First time breeder long time grower

This is going to be my first attempt at breeding. I have done a lot of research for almost a year now and am finally ready to do it. Only question is, when growing out my population can I keep them small. Meaning only a couple weeks of veg then flip em to 12/12 and finish em off. This is after I have already crossed my male and female and I am planting their offspring Or, do they need to be grown to full size to get a good idea of what the plants will be like when grown normally? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

You'll get a good idea if you keep them small. Regardless of veg time it will still show the characteristics of the strain.

definitely dont need to grow them big i grow 12/12 from seed in 1 gallons the plants willstill display whatever is in their genetic coding with little difference (aside from yield) from their full sized counterparts.
so like smell, effect, yield, density, resin all these are only marginally effected by pot size (within reason)

Great thanks Canna and BF thats what I thought just wasn't sure though. This is going to be a fun experiment for me I cant wait more my seeds to get here! I only have 4 White Widow right now that I just popped waiting on others to get this going!