Thats the problem nowadays, everyone wants to grow the bud but alot of people are not willing to put forth what it takes. Growing weed indoors is a process and if you wanna skip steps in most cases the process breaks down and the bud shows it. Its up to you what you end up with for a final...
I supercrop twice. I snap the main stem and then a couple weeks later after the branching has started I massacre them and pinch every branch on the plant. Then I dont touch them again.
I throw my seedlings under my 600 (air cooled) as soon as they pop and I hang the light about 18" over the tops. The only problem I have ever had was my plants got too big.
I dont flush DWC. Flushing is to use up the rest of the salts in the medium and plant matter. IMO the nutes are so readily available in hydro that there is not much storage or buildup. In fact, I only change my res twice per grow. Once going into flowering and once after 4 weeks of flowering.