I have found that a plant that has vegged a long time takes longer to flower. At least that is the case with the old mothers (6+ months old) I have put to flower. In fact I prefer to put old mother's out to pasture (outdoors) to flower and finish if it's the right time of year, like now in the NorthEast. If it's fall or winter I kill them, not worth the electric to flower them indoors. Keep in mind in my grows I usually don't grow that large indoors.

You need to acclimate them to outdoors. If they are going into the ground, then give them some shade during the first few days so they don't deal with the full sun all day. The sun has alot more power then any HID light. Planting on a cloudy or light rainy days helps.

When I was doing field crop growing I would start seeds indoors about March 15th and they would be ready to go outdoors about June 1st and depending on weather they'd go out between then and the 15th of June. So abt 2 1/2 to 3 months max.

Longer veg does not equal more porduction after a certian time. There is a point of diminishing returns.

BTW male plants don't make seeds only female plants can do that.