Hello, friends. I'm just over-the-hump on a grow of 4 plants (2x gelato 2xgsc) in fabric potted soil in a 3x3 mylar-lined tent under one of those 2k watt combination purple/cob light sets. I set them up on 12-12 on December 1, making today the first day of week 5 by my count. Yesterday, I had a mishap where I somehow altered my timer (likely when I was moving an additional fan to be always on to keep air moving, now that the buds are getting dense) so that they came on about 8 hours into the night cycle. They must have been on for some time before I realized what had happened, and so I turned them off after they received a couple of hours of accidental light, reset the timer, had a minor tantrum, and proceeded as normal. A few questions here. First, in retrospect, should I have just left the lights on after I discovered the accident, rather than giving them a few hours of darkness before a full 12 hours of light? I feel like the answer to this is likely yes, but I was panicking, and I am an idiot, so that answer tracks. Second, how fucked am I? At 5 weeks, with presumably just this one error, should I be particularly worried? Are these plants likely to herm? If they do, how likely is it to be a problem given the age of the flowers? Third, how long should I be on heightened alert for this to happen? Is there a period of time that will pass at which point I can say with reasonable certainly, "whew, I'm glad that didn't ruin a few months work and all my hopes and dreams!" Thanks in advance for any advice or encouragement you can offer.
You'll be fine, they need to get about 3-5 days of longer light to get screwed up and try to re-vege. It shouldnt happen, but it won't be a big deal, epsecially for just a few HRs. I had a power outage which screwed one of my lights and it was running for an extra 10 HRs or so during flower, they all look fine still. I just changed the timer times after that.