Thinning out seedlings???

Danni 4/4/2012, 10:00 am

So I followed the directions and put 4-5 lettuce seeds in each cell and they all popped up, heck it looks like 15 popped up in some. I am only doing two squares in my raised beds so I only need 8 plants. So what do I do now? Do I thin them out? Move them to bigger pots? Can they stay together? Lord I feel lost with this. I am new to this but is it odd that I feel really bad that I will have to kill some of our little baby lettuces?

kbb964 4/4/2012, 10:08 am

How lucky for you that you sprouted a farm of lettuce! I am having the opposite problem. Out of 20 cells, only 5 germinated Sad

I do feel your pain though. I planted tomato seeds, they germinated real fast and I had to cull at least 20 babies Sad

Mamachibi 4/4/2012, 10:12 am

Do thin. Use scissors and cut the extra seedlings, don't pull them out. Pulling can damage the roots of the plant you want to keep, and leaving them doesn't allow enough room for either to develop well.

To ease the pain of thinning, most seedlings are edible, especially lettuces! Give 'em a rinse and toss them on a sandwich or salad! Just because you remove them doesn't make them trash!

Danni 4/4/2012, 11:02 am

Thanks all!

Ok ,so how to choose which one to keep?

Lavender Debs 4/4/2012, 11:06 am

I snip the biggest, tastiest looking sprouts and put them on whatever. At this stage they are called micro greens. You get to tell astonished fellow gardeners that you have already harvested some of your greens

plantoid 4/4/2012, 4:01 pm

Perhaps even plant out all the arrivals to plan and not to planin any vacant square foot you have square , then eat spare ones over a few weeks or till you need to use the bed they are in .

Or

Plant all in one or two square foot squares and eat to thin them at a later date ...leaving the correctly spaced ones behind to grow on ..

NJYankees 4/22/2012, 5:56 pm

When should you thin the seedlings? When they first sprout and are only around an inch tall or should you let them grow a little to see which is the strongest and healthiest?

Thanks

kbb964 4/23/2012, 4:45 pm

Well , I am probably wrong but I have been thinning already and my sprouts are only 2 inches. Sad

WolfHeart 4/23/2012, 4:57 pm

I have seen in other places that which ever one gets adult leaves first is the 'winner' and you should thin the others out. that being said, I thin out my carrots wierdly. I remove the ones that 'seem' like they are spaced out enough, in other words it might not fight the traditional 16 per square grid. I might get 20 instead.

**camprn** 4/23/2012, 8:00 pm

Today I thinned my beets. Some of the seeds didn't germinate and some germinated in bunches (I am not the best at sowing seed). Anyway, Because I have Mels' Mix, I just stick my finger down into the mix next to the clump of seedlings and kind of lift the clump from underneath and gently pull up the seedlings and replant them in the empty spaces.
Yup, I'm a frugal Yankee. Very Happy

martha 4/23/2012, 9:05 pm

And, no, you are not odd for feeling badly about thinning them. It means you are a gardener!

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