I've been doing mostly clones for the last three years with some back and forth to indoors ( heat / weather / goddamn moths ) as well as highly modified schedules when I had to be out of town ( I had to also conserve moisture, so thinking about DWC cause this is da shits ) so I have seen some variety in light response behaviors, including getting clones that came from 24 hr light cycles ( damn it Darkheart! ) and having them drop their panties ( strain dependent, but all of that strain are the same ) because I started with 18-20 hours instead of programming a gradual schedule.
I digress. I guess my point is that the light period behavior is strain dependent. YMMV, and by alot. I envy the farmers that do consistent ( more or less ) strains and see the fruits of mastering the subtle characteristics found in each. Cloning from a known mother and extending an organism WAY beyond the intended lifecycle is actually pretty edgy.
I didn't even know what a hermie was until yesterday.
Well, then it is a landmark in your education. You are coming along fine. The really green folks probably don't even look it up until they realize they have a seed crop.
If you are not growing from known stock ( female clones or perhaps feminized seed from good lineage ) this is not usually a problem. It's not really a knife-edge kind of deal when the genetics are good. You have to fuck-up hard to get good strains to hermie.
So - to understand why - look up " phenotypes" and "epigenetics" to see how this arises from unfortunate combinations in the genome that are always there - but need some environmental stress or condition to be triggered into the growth behavior. I'm trying to help ya feel better by understanding - it ain't ALWAYS you. But it doesn't hurt to learn from it and choose your genetics wisely, but understand without bonafide knowns - its Vegas, baby. Or a box of chocolates. However you want to see it.