Light leaks myths vs. reality

[Toker1]

So I made a rookie mistake and programmed my timer12 hours off where I wanted it to be. No biggie. Then my stoned ass left the lights on for 24 hours in week 4-5 of flower. 😬
I thought I was going to be in seed city today during harvest. But nothing. I remember guys telling my 1 hour of light leek in darkness could cause her to herm. Possibly strain dependent? I grew gorilla glue and Bruce banner. Not one seed! 🧐
Justcthouhht I would share this. Hopefully this helps someone who is worried about the same thing.

[JDU]

From what I've seen so far a light leak doesn't guarantee a reveg. In fact I've wondered how controlled the situations were when ppl say that a pinhole in the tent caused a reveg. Could someone have opened the tent & shined a light to show a friend, unbeknownst to the grower? Maybe a next to never used lamp hits a vent?
Happy for ya that it went well 🤠👍

[Cali]

Toker1 yeah I was wondering the same thing. I think it’s genetics because I have 2 freebies going and they are good and 2 that I bought all from Nirvana and for some reason this damn Aurora keeps growing nanner they’re all in the same tent so it’s obviously not light leak maybe other kind of stress but it’s just this strain. The last grow it did it. These two are doing it one I just cut and threw it away and now this one is almost ready to harvest and it’s starting to hermie while the other 2 freebies are good. Sucks because the one I cut was the big one the one I was all excited about and the runt looks like is going to make it. Maybe because the seeds were old but the freebies were older? Who knows what it is. Maybe just some strains stress out more than others like us humans what stress some of us may not affect others? This time around I’m growing from other breeders let’s see what happens. Thanks for this post.

[Rwise]

I have read that feminizing is the cause of this, and if that is true, we will be seeing more hermies!

[Toker1]

Both mother seed strains were feminized in my little adventure. No seeds no hermies

[Weed Pharma]

IMHO-light leaks- is right up there with other internet myths.
I've had all sorts of lighting mishaps, that would have ruined (seeded) my grows according to internet wisdom.

I have been leaving 2 lower tent windows open for years, with no seeded buds in photo grows.

[Toker1]

I too leave my lower tent vents open and grow photos. But my plants are well above that by the time I induce flowering. I just assumed that light never actually hit the canopy.

[Eliot Pryor]

I've always thought that in nature there are lightning strikes and the moon so where does this tiny light leak figure in ? I been growing photo-periods in my garage for 6 1/2 years. It gets really dark but light leaks are constant. Light leaks might be like " the dog ate my homework ". Never works...

[SoOrbudgal]

I leave my bottom flaps open also but it's dark in the room after lights out.

[9fingerleafs]

i think its more problematic when the light leak last days or weeks, ive never had issues going into a dark room for an emergency or anything when a single incident caused problems, but the whole deal to me its a cascade of factors where every strain or pheno is more or less "reactive" than others. so it all starts with the flowering cycle, not all plants react the same, some strains flower in anything less than 14 hours of lights, some strains need only 11 to force flowering to gear in. this plays the first role in the reaction chain because plants will react different to the light leaks, some will quickly start going back to veg while others dont. this triggers the second factor, how prone to hermie is a plant when reveged, then if a plant went hermie and throws bannanas and pollen there is a fair chance that the pollen is not fertile, even if it did polinated some calyxes it may not had the time to grow a mature enough seed for you to find it. you can def mess up any plant changing the light cycle enough but more than a myth i think its just another over simplification of a complicated situation

[Toker1]

I harvested 2-3 weeks after leaving the lights on for 24 hours. Nothing.
I even took a clone at week 2 of flower, put it under 24 hours of light. It grew roots and continued to create trics. Now it looks frosty, been replanted, no signs of hermi or re-veg.
I think 24 hours isn’t enough to create the necessary hormonal change required to “switch gears”.

[9fingerleafs]

im sure it is, it may just take weeks or months

[Rwise]

I too think that this is blown out of proportion. A light leak that is just a moment is not going to wake the plant/s up. I also agree that leaving the lights on for 24 hours is not enuf time to produce the hormone needed to reveg (BTDT)!
I have had a single red LED cause fox tailing, but no hermies it was on 24/0/7.
I have read that we are destroying our favorite plant with feminizing, and that that is whats causing the hermies (and the next step in evolution). IMHO everyone (that can) should keep at least 1 strain that is landrace (I have some that I intend to breed with, and keep pure also)

[Booger789]

I’m with you on this, cause I now leave all my lower flaps open on all my tents veg or flower, and I have experienced no problems with any of the strains I have going right now. Which include, Sour Diesel, Green crack, Blue dream, and I have Revolver And Super Skunk Auto’s going as well.

[Tersky]

So it's not a problem until its a problem. I have had plants reveg on me and it sucks so i provide an abundance of caution and advise others to do the same. Will one little mishap cause issues, no probably not but just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't meant that it wont happen. It may not be a problem if you are able to keep the room the tent is in completely dark, but in my case thats not possible so i have to close the flaps at night. It is no myth. Plants can and do reveg from light leaks. I think saying that it is a myth is dangerous honestly. I wont take my chance cause ive experienced it.

[Rwise]

I could see an hour or more of light leak every day for weeks to be an issue
The intensity of the light leaking in would be a determining factor, if it's not strong enuf to wake them, up such as moonlight, I can see pretty well under a full moon.

[Tersky]

My mistake then! I must have misread the post. Somehow i missed the one hr thing. In my defense i hadnt had my coffee lol. Sorry!

[Toker1]

Rwise yes I agree. My mother’s are on a 12 hour daylight, 5.5 hour darkness, 1 hour daylight, 5.5 hour darkness schedule. They stay in veg and I can attest to that. Since the plant counts darkness hours for hormonal flowering buildup, I would only assume that if you could theoretically place the hour of light leak at the beginning or end of a 12 hour daylight cycle, some strains will flower just fine on a 13 hour light cycle. So in this case, the light leak itself may potentially have no ill effects regardless of intensity.

[SoOrbudgal]

Tersky Eh Okay don't ask me nuttin till I gets me coffee