First grow - How and when to select a mother plant?

Hey guys,

I've currently got 7 plants of the same strain on the go at the moment which are in a vegetative state, showing signs of pre-flowering. Should I take clones of each one now? As I won't be able to tell which one to use as a mother plant until they've completed flowering and I've harvested etc. And I've read taking clones from a flowering plant can be troublesome.

Also, I want to produce my own seeds but I haven't got another room available to sex a male + female plant at the moment. Can I clone a male plant so this'll buy me more time until I can get something sorted.

TIA

Well I would take the best looking plant. Looking at which has the most nodes.,which grew the fastest .extra and you can put a plant into flower on just one branch by covering it with thick black plastic bag so it only gets 12 hrs it will show sex

I always took clones from them all and labeled the clones so I knew which plant the came from. Once I saw how they flowered, then I'd pick my mother.