Many experienced vegetable growers know that planted vegetables must be properly cared for in order to get a good harvest. Carrots are no exception and also need proper care. Quite often, young bushes need to be thinned and weeded.
However, before you do such work, you should familiarize yourself with how to properly thin carrots. It is also recommended to figure out whether it is necessary to thin carrots in open ground.
Why are shoots removed?
Some people don’t know why they need to get rid of excess growth. Carrots at the initial stage of their growth must be thinned out. This procedure provides a considerable number of advantages:
- a larger amount of free space has a positive effect on the size of root crops;
- a thinned plant receives more sunlight and nutrients;
- thinning carrots allows you to determine the strongest shoots, which will give a good harvest in the future;
- planted bushes will stop stretching upward and the root crop will develop faster;
- If you grow thinned carrots, their yield will increase by 50%.
Thinning
If you chose the usual planting method, you will have to think about how to properly thin out carrots and when to do it.
Basic recommendations
Before thinning your carrots, here are a few helpful tips.
Quite often the plant is grown in open ground. In this case, thinning should be carried out only in cloudy weather so that it is not too hot outside. If it grows indoors, then you can get rid of the growth at any time. The main thing is that the sprouted bushes are not in the sun at this moment.
You can also check the lunar calendar to choose the most appropriate time to remove growths.
During work, the bed should be thoroughly watered. This is done to make it easier to remove the plant without damaging the nearby shoots. After thinning, carrots are watered again so that the soil around them can settle. Trimmings cannot be replanted, so they can be thrown away immediately.
Tools
To thin out bushes, it is recommended to use special means at hand.Various tools are used for this. Some people prefer to remove excess carrot leaves using tweezers. It allows you to get rid of even small leaves that are located near the ground. However, most gardeners thin carrots with scissors. Quite often they are used to speed up the work process. Also, scissors are indispensable if you need to remove bushes completely.
First thinning
Initially, bushes that grow thicker develop faster. The plant grows better and does not suffer from dangerous diseases as often. However, after some time, the young bushes do not have enough moisture and some of them begin to gradually die. Their leaves become dry, and the fruits stop developing altogether. It is because of this that they need to be broken through periodically.
Many gardeners don't know how to thin carrots the first time. In this case, you need to break through the bushes in such a way that the distance between them is half that in the placement scheme used. It is better to get rid of weak shoots to speed up the development of good bushes. Before starting the procedure, you should moisten the soil well to make it easier to remove unnecessary bushes. If they are planted too densely, you can simply pinch off the top of the unnecessary plants.
After all the bushes in the garden have been thinned out, the soil is watered and compacted.
Second thinning
The next time the procedure is carried out after 25-30 days. If the carrots have grown greatly, you can thin them out after 15 days. During this time, she should have formed a sufficient number of extra sheets that need to be gotten rid of. After the second thinning, the distance between the bushes should be about 5-7 cm.This will allow us to improve the process of root crop formation in the future.
It is not recommended to place too much distance between the bushes, as this may negatively affect the size and quality of carrot roots.
Planting carrots without thinning
Some gardeners wonder whether it is possible to plant carrots and not thin them while growing. In this case, it all depends on the planting method. There are several basic methods for planting seeds in the garden, which will simplify caring for the bushes in the future.
Sowing pre-sprouted seeds
In order not to think about how to thin out carrots in the garden in the future, it is recommended to plant sprouted seeds. When using this method of planting, the plant will sprout much faster.
Before planting, the seed is wrapped in a wet towel for several hours. It can also be placed in a small container and filled with a special nutrient solution. After a few hours, the seeds will swell and can be removed and dried.
Using Sand
This method is the simplest and does not require special skills from a person. To plant carrots, two tablespoons of seeds are added to a bucket of sea sand. Then the container is filled with water and infused for several days.
During planting, small furrows are made into which I plant seeds mixed with sand. As a result, the distance between the sprouts will be large enough and you won’t have to thin them out.
Mixed method
To grow a bush in this way, you need to mix the seeds with radishes and sand. The resulting mixture is poured into the beds and generously filled with water.
The essence of this method is that the early radishes will ripen first and therefore will be quickly eaten.Over time, carrot shoots will begin to sprout from the soil. Due to the planted radishes, they will not appear very densely and will not have to be thinned out.
Not only radishes, but also other crops are planted together with carrots. Lettuce or spinach are great for this. The main thing is that the selected plant germinates before the carrot.
Application of the seeder
To plant carrots evenly, you can use special seeders. With their help, you can easily plant grains in the ground at the same distance. The only disadvantage of this method of planting is the cost of the seeder.
Planting in paste
If you mix planting material with paste, then you can plant carrots evenly and in the future do not think about the need to thin it out. To create a paste, add a liter of water and a tablespoon of flour to a small container. The resulting mixture is stirred until the first lumps form. Then the container is infused for an hour and carrot seeds can be added to it.
After this, open the container with the paste and spread the seeds evenly on the beds. Carrots need to be planted at a sufficient distance from each other so that they do not sprout too thickly.
Using the tape
In some specialized stores you can purchase planting material that is glued on paper tape. Such seeds are already distributed in advance at the optimal distance from each other. To plant them, just lay a ribbon along the bed and sprinkle it with a small layer of soil.
You can make such a tape yourself. To do this, you can take regular toilet paper, divide it into several equal parts and attach grains to them.
Conclusion
Even a person who has never done this before can thin out carrots.To do this, it is enough to understand why it is thinned out and how many times this procedure should be carried out.
