Leggy means the light is too far from the plants. Move the light(s) closer.

What are the seedlings? It is sometimes possible to bury the seedlings deeper in the soil when pricking out. Glad to see heat mat no longer on.

Camp...The leggy ones are Aubrieta. hopefully I can bury deeper?

The second ones germinating...I special ordered, and really want them to survive. It's campanula ' prichards variety' and I'm hoping they don't become leggy also. I put them in the southern window today and will continue doing so.

All the others planted since these, have started sprouting too. I'm amazed at how fast these grow! I now understand how this can become so addictive.

Hi GardenHo,

Not having enough light close enough to seedling will result in leggy seedlings but you already know that :-) You didn’t say what kind of light you used or how close it was to the seedlings. If you’re using regular fluorescent tubes, they should be no farther from the plants than a couple of inches.

Another thing that contributes to the legginess is too much heat. Heat makes the seedlings grow faster and it’s hard to provide enough light to keep up with the more rapid growth. Actually, a cool room is ideal for growing your seedlings after the warmer germination period. Something like 65 degrees usually works very well. If your room is more that about 70 degrees, you’ll need lots of light to keep the seedlings from getting leggy.

Moving the plants to your southern window would not be much help, especially since you mentioned that you don’t get much sun there. The plants need more light than most windows would provide.

Another thing that will help your plants grow strong and healthy is good air circulation. A small fan, on a timer, that runs for 15 or 20 minutes several times a day is very helpful.

Art

Hi Art,

The light Im using is one I purchased for my parrot. I don't recall what kind it is. I know I researched it as I wanted it for Vit D absorption. It's as close to natural sunlight as you can get.

I do believe I left them on the heat mat a little too long. The other trays I removed sooner so hopefully they will be fine.

I'm so glad you mentioned the fan. I did read that, but forgot about it lol. I will start that today. I will also work on a better set up, including more lights.

Thank you so much Art, I really appreciate your help :)

Hi there! I just had similar problems with some seedlings... does anyone know if Eggplants are the types you can bury a bit deeper to make up for the leggyness?

Sounds like your light should work but was too far away in all likelihood. Plants mainly use red and blue from the spectrum. This is why some grow bulbs aren't really that bright and or appear almost pink or blue. I have 4 4 foot sylvania bulbs and they appear almost bluish purple. I have 2 4ft Phillips bulbs that lights look pinkish red. And I have 6 GE 4 ft bulbs that pretty much look like ordinary bulbs. All are plant/aquarium spectrum lights. All seem to work well when kept 3 to 6 inches from the plants