Hi, I am a complete virgin where growing vegetables is concerned - normally nothing grows! HOwever, this year we have succeeded in germinating carrots in large pots. BUT hubby put seeds too close and they are I think in need of thinning. My question is (don't laugh) - how do I do this? I want to spread them out a bit, or transplant some of the seedlings into another pot to give them more room, but am worried about damaging them. Please help!!!
They will not transplant. You will need to thin them out to about a 2" spacing. You could leave them a little while and pull baby carrots from the thinnings then let the others grow on to full size. Ensure you thin them in the evening and water afterwards. This assists with deterring the carrotfly destroying what you leave to grow.
listening to gqt today and bob flowerdew said to get the tops from the thinnings and bash them up to release the scent and put them well away from the carrots that you have just thinned and this should fool the carrot flies into laying their eggs on the stems that you have just pulled leaving the one in the ground well alone, but dont know if works.
Sorry to be thick, but what exactly does thinning mean? I mean, does it mean taking some out to give more space and how do I do that to avoid disturbing the others?
hiya, kelloggs, welcome to the site, one of our carrot rows is sown thicker than the others,when I thin the carrots, I take out small groups every couple of inches, use them to cook with or in a salad, the others will grow on and be thinned out for finger sized carrots later, leaving some of the others to grow to full size ;D
hope that helps
Thank you - at what stage do I need to do this? Sorry for so many questions! How big do the shoots above ground need to be?
if they're really crammed, do it a.s.a.p, they'll need a bit of room :)
THINNING CARROTS
If you plant carrots by dropping those incredibly tiny seeds into a furrow by hand, odds are good that they may wind up spaced a bit too close in some places. That's fine, because the plants themselves will emerge almost thread-like, giving you time to thin them to proper spacing as they develop. This process usually involves a few successive thinnings, actually. First, when the plants are an inch or two tall, you can take scissors and simply snip out the seedlings that are within a half-inch or so of another plant. (Using scissors guarantees you won't harm the adjacent seedlings, since they're likely to be pretty close together.) As the season progresses, you can keep thinning, with the goal of allowing the remaining plants enough space to widen into a normal carrot without bumping into a neighbor. The older plants you pull may actually have tiny carrots formed, which are often a delightful treat tossed into a salad for a sweet hint of carrot-ness!
Thank you - will do this next week then when they are about 2 inches tall from the shoots.