Autoflower cannabis really has a short veg cycle. They are designed to automatically flower. Once they pop it's just a race to grow, flower and produce bud colas. That's why it's important to get it right from the start. No room for error due to the fact that they just want to grow.
I've had some strains show flowering early and other's took more time. The 4th to 6th week is the average. LST will put stress on them, but not enough to really do them any harm. Anytime you disrupt their normal cycles they will be stressed. Cannabis is very resilient. No need to worry. The 1st pic is really a pre flower. To me the flowering starts when the buds sort of round out in shape. I don't start my flower nutrients until the girls stop stretching and that is generally the 6th week.
There is a thread by
@Muddy called
www.autoflower.org/threads/the-life-cycle-of-auto-flowering-cannabis.5113/. It's a must read for everybody. In fact I'll go back over the thread on occasion to just refresh my thoughts.