Hair Particle Questions

I’m creating a plane of pillars using a hair emitter whose height (hair length) is determined by a texture. I’ve got the texture working correctly but when it changes the length of the hair it scales the entire object, I only need the length to change the scaling along the Z axis.

Any way I can do this? I tried using drivers, to no avail.

Alternatively, if anyone knows of a tutorial like “FAST 3D TOPOGRAPHIES IN CINEMA 4D TUTORIAL” on GreyScaleGorilla (I’d link but I’m too new) for Blender specifically that would answer all my questions I’m sure.

Thanks!