Quote Originally Posted by Weedhound
The general rule I was taught is.....if you can see your hand in front of your face in the area with lights off....it's not dark enough. Check in several different spots in the grow area to make sure the darkness is equal all through.

In veg....weird lighting will stress the plant and can cause problems but I don't know if that would translate into hermi-ism later.

I agree with this. In veg every bit of light the plant gets in dark period stalls the growth and takes a few days to recover. If in flower you only have xx amount of days until its finished (around 60). If your stress the plant at this time you lose 3-5 days growth you can never get back. O yea and hermies.