yes you control when the plant goes into flowering. I'm not sure if you should be doing a hydroponics system yet if you havn't figured out the life cycle of the plant your growing but i guess to each their own. A plant will stay in vegitative state for as long as it get more then 12 hours of light and less then 12 hours of darkness. most people keep their plants in 18 hours of light 6 hours of darkness durring veg some do a straight 24 hours of light no dark. When your ready to flower your plant you switch the cycle to 12 hours on 12 hours off and it will start flowering. if you have problems with this try 11 hours of light 13 hours of darkness. Now yes, while using a hydroponics system you will have a greater yield ( if you do it correctly !! ) but i have grown in soil and soiless mediums befor and I have found its easyer to start with soil because its more forgiving to mistakes but thats for another time . Now to answer the other part of your question the longer you veg the more budding sites will be available which translates to more budd for you