH it down to about 6 when i feed or water. The medium is Just Right Xtra, a coco mix that the hydro shop recommended. Runoff is hsrd to test with amy tester but it looks to be lighter than the tapwater which would seem to indicate a slightly acidic runoff - olive green is 7 and yellow is 6.5.

Did ya rinse the coco thoroughly?

The manufacturer says it's been pre-rinsed. I did flush the plants last week. No help.

I think it's the mix.
I use a lot of cheap dirt and it seems that some brands just kill plants all by itself,they look just like that while they're dying.
I don't know if it's due to being too hot or a ph issue or just poorly mixed or crap ingredients.
I'd try a mix ya know works and see if the prob continues.
Good luck I hope ya figure it out.

I'm assuming from the name you're in Maine. My experience with well water is there's WAY too many salts and minerals, caused my plants to "lose their noodle". Even though the pH was at 6.5 and runoff was 6.4 it was still having lots of problems with twisting and necrosis. I've been using filtered water through a pitcher/faucet attachment and the problem cleared right up. If you boil water on a wood stove the water leaves a lot of white powdery residue. That's just my experience with Maine well water. If you can, try setting up something outside for a rain catch. Hope your problem clears up.