Plant leaves feeling dry/paper like

[HempKat]

Looking pretty good there and it's good news you're not seeing any transplant shock, not that there is much to see as it mainly shows as a period of little to no growth. anyway if there is no transplant shock then that means from now to the end of the stretch phase there will be as much additional overall growth to the plants as possible . Since you seem very concerned about the space you have left to work with this means you could flip them sooner then the three additional weeks you're thinking of giving them. Keep in mind the explosive growth associated with the stretch phase won't begin to you switch to flower and it will last two to three weeks and during that time your plants could double, even triple in size. So keep that all in mind when calculating how much space you have to work with and when you should flip to stay within that space.

As for pruning I would wait and see because how things are now relative to the bud sites could change. The main thing going on during the stretch phase is the stem and branches getting longer and thicker in preparation of the plant having to support the increased weight of the buds that will be coming. My point being where you see the bud sites now and how covered they are by leaves, may change. You may be able to get away with just training some leaves back to allow light to penetrate rather then cutting them off. Anyway good luck and hopefully from here on out you won't have any more issues.