Anyone know why my seedlings are leggy

[GreenMtnHigh]

They actually look good to me. It’s okay to bury the stalks in dirt(they will actually sprout roots from the buried stalk section) The one thing to be aware of when you do this is dampening off can become a problem. Dampening off is stalk rot from too much moisture. If you have drain holes in the bottom of the cups, you can actually water them from the bottom by setting them in a shallow tray of water. This will keep the roots damp and the majority of the water will stay in the bottom versus holding water around the buried stalk. Seedlings DO NOT require a lot of water! Once they get a bit bigger and more robust, dampening will no longer be an issue.
As far as stretching is concerned, you can pick up a really cheap full spectrum T5 bulb. They run super cool(almost zero heat) and they can be placed within inches of the seedlings. If you do this, start at a distance of 6”-8” and see how they react and adjust the height accordingly. The T5 is for seedling stage only. Good luck! I think you will be just fine.

 

[NapkinB]

I don't think lifting the light to 40" from 20" would make them droop that fast. You could always bring the light down a couple inches at a time every couple hours until it looks like they turn their leaves up slightly. What are you measuring lux with? If it's a phone app, perhaps it doesn't work well or the meter needs to be calibrated?

Im using Photone with a piece of paper to act as a diffuser and they fell over when I turned the bloom switch on because it’s 2x as strong of a light. They have almost fully recovered since I moved the light 40 inches away