seeds sown too thick - how to thin out?

tiredwithtwins

Hi, wondered if someone could help me? I planted tomato, brocolli, cabbage and cauli seeds about 10-14 days ago. its the first time ive done any growing from seed and it seems ive sown them far too thick - they look like beds of cress!! (well, maybe not quite that thick, but definately too thick!)
how/when do i thin them out?

thanks for any advice :beer:

officeguru

Hi Tiredwithtwins

You select a nice strong one, lay your index and middle finger on the earth with the selected shoot between your fingers.. You are actually just resting your fingers on the dirt so that when you remove the ones around it, you don't disturb the one you have selected... and you work through the rest ... keeping the best and discarding what you don't want.. Another way you can do it is water them and then lift a little bundle and gently tease them apart and replant the ones you want to keep into another tray or individual pots depending what size they are..

It depends on the size the seedlings are but if they are small I would use something like a little plastic ice-cream spoon that you get from an ice-cream van... or the handle end of a teaspoon ... so that you can use them as a tiny little spade.. You have to be careful that you don't damage the stems or roots of the seedlings and that you gently lift them with their seed leaves using the little spade to ease them up from underneath..

I hope you understand all that!

Cheers

Eenymeeny

I find an orange stick very helpful... and one of those cocktail stick stirrers that you get free in pubs

tiredwithtwins

ah, thank you so much - made a note for next year not to sow seeds so thickly! ive actually sown them onto egg trays so i can split the tray and plant them on without disturbing their roots too much. the seedlings are about an inch and a bit tall now, should i be thinning them out now before they get any bigger?

thank you so much for your help - its an obvious error that i just didnt think of!!

:beer:

Home_Grown

I have done the same thing with my lettuce!

officeguru

tiredwithtwins wrote: »

ah, thank you so much - made a note for next year not to sow seeds so thickly! ive actually sown them onto egg trays so i can split the tray and plant them on without disturbing their roots too much. the seedlings are about an inch and a bit tall now, should i be thinning them out now before they get any bigger?

:beer:

If they are really crowded, you would be better off thinning them asap.. otherwise you can get what is called 'damping off' where all the seedlings die.. this is because of poor air circulation between the plants.. Next year, mix your finer seeds with sand and then sow them and that way, you don't sow them so thickly.. if they are not too small, put the seeds in your left hand and then pick the seeds with your right and sow them - carefully positioning them so that they are not so close together.... for example; sowing 3 seeds into each egg tray depression, so that they are more manageable.

I hope this helps