Pre flowers show in Veg...
otherwise they are "Buds"
I don't know about your plants [LOL]...
But my plants have four different cycles:
#1-Seedling/clone stage- growing roots for 18-21 days...
#2-Veg Stage- different from seedling/stage 1 because you now add Nutes...[I veg my plants for about 5-8 weeks, depends on size, and how much I F with them]
#3-Conversion stage-after you flip the switch, your plants change from veg to bud... Takes about 6-14 days [my clones show buds 6 days after light switch]
#4-Bud Time count your time in Bud from when you first see hairs on your bud sites... [not pre-hairs] 8 more weeks or so...[I get amber trics 56 days into stage 4]
I can not speed up cycle, each phase of plant takes time... you should not try to speed it up either...