nub problem

ok i havnt attempted to grow since i was a teen outdoors which worked but never came out like i wanted it...pfft. anyway. someone gave me some clones, and ive had them for a little over the entire summer now, and theyre still pretty much the same size, i mean they grew a little, but i wouldnt say more than an inch or two....although it has become fuller and has some leafs attached to the main branch/stem...so heres the story, someone got kicked out of my house so i had to get rid of them for a little so i gave them back to the owner and his dumbass put them under a different life cycle i think he was on 12/14 and im on 14/14. so theyre at his house for about 2 weeks max and he bring them back, same size but purple! i have it for a few days and it looks like its budding to me or what id think the beginning stage of it would look like but the leaves/pods are bright orange instead of green...so this makes me happy but even more mad that they are no bigger. than i notice the worst thing ever...bugs...he got infested with nats and now i have them in my plants i was killing about 7 a day out of each pot (i have two clones) when someone told me about putting a hot pepper in a spray bottle and spraying them it...it worked well i still have 3-4 a day (i also have sugar water and a fly strip in the closet which got alot of them). so im looking for any advise/ weather or not its worth trying to keep going cos ive had them back for about 2 months now and still nothing, infact theyre starting to get worse (one plant moreso the other) so would it be wise to set these little plants on a 12/12 light cycle just to taste these purple buds i came out with or should let them go..also would putting the lights back on 24 hrs stop the budding process and make them flower more? ....i can try to post pics or even email cos i dont have anywhere to upload them atm any help would be greatful!

put them on 18/6 and veg them till there 3ft then put them to 12/12 to budd, get gnat off for the gnats its a bacteria totaly organic

You have some very strange lighting times.Veg is usally 24 hours on or 18 hours on 6 off.Clones should have doubled or tripled in a month or 2 easy. Are the pots small? You use good hid lighting? You can stop flower by going back 18/6 or 24 hour on but it will take a week or 2 to revert