its a girl!
you can veg for long or short times. you want to consider your room, the plant will double in height when you first flip. from what i read in threads here, around 5 weeks is a good starting place, but longer or shorter is ok too. but for a first run on photos, i would go with 5 or 6, and i would do lst on the first, or no training at all. but that is me, i would want to see them through once naturally, then i would use the next time to "fiddle" with them.
im not sure you can blame the "auto" part for "bugger all" results. it is usually something you did, and i would make sure you keep good notes, that way you will know what you did and can adjust things as needed.