When to Clone

I know that plants are supposed to be cloned during the vegetative stage so can they still be cloned when showing pre-flowers? or is it too late by then? Can a cutting include the preflowers or is it not worth it? The plant is currently on an 18/6 cycle

ive just done this,yes it has its flowers its been for 3 weeks now(flowering)i know now its not the best time for this,but sure it can b done,couse i just did it,and like ive been told,its gonna b a longer process..turning her back to veg and just getting her to root takes longer,today im on day 5 and ones finally showing signs of life,not much though,but im sure its gonna take,but it will b advised agains!

Would you run the risk of a hermie?

Clone when you have a palnt that is sexed and you want to reproduce it because of its genetics ,
have a strong grower? put into 12/12 until it is sexed the revert back to veg24/0 and take some clones.

You are straight.
Every clone I take has preflowers.

You should just take them before switching to 12/12 or pull plant back and reveg for atleast 3weeks before cloning.

The plant is focused on growing in veg and budding in flower.
The nutes it needs for cloning are more inline with veg than flower.

Clones will not root once the plant is to far into flower.
I should say they will but, it is much more difficult.

The more mature the mom is the easier it will be to get healthy clones that will root almost effortlessly.