Leggy lettuce started indoors

Northeast, IL(Zone 5b)

I usually plant lettuce outdoors in containers, but we have had such a cold miserable "spring" that I started seeds indoors this year. Ordinary seed starting mix, dampened with peroxide water, no heat mat, under fluorescent cool white shop lights.

The seedlings are very tall and leggy, and are beginning to flop over. So far only the cotyledons are visible, with no true leaves yet. They get about 17 hours of light per day, set no more than 2 inches above their tops. Everything else I started looks happy, but I am about to give up on these lettuce sprouts and start over outdoors.

If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate them!

Dublin, CA(Zone 9a)

Hmmm...sounds like you're doing everything right! Usually when people have leggy seedlings either the lights are too far away or not on long enough or they left their heat mat on after the seedlings germinated. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you!

Some seeds you can plant extra deep when you transplant, so that could be an option for you to fix the legginess. I know people do it with tomatoes, not sure if it'll work with lettuce or not.

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