Need help and/or advice on my leggy plants

[tlmcca]

Hi all,

Let me start by describing the process I am using. This is my second season growing heirloom tomatoes from seed. I'm starting the plants in my basement using Burpee's XL Ultimate Growing System and a heat mat for germination and that has worked very well both years. For light I have used a single shop light from Home Depot with 2 48-inch T12 fluorescent lamps which I adjust to keep the lamps an inch or so from the top of the plants running the light 14 hours per day. Once the seedlings are about 4-inches tall and have their second set of true leaves I transplant to 6-inch pots with a mix of coir, worm casings and vermiculite. I keep the plants under the same lighting conditions until around the second week of May when I move them to the garage and start hardening them for the garden.

The plants spend about 30 days in the 6-inch pots before it is time to start hardening. During this period the plants shoot up and I end up with very leggy plants unlike what I see in nurseries. Everything I've read says legginess is a result of insufficient light so I have purchased a second fluorescent fixture and ganged the two together for next season hoping this will solve my legginess issue.

So this post is a call for help.

Is it reasonable to assume that doubling the amount of light will solve my problem?

Are there better approaches to positioning the lights other than directly above the plants? Side lighting for instance?

Would it be better to move the re-potted plants to a hoop tunnel outside if the temperature will be 50 degrees or warmer rather than keeping them inside under the lights?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Terry