I would say screw the gradual increase and put it strait up to the light cycle you want. I've had a few instanses where I've had to increase light cycles and you want those plants to get the message right now that they should be in veg before more Flower horomones run through them. I've never had problems jumping the light up in veg stage. Since your plant isn't mature enough to show sex yet you are actually causing stress by having the dark period as long as it is since some plants actually do flower in a cycle of 14/10 we just all use the safe 12/12.