So its been flowering in a 12/12 light cycle for 8 weeks? Is it a clone or from seed? If it was rootbound in a small container that could be the cause of its small stature. If you wanna harvest it at the right time you need to get a 30X microscope and check the trichromes, you wanna harvest when theyre 50/50 amber and cloudy. To tell you the truth id chalk this grow up to a learning experience cuz that thing is TINY. When you do cut it down pull the rootball out of the pot and see if the rootbound roots ever filled in the new container. I had 2 rootbound plants that i transplanted 2 weeks into the 12/12 flower cycle (dont do this, dont transplant during flower) i vegged them for 5 weeks and never thought about needing a bigger container and switched to flower, it was my first grow and i didnt know they doubled in size in the flower cycle, The 2 produced alot of bud but never got very big, no upward or outward growth in the 7 weeks of flower after i transplanted them, after i harvested i went to pull out the rootball and all that came out was the rootbound rootball from the smaller container, the roots never went into the new soil the plants stayed rootbound even though they had 3 inches of dirt all the way around them including underneath. And yes its not good for the roots to be exposed. Hope it helps