Why thin out carrots: when and at what time, weeding

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Yakov Pavlovich

Professor, Head of the Department of Vegetable Growing

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To get a good harvest, you need to carefully care for planted vegetable crops. Carrots are an unpretentious plant, but they also require serious care. Quite often it happens that the seeds were planted too densely and as a result the gardener received uneven seedlings like a continuous carpet. If this happens, it is important to know how to properly thin out carrots so that the root crops are healthy and large.

Planting carrots in the ground

It is necessary to prepare a bed for growing root crops. The place should be sunny without shade. From a huge number of varieties of seeds, we choose the variety that we need.

There are early varieties, for long-term storage, cone-shaped and oval, dietary and for baby food. Predecessors in the garden can be tomatoes, onions, cabbage, and legumes. Carrots grow poorly after parsley and sorrel.

You need to sow carrots in warm, loosened soil with the addition of ash. It is better to fertilize the soil for carrots in the fall. The root crop does not like fresh manure. There are several planting methods. You can stick the seeds on strips of paper or buy ready-made rolls with seeds. Glue is made from starch.

The germination rate of store-bought seeds is often low, so they try to sow them densely. But even with this, uneven seedlings are noted. If the carrots sprouted sparsely, in separate sprouts, then the root vegetables will grow to impressive sizes. In thickened areas, the carrots will turn out long and thin or small and short.

Before planting, it is better to soak the seeds to swell. Make shallow furrows, water them with a solution of potassium permanganate and carefully, sparsely, sow the carrots. Smooth out the grooves. Densely planted seeds are subsequently difficult to thin out; neighboring roots can be damaged.

In order for the seeds to sprout together, you need to cover the bed with covering material, so the earth remains moist and retains heat.

After emergence of seedlings, the covering material can be removed.

If the foliage of the carrots curls, it means that a pest has appeared - the carrot fly. It appears from strong thickening, an abundance of weeds and high humidity. By following all the rules for caring for root crops, you can avoid the appearance of this pest.

You can get rid of the pest using ash, sprinkled between the rows. Pour hot water over the onion peel, let it sit and pour the diluted solution over the carrots. The fly does not like the smell of onions.

There is no need to apply nitrogen fertilizers or other fertilizing during root crop germination. Water the carrots as the soil dries out. Do not overwater or overdry the soil, otherwise the root crop will rot or grow crooked.

The time for harvesting root crops depends on the variety. It is easy to check the ripening of carrots. When carrots are ready to be harvested, they are covered with small white hairs. There is no need to allow it to become overripe. We select smooth, undamaged carrots, dry them, remove the tops at the root, this way they are better stored. Place in boxes and cover with sand. The root crop is ready for storage.

Reasons for dense shoots

Among garden crops that are difficult to germinate, in addition to dill, parsley, parsnips and celery, you can also see carrots. For this reason, many summer residents resort to dense sowing of seeds, hoping that thanks to this measure the required number of sprouts will be obtained.

This is one of the main reasons for planting density. In such cases, further thinning cannot be avoided.

In addition, the problem of too thick carrot shoots is caused by the seeds themselves. They differ in this vegetable crop:

• small size;
• elongated shape;
• smooth surface;
• heavy weight.

These characteristics of the seed lead to excessive clustering when sown in open ground. Seeds tend to fall into the soil not one at a time, but in groups. For this reason, the shoots may appear too close to each other.

The list of reasons that provoke the appearance of thick carrot shoots also includes:

• arbitrary sowing, not adhering to the recommended schemes;
• high quality seed with a high percentage of germination;
• good weather when planting vegetables;
• deep planting of seeds in the soil;
• a crust formed on the surface of the earth after sowing and watering.

Benefits of thinning carrots

The main step for growing a good harvest is thinning in order to:

• the plants had enough light and nutrients;
• root crops grew even and large;
• remove underdeveloped shoots that interfere with other shoots.

In addition to poor germination, it is necessary to sow thickly because a dense crust forms on the soil, through which it is difficult for tender sprouts to break through, or when the seeds are deeply buried. But sometimes it turns out the other way around: water washes shallowly planted seeds to one side, creating thickened seedlings that require thinning.

What happens if the procedure is not performed on time?

If you skip the first and second thinnings, the carrot crops will become covered with weeds. Because of this, root crops will have limited space to grow. The amount of harvest will be significantly reduced, since stronger shoots that emerge earlier than others will be more developed, but most of the root crops will remain lagging in growth and development. Then the cost of effort and time for weeding and thinning will increase significantly.

Attention! If you neglect the third thinning, you cause irreparable harm to the planting, violating the integrity of the closed tops.

If you combine these violations, the result will be the lack of an excellent carrot harvest and wasted time and resources.

Carrots are a tasty, healthy and nutritious vegetable. In order to get an excellent harvest, it is important to consistently care for the crops. In addition to mandatory procedures such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, we should never forget about thinning. Knowledge and consistent implementation of work on caring for sprouts will lead to an excellent and rich harvest.

Weeding or thinning

These are two different procedures that can be combined. Periodic removal of unnecessary plantings when seedlings are dense is called thinning. Used to increase the size of root crops. Removing weeds that have grown between crop shoots is called weeding.

Carrots, unlike grass, take longer to sprout and grow more slowly. Therefore, the weeds are carefully removed by hand, pressing the soil near the sprout with your fingers so as not to accidentally pull them out. Weed regularly, otherwise the grass will interfere with the growth of planted plants.

When should you thin carrots?

Carrots require thinning twice during the summer, and on time, otherwise the roots will intertwine and it will become more difficult to pull out individual sprouts.

The first time, excess shoots are removed 35-40 days after planting the seeds in the ground, in the phase of 2-3 leaves on the shoots. At this time, thickened areas are already visible.

The procedure is repeated a second time after 20-25 days to further thin out the growing carrots and remove underdeveloped sprouts. Leave plants 10 cm high, on which no less than 6 leaves have formed.

When to perform the procedure

Carrot thinning is carried out in 2 stages. Each time the procedure is carried out at the beginning or end of the day, when the plants are wet due to dew. Choosing such a time protects the crops from the attention of the carrot fly. She is attracted by the specific aroma that disturbed plants emit. Dew or heavy watering reduces the strength of this odor.

First

The first time the carrot bed is thinned out is at the very beginning of the growing season. It is optimal to wait until the plants produce the first couple of leaves. Approximately this moment occurs 28-35 days after planting the seeds.

Second

The second stage of the thinning procedure is carried out for the final adjustment of the distance between plants. It is best to do this 21 days after the first. At this point, the carrots will have grown to 9-11 cm in height, and the small root vegetables are suitable for use as food.

Rules for thinning carrots

During the first thinning, the sprouts are pulled out only upward so as not to damage other shoots, leaving a distance of 2-4 cm.

Execution order:

1. To facilitate thinning, the bed is thoroughly moistened in advance so that the water has time to be absorbed.
2. The essential oils of plucked plants attract carrot flies, so the crops are treated with a special solution that repels these pests.
3. By pulling out excess shoots, weeds are removed at the same time.
4. Having finished thinning, moisten the bed by pouring warm water, no colder than 20 degrees.
5. In rows, the soil must be compacted to prevent insects from entering to lay eggs.
6. The pulled greens are collected and hidden under sawdust mixed with soil to eliminate the smell.
7. The plucked sprouts are placed in water or sprinkled with damp sand, then planted in empty spaces or in a separate bed.

At the end of June or July, a second thinning is done. Here a distance of 5-8 cm is already left. This is influenced by the expected size of the root crops. When growing carrots at a small distance, the vegetable will grow either long and thin, or misshapen.

The procedure is the same as for the first treatment, only here it is necessary not only to remove the excess, but most importantly, to remove weak and damaged plants.

In order not to attract carrot flies, it is recommended to do thinning in the evening or in the morning, while the flies are not flying, then sprinkle hot ground pepper between the rows. The plucked plants are thrown away.

Auxiliary methods

Excess roots are often pulled out by hand. This is a labor-intensive method, and sometimes neighboring plants are damaged. When pulling through the second time, it is even more important to do it carefully so as not to tear off the lower part.

Some people thin out for the first time using sharp scissors. With this method, the required distance is cut, cutting off the green part to the base. Only the remaining roots do not always dry out, sometimes they rot and infect the future harvest.

Thin sprouts are easy to grasp with garden tweezers. The disadvantage of this method is that the work is painstaking and time-consuming. The stem is grabbed closer to the base and pulled sharply.

It is easy to remove 3-4 plants at once with a knife, cutting the roots at a depth of up to 3 cm. The method is dangerous because sometimes neighboring plants are also trimmed.

Aftercare

A vegetable crop that has undergone manipulation to remove excess seedlings requires good care. Experienced gardeners advise immediately moistening the planting using lukewarm water and compacting the soil. It is also advisable to hill up the substrate around the remaining cultivated plants.

It is important that the upper part of the root crop is not visible on the surface of the ground. In such cases, it may turn green and suffer from sunburn. The carrots should sit in the soil at a depth of 5 cm. After breaking through, it is advisable to pinch off excess leaves to prevent the tops from growing.

Further care for carrot planting involves following standard procedures:

• proper watering, preventing the beds from drying out or becoming waterlogged;
• weed removal;
• timely application of fertilizing compounds;
• loosening followed by hilling the bushes.

Experienced gardeners recommend watering the carrot planting after thinning with settled and sun-warmed water. You will also need to timely feed the vegetable crop with a complex mineral fertilizer like Agricola, combining fertilization with watering.

Consequences of thinning errors

If the technology and procedure for pulling are violated, this leads to improper growth of carrots or to diseases. Plants that are damaged and therefore weakened are more likely to rot and become sick. In addition, if a carrot root crop is damaged, it stops growing or grows too slowly, acquiring additional shoots.

Sprouts are more often damaged if thinning is late. When little room is left to grow, the carrot grows clumsy and weird.

In order not to wash away the sown seeds in one direction, the beds should be made level, mulched after sowing and watered only with a sprayer.

Planting plucked sprouts

Experienced gardeners do not recommend growing carrots from seedlings obtained after being pulled out. Firstly, the sprouts are poorly suited for survival, and secondly, even if the crop grows, the roots will turn out uneven and branched. This planting material is used when there are large bald spots on the beds or when it is too late for another sowing.

Sprouts intended for planting are placed in water immediately after being pulled out. For cultivation, select only strong and undamaged roots from the first thinning, partially trimming the tops so that the length remains no more than 10 cm.

The seedlings are placed completely into the holes made with a stick, and they must be placed in an upright position. The soil is compacted, pressing around the seedling, and watered. They leave 10 cm between seedlings, but root crops still rarely grow evenly and large.

How to plant carrots without thinning

To avoid tedious work with carrots, gardeners have come up with many ways of sowing. In these cases, sparse shoots are obtained that do not require thinning.

Secrets of rare carrot shoots:

1. Sowing pelleted seeds enclosed in a nutrient coating, which makes them large, ensuring uniform distribution in the rows. Such seeds require careful watering, and they germinate 1-2 weeks earlier.
2. Adding coarse sand to the seeds before sowing.
3. Mixing with radish seeds. The radishes are eaten before the carrot shoots grow and free up space.
4. Preparing seeds by gluing them onto toilet paper. The seeds are glued onto the paste, spreading out every 5-7 cm. All that remains is to lay the tapes in the grooves and sprinkle with soil.
5. On a loose bed, holes are made with an egg tray, into which 1-2 seeds are placed, and then the seedlings are not pulled out.

To grow a large and reliable harvest, the main thing is to follow the rules and technologies, which necessarily include timely thinning of the seedlings. If you don’t have the desire or time to sit on pulling out, you should use options with tools or rarely sow seeds right away.