Man I hate to see you cutting tops off anything in flower.
I would do some reading and gather opinion before cutting plants. Unless you have some tops that aren't going to get much light, and probably be small anyway. Pretty tight canopy, I guess you might have some candidates.
Re Cervantes, I'm far from expert but there a few spots in the Grow Bible that I find questionable. Maybe I just need to learn more and understand better before they make sense.
Your comparison will be interesting to watch. I'm pulling for the tops not the bottoms, just makes more sense to my newbie brain.
I'm sure you were looking for something to do while the girls get their grow on but I hope I haven't added to your workload, you mad grower you, heheh.
Leave it to me, as soon as you expand your veg room I find a way for you to start using space,
I wonder how critical the flower/veg issue is in this case? I would expect flowering to induce different set of hormones?