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Chard: One seed, several seedlings, what do I do?

last year

Every one of my chard seeds have resulted in multiple seedlings. (Last year, when I grew chard for the first time, I painstakingly separated most of them and grew them individually. And I ended up with waaay too many plants that I grew anyway and things got out of control.)

What is the best way to go about this? Should I remove (snip off) all but one? Many articles say to do so as a matter of course. Or do I just let it be and plant whatever came up as a bunch? I guess that would be what is called multi-sowing? Its a no-brainer to cut off any runty seedlings but some of them are groups of 3 or 4 robust seedlings.

What would one typically expect from growing one seedling in a spot vs multiple seedlings in a similar spot for Swiss Chard?

I know many of you have a lot of experience in this regard. What do you say?

Thanks!!!!

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Comments (7)

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
last year
last modified: last year
Multiple plants on Swiss Chard are like multiple stems on one plant. Altogether, it will grow much as one plant would grow. Individual leaves might be a bit smaller, though. For root crops like beets, which are related to Swiss Chard, and which also produce multiple seedlings, cutting back to single plants is much more important, because for beets, you get ONE fruit per plant, and you want it to be well sized. I grow both routinely.
katyajini
Original Author
last year
Thank you Dan!
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beesneeds
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The reason why every seed is putting up multiple seedlings is because those are multigerm seeds. It means when the flowers were making their seed clusters multiple seeds grew together into one fused pod. It's common among many members of the beet family, including Swiss Chard. Heirlooms and older varieties tend to be multigerm more often. The trait of breeding for monogerm seeds is a bit newer and you can find them more in hybrid selections.

I tend to let chard just do it's thing till they get to a big microgreen size before I start pinching down if I need to, if there are over three seedlings. Might as well get a little eating in while it's going. If I only get 2-3 seedlings that come up, I tend to leave those alone. 2-3 in a cluster is pretty good, but I've had pop ups of 6-7 from a big cluster, and that's too much together once they get bigger to me.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
last year
That's a wise comment. Draw the line at three plants.
katyajini
Original Author
last year
OK, I will draw the line at three!<3
zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
last year
As already mentioned, it is normal to get multiple plants from one "seed". I sow sparingly for that reason. The first couple harvests are thinnings; I end up with the strongest plants spaced 2-4" apart, and harvest huge leaves from those all summer (and even into Fall).

Those extra-large Summer leaves are really great blanched & layered in lieu of spinach for lasagna, and the stalks can be used in a cream of celery recipe, with enough green thrown in to give the soup color.
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
last year
Yes, we use chard leaves in salads and casseroles, and the stems instead of celery, in soups and the like, and just to nosh on. We never buy celery any more.

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