Hey Raider.
Honestly, I dont have to much experience with everything but from what I have seen, the best way to get a good ripened plant can be achieved by doing a couple of things.
First off, I think the best way to get the correct flowering period is feeding the plant the correct things, at the correct times.
For instance, on an 8 week strain (56 day) I think I would run a couple of additives with any base I am using.. Maybe something to trigger flowering / stop the stretch so the buds can start forming as soon as possible...I've ran Open Sesame from Fox Farm about a week before flower started, like it suggests.. It is similar to Bushmaster, in which both can kill your plant if not applied correctly. If I were to do it again, I would only feed about 4-5 days before flower began, because once I made the flip, the plants went from DEATH looking, to perfectly perky and happy..
So, getting those initial nodes/bud sites SET and IN PLACE as quick as possible, really is great for allowing more time for the buds to grow in size, rather then find there place...Something like "BLOOM - Ultra" made by BLOOM, aka THE YELLOW BOTTLE.
"Bloom ULTRA triggers flower development fast, increasing flower set. Formulated around nucleic acids bloom ULTRA stimulates uniform flower development over the entire plant with greatly increased development on lower branches. This trait combined with a reduced flowering stretch ensures uniform crop development leading to higher yields and improved quality without the use of Plant Growth Regulators."
See?
Obviously feed some additives throughout weeks 3-4.5, where the buds really begin to pack on weight.. For that, I like Advanced Nutrients big bud -- works wonders...they'll pack on the weight and resin production.
For the finishing weeks, I like something that will tell my plants, "Ok bitches, 7th inning stretch is here...lets get er done!" .. A product that I have used that works good for me is Overdrive.. I would apply Overdrive in the last two weeks of my cycle, ensuring I'll still have a proper flush.. Weeks 5-7, and flush Days 49-56. (in hydro) - This product really brings out all the sugars and such, making those white hairs turn into actual buds and get nice and calyx like.
not only is a good finish product involved in additives, but knowing when you have just enough nitrogen the plant cant finish its cycle off without wanting nitrogen..with a nice, pale, yellow, flushed fan leaves and nice green buds...one of the most difficult parts.
Hope this was helpful. I got a PPM / PH meter and the PH part came incorretly calibrated from the factory and is useless, but I can now check my PPM's and feed the plants what the want.
Last night I fed @ 1450 PPM more then double what I was feeding them (didnt have PPM meter before, so was going light)
We'll see how they turn out come lights on.