Teach me how to thin seedlings...

10 years ago

Over the last couple of days my squash, cucumbers, and beans have sprouted nicely! However, in each location I typically planted 3 seeds. Most every spot has 2 or 3 seedlings that have come up, and one spot only has 1 seedling.

First, how many seeds do you experienced gardeners typically plant if you're sowing straight into the garden?

Secondly, how and when should I thin them? Should I thin them as soon as they come up? Or is there some reason to wait a while? And to thin them, do you just snip the tops off? or pull 'em up?

EDIT: Also, what about things like lettuce and spinach? I'm pretty sure I did not thin those out enough and it is now hindering their growth. Those tiny seeds also made it hard to plant a consistent number of seeds in each hole.

This post was edited by Dulahey on Thu, May 9, 13 at 22:32

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Comments (3)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
10 years ago
I usually direct sow two or three seeds for every final seedling that I will leave and allow to grow on. The decision about whether to sow 2 vs. 3? It just depends. If the seed is fresh this year or maybe fresh last year, I'll sow 2. If the seed is old or if it is something that tends to germinate slowly and erratically, I'll sow three.

How to thin? It varies with every single crop. Much depends on what sort of gardening you are doing. If you are doing regular row gardening, just thin to whatever spacing the seed packet indicates is desired.

If growing biointensively, thin to whatever your biointensive guru, like John Jeavons, recommends. For most biointensive gardening, you are growing plants equidistant from one another in a very specific spacing and pattern. However, with the precise plant spacing requiring for biuintensive gardening, I prefer to start with transplants grown in plantable pots and transplant them once in that pattern and not have to come back and thin.

If doing square foot gardening, I usually sow 2 seeds for each one following the desired spacing for that crop when thinning.

I thin most plants only after they have a true leaf or two, and only after I have put cutworm protection in place to protect the remaining seedling. I usually gently tug the seedling out of the soil, but if it is growing too close to the one I intend to leave in the ground, then I snip it off with scissors. If hail is imminent and I am about to thin, I wait until after the rainy day has passed and then I thin. There is nothing worse than doing a lot of thinning, and then having a hail storm later that day or the next day and having it come along and thin everything you previously had thinned.

With lettuce and spinach, I let them get 2 or 3" tall and then thin them by cutting them off at the ground level. Don't discard them. You can eat them as 'baby lettuce' and 'baby spinach'.

In the future, you can mix tiny seeds with sand and broadcast sow them over the entire area where you are planning to grow the lettuce or spinach. As they get large enough to use for baby spinach or baby lettuce, pull some and use them until you achieve the desired spacing. I always sow way too much lettuce seed, merely because they put so many seeds in a packet. I thin them and give them to our chickens. In early spring and in winter, they go bonkers over fresh greens.

They also sell some seeders that make it easier to deal with tiny seeds. I'll link one of them below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of a Seed Sower
slowpoke_gardener
10 years ago
I like to eat the small plants (lettuce and greens), others corn, okra etc I like to transplant if I have some voids where I need plants. I use the post hole diggers, remove a plug where the void is and carry it to where the extra plant is, use the post hole diggers and remove the extra plant and go drop it in the void, then replace the remover soil with the plug that I had just placed beside the plant. If I dont need the extra plant I just toss it onto the soil or mulch.

Larry
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mulberryknob
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Great idea for corn and okra, plants that don't like to be transplanted, Larry. And for those without posthole diggers, it can still be done while the plants are small by using a garden shovel in the same way. Slide the shovel down one side of the plant to cut the soil, then move to the other side, slide the shovel down and without disturbing the plant, lift it up and carry it horizontally to the desired location.

Teach me how to thin seedlings...

Comments (3)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7

slowpoke_gardener

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mulberryknob

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