If you have great ventilation and air exchange, a light and airy growing medium without a lot of soil, its very very difficult to over water a plant.

And if you do, the leaves droop.... so what.

I would rather over water than under water....without being extreme. But so much depends on your grow medium and composition. If its soil, dont over water...

Yes a psychotic light schedule will wreak havoc on young seedling. Be consistent and run 18 hours not 14. At this rate, you may want to boost the cycle to 24/0 for a few weeks to stir growth.

As for worrying about how tall they need to be prior to flowering, worry about getting them to grow.

As for the height before flower, the sign is to look for alternating stem growth on secondary growth spots. You dont need to wait for the main stem to start with alt growth, just the secondaries.

Also examine our strategy.

If you jsut want to grow some smoke to burn and say you did it yourself, flower them anytime you want.

If you want quantity, plan on longer veg cycle.

If you want premium bud, stick to the fundamentals. Be so patient, this is a process of life and death of special plants we all have a union with.

We are its GODS.