Never super crop during flowering! When you do this at say week 3 the plants needs to recover for lets say a week or even more. So instead of having a harvest 8 weeks from the start of 12/12 your looking at 9wks+. LST is the way to go but most people do this in the Veg state. I like to take my rooted clone from the bubble cloner to a beer pong cup light on 24/0. then a week later she goes into a 3-4 gal pot...couple days later as when i throw her on 18-6 and begin LST. sometimes when i bend i also top the plant sometimes I don't. Just remember to try different things and do what works best for you!