What Causes Plant Legginess?: Tall Thin Tomatoes for Example

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I got a really good question about tomatoes being tall and thin. This typically occurs when seedlings don't get enough direct intense light. A tomato gets tall and thin or 'legginess' because it is growing as fast as it can to get closer to the light source. It is a response of the plant to reach the light.  It stops when the intensity is appropriate. How a plant knows this... hmm?

Legginess has to be prevented. Grow lights (depending or lumen intensity) should sit 3 to 6 inches above your plants. The closer the better without leaves touching the light tubes.

Light intensity prevents 'legginess'. The other issue is that if you have the right intensity, you also need the right amount of hours of light. For indoor growing systems that should be 10 to 14 hours.