I have never used grow lights before!! This is my first season growing succulents,& i've been successful at it so far,with the help of everyone on ATP!!!!

I have a pot of Sedum 'Rubrotinctum',that grew wonderfully outside.

The first picture was taken with my camera but it takes very fuzzy picture's,so the other 2 are taken with my phone but the date on the first one is the day all 3 were taken.
These picture's were taken not long before they came inside & went under the lights.Someone told me that one of the biggest problems with over wintering this type of plant was they would grow leggy.That's why i bought the grow light to put some of the tender succulents under that took full sun.My husband suggested maybe the light wasn't strong enough, it's strong enough that plants to the side's of the light will grow toward the light & i have to turn & move my plants to keep them growing straight.I have started putting it in outside in the morning in the sun.When i bought these particular plants i did so at different times & the 2nd. pot said 'brown beans' instead of 'pork & beans'.Has anyone heard of 'brown beans' or could this be a nursery preference name,i know nurseries are good at doing this.But if you look at the first pictures the ones grouped together that are greener than the other's are the 2nd. pot bought & labeled 'brown beans',and if you noticed they do seem to look more brown,the other turned blood red.
Here's pictures after being under the grow light less than a month.



I don't know if you can see these plants were taken with my camera (at least they're dated) the green leggy parts seem to be new growth,like new off shoots from the side,bottom or popping up out of the soil from the roots.

Can anyone give me any advice or tell me what i'm doing wrong? Should i start a thread on grow lights & their strengths for succulents.

OH YEA,my light is a T-8,there's 5,8 & 12 right then mine is the middle one.But if this plant needs the heat as much as the sun that may be the problem. When it was sold to me the salesman said it was a full spectrum but without heat,they were out.He told me i could use the lights they put in tanks with reptiles,they are the same as grow lights with the heat.

Desperately needing advice or a link or what to do with these plants that think they are little baby stretch armstrongs!!

THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE OR HELP WITH A USEFUL LINK OR ANYTHING!!! I can't find a site that explains growing under lights especially succulents that i can even understand.Most of the ones i've found are for people that already know something about it.I need" using grow lights for dummies"

Hey Jelinda, I don't have a "link" but I can tell you I've been growing using lights for 2 years, and the plants "catch up" as soon as the weather warms up enough for me to put them back outdoors I live in Seattle so that's usually in late March, I place them outside in full sun where they're happiest and they do amazing things, and then I bring them in (usually early Oct) and they just "survive" - so I'd say, Don't worry, they look fine, that is new growth at the base of your plants and it looks great! Often the plants are reacting to what you've given them a couple of weeks before (so when they were in full sun outside in the warmth)
The other thing I've found with my plants is that when its colder, water them less, I water on a schedule of once per week, and when they're indoors I water the same schedule but much less water at a time - so outdoors I poor the water on until it flows out the bottom, indoors, in the colder temp, I only use enough to cover the surface and that's it...I'm used to philadendron's and ferns which love lots of water so its tricky for me to water so much less, but the plants respond. OK, just my 2 cents, I hope this helps, I'll put some photos up of my plants soon
Enjoy!

I have my grow lights on all the time in the basement during the winter and the plants do whatever they are going to do and then make their own adjustments once they are moved back outdoors again in the Spring. No problems.

My plants are sitting around underneath the lights at various distances. Just don't put them too close.

I don't think it's an exact science.

It is fun to forget how full they can get outdoors - so after the first couple of weeks back outside I'll notice how quickly they plump back up!

Because grow lights (fluorescents, that is) don't produce much heat (except from the ballast) you can put the plants within a few inches - keep in mind that the light is less intense at the outer ends, and more intense in the middle of the tubes, and adjust accordingly. They do best on about 12 hours of light, 12 hours of dark, so if you can put them on a timer, that's the ideal situation.