Seedlings can be easily plucked with your fingers simply by gripping them between your thumb and forefinger and giving a gentle tug. Toss them in a yard waste bag or compost pile.
This method of removing seedlings is easiest to do when the soil is moist and pliable. Some root vegetables can be sensitive to thinning because disturbing the young roots can cause deformities.
Also, transplanting long-rooted vegetables, such as carrots and turnips, can cause them to fork. So, to thin root vegetables, carefully remove one seedling at a time, either by gently pulling it from the ground or cutting it at ground level. That way, you shouldn't disrupt the remaining plants. If plucking the seedlings has disturbed the soil, you can gently press it back down around the remaining seedlings with your fingers.
How many seedlings you take out—and the spacing you allow for the remaining seedlings—will depend on whether you want your vegetables to grow to full size or if you prefer to eat them early.
For example, if you like to harvest tiny carrots, leave the seedlings tightly spaced. But if you prefer large carrots at the end of the season, the spacing should be much farther apart according to the directions on the seed packet. If you are growing vegetable seedlings in blocks rather than rows, you can run a flexible rake through the seedlings to thin them out. However, the seedlings won't be perfectly spaced.
Raking will free up more space for remaining seedlings to grow and it is much faster than plucking or cutting seedlings by hand. Thinning can disturb the soil, so it's best to lightly mist the remaining seedlings to rejuvenate the plants after thinning. Many recommend snipping off some seedlings but I show you how to can thin out your plants and keep them all alive. No need to sacrifice any. I have started seeds for many years. I have followed the advice of many garden gurus and cut off the extra seedlings that sprouted to let one grow bigger and stronger.
But it was so HARD to kill perfectly good plants that struggled to sprout and were growing well. When I sowed these geranium seeds I thought they were too old to germinate so I sowed them thickly. I was wrong about them being too old, many came up in the same cell.
Much of the time I start a bunch in a single tub or container as I did with these tomatoes. I like using recycled containers as much as I can. Some of these tomatoes were very close together and yet I did not cut any. I gently eased them out of the soil a very loose mix helps tremendously and pot up into individual pots for them to grow on.
Some will claim that you shock the plants or it kills some but I have not had that happen to me. I have even done side by side trials where one set I cut out the extras and let one grow on and in the other I did this method I share today.
There was NO difference other than I saved a ton of plants I did not have to kill. Here is a recycled mixed salad container with pansy seedlings in it. You can see they are growing close together. They have their true or secondary leaves so they are ready to prick out and pot up. If you are gentle enough they should do just fine. In the video I showed this technique on Geranium seedlings.
This works on most plants. I use an old paring knife I keep in the greenhouse but you can use a pencil, a skewer or just about anything that is small enough. So I recommend using a small micro-tip snip or bonsai shears for precision cuts. Also, be sure to disinfect the blades first.
To do that, simply dip them into rubbing alcohol , or wash them with soapy water. Step 3. And never try to pull the seedlings out of the soil while thinning. Doing that can damage the delicate roots of the others, which could end up killing them too. This is especially important for root crops. One of the main causes of deformities is damage to the roots when plants are young.
Step 4. Use a starter fertilizer , or try compost tea which you can get in liquid form or buy tea bags to brew your own. Seedlings also love liquid kelp or fish emulsion. Only strongest seedling left after thinning. To pick the strongest seedling, find the healthiest, and most compact one in the group. Then thin out the others. If they all look equally healthy, then cut out the smallest or weakest looking ones. So remove the ones that have become weak or scraggly looking.
If the seedlings are all the same size, then you can just randomly thin them out. Or give it a bit more time to see if one of them gets larger than the others. If your seedlings are indoors, then you should thin them out until there is only one left in each cell, pellet, or pot. Not only will this give them plenty of room to grow, but it also makes it much easier when it comes time for transplanting them into the garden. Seedlings that were sown directly in the ground, rather than started indoors, should be thinned to the spacing requirements on the seed packet.
In this section, I will answer some of the most commonly asked questions that I get about thinning seedlings. If you still have a question after reading through these, then ask it in the comments below. Locate the healthiest, strongest, and most compact seedlings of the bunch. Those are the ones we want to keep.
If all your seedlings are healthy, cut the smallest at the base. If your seedlings are relatively the same size, randomly thin them out. Seeds sown in your garden should go through thinning following spacing recommendations you find on seed packets. Your seed packages provide guidelines for spacing and sowing depth. Here are a few general recommendations. Grip the seedling between your forefinger and thumb. Give a gentle tug, and it should come out without disrupting the garden bed much.
Remember, this method of seedling removal is best when the soil is moist. Raking works best if your seedlings are perfectly spaced. But raking can free up room and is faster and less tedious than manual cutting or plucking. Not for you.
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