Not trying to be critical, I think it will work out for you but I think the amount of stress you cause a plant is related to how much of the plant you damage, percentage wise. You could have removed a very small piece of plant earlier and gotten the same results as you will get by removing over half of the vegetative growth up to this point. I would think that the plant would recover sooner from something like that. Ill post a picture later maybe of a plant that I did the way I described, removed a very small growing tip and ended up with 4 branches that I LST out in each direction.
I do not think you are trying to be critical, either, but it is by discussing we learn here at AFN
yes would be nice to see other methods too
The advantage of this as I do now in my case is that the girls do not grow as much in height or I'll have problems with the heat from the hps lights ...
And I'll try not to get as much side branches but only maintopps
Regards BB