Had to turn lights on in the dark, are my plants in shock?

I have 3 plants in 12/12 now for 5 weeks. They are not pre-flowering. I've had to go in there in their dark period several times, i used 1 cfl to see for 5 min then shut it back off. I'm not going in there like that again. But would that be enough to cause shock to where they won't pre-flower? They are 2-3 ft tall.

It has caused stress. It may take longer for full flowering to set in.

Once you are in 12/12 it is not about preflowers. It is about flowers. Preflowers will show on most strains under 24 hourr of light even once they are mature enough.

Short blasts wont hurt them that bad,just try not to do it any more

they could turn hermie on you! only use a green light if u have to interupt there night cycle.

what was so detrimental that you had to go in there during the dark period? couldn't you have waited till the lights came on? if you have been in the flowering stage for 5 weeks and no flowers there is an issue.

In short your good man.... No big deal, just dont let it happen all the time

They look very healthy and full. Their just not flowering. Once they are stressed how long does that period last? It's my second grow, but my 1st for inside.I've made some mistakes but I'm getting there.

If you need to go in to your grow room during dark cycle, which I never recommend, use a colored light (regular, non-spectrum). A buddy of mine uses a green one and has never had it stress his plants. It's a bit harder to see until your eyes adjust, but much better than regular light. You're effectively "waking" the girls up. We were talking about "what-ifs" and the same question came up about going in during dark cycle and that was his solution. There is info about this out of the web as well if you want to surf it up...

Do you have any pics you can post??? Like supdro said, 5 weeks in to 12/12 with no visible flowers is very suspect. I'm 15 days in to flowering and already getting beautiful, large pre-flowers... So I'd say you are having some sort of issue. You're not growing an auto-flowering strain are you???

No. But to me the only other issues i can think of is the temp's get low in this attic area. It's either that or they are needing to be transplanted. It looks like they are ready to be transplanted again but we are moving in 2 weeks. I'm trying to wait until we get to the next place before doing that.

Obviously you know not to go in the room when the lights are off. You should really just start waiting till' they come back on. I have a green light that clips on the bill of my hat, and the only time I used it was when my basement flooded, and I had to move my extension cords.
All in all, I guess I'm saying, if the lights go off at 7, have your business done by 630. Thats what I do.

Never enter your grow area when the sun is down for the night no matter how important it may seem to do so. Most the time it is not a big deal but occasionally can become one. All strains are different and some are more likely to go hermie under adverse conditions.

You said you went into the grow room more than once, thats a bad mistake. If you are going to go in while the lights are off use a green light because it reflects off of the plants instead of being absorbed by them. Even with a green light going in should be avoided when its dark.

The more obvious issue here is that your plants still arent flowering at 5 weeks. That is definetly not normal regardless of strain. How long ago did you go into the room during sun down? It seems like it was a while ago because it apparently caused enough stress to stop your plants from beginning to flower and they still have not recovered.

If your did not create a hermaphrodite then it should take a few weeks for your plants to recover from the stress assuming there is no other problems. If you post some pictures we could probably help you figure out what else is going on causing your plant not to flower when it should be.