To jump on a couple random questions I saw towards the end of the thread:
There've been studies which showed that a dark period at the end of flower can increase THC content by a pretty decent amount, however those studies harvested some plants on Wednesday, and then the rest after lights off three days later. The extra three days might account for something, but technically speaking, THC et al are created to protect the plants from light, as well as themselves degraded by light. Extra dark time gives the plants a chance to create more without it being degraded.
Personally, I just unplug my lights when the timer clicks over to night on the last day, and then harvest whenever I get around to it the next day. Not really an extra dark period, but it prevents light from effecting the plants you have yet to chop as you go along. Alternatively, you could just chop them all in the morning, but I trim by myself, and the plants start to wilt before they dry, which makes trimming more difficult. Some people chop all the tops in the morning, and leave the lower branches under 12/12 for a few more days to help them mature more.
When to harvest? When things are ripe. The two ways people generally go are based on trichomes, or on "hairs" turning brown/amber. That said, every strain is different, so trying to harvest based on time or a single factor is a little useless. YOU CAN GET MORE OF A HEAD HIGH WITH NO AMB- stop, if that's what you want, grow a sativa. If you ask me, it's pretty obvious when the plants are ripe, just like it's obvious when an apple is ripe. There won't be any new growth, etc, etc... I'm definitely still learning things myself, but this is one thing I feel rock solid on.
Realistically, your harvest window is a week or two long, look up the strains, there will be information on the number of weeks it should take, a week before then, start keeping an eye on the trichomes, and on the over all appearance of the buds. Watch new growth, it'll back off (hairs turning brown, and fewer new white hairs showing up), and... it'll make more sense as you watch it happen.
Trimming the lower bits isn't really needed unless you're growing in much closer quarters than you are... and... why are you complaining about how long you veged them for? As long as they aren't growing into your lights, you have nothing to worry about, and a bigger plant means more bud. If they start to get that tall, Google supercropping, problem solved... or... just move them to the side a bit.
The general rule of thumb is to flush during the last week or two, however cannabis does not store nutrients in it's buds so far as I'm aware. I've flushed, I've kept going hard till the day I chopped, I didn't notice any difference, other than a bit more weight and healthier plants when I didn't, but then... I wasn't growing in dirt. Regardless, I don't think much of flushing, but that's just me...
Remember, just because everyone knows something doesn't mean it's true... after all, most people in the culture think that foliage is pronounced "foil-ige." When you have a question, don't stop looking once you get an answer, find a few, and then weigh them yourself.
If you ask me, you're still a ways off from flushing if that's the rout you want to take... like I said, Google your strains, you'll get lots of information... things like whether a plant should be short and bushy, or tall and skinny... cause some just grow that way; weeks or days till harvest, pictures of mature buds to use for comparisons... I'm not being SO-YOU-CAN'T-USE-GOOGLE (the forum search function is always useless), I genuinely think the top few hits will give you clear and concise information which you won't find on forums.