Carrot Sprouts - Thinning

[SoyBean]

I've heard that once you get sprouts, you thin them out, leaving only the best sprouts to grow. I have many sprouts growing in the same spot in the plant box, so thinning would be a good idea. But all the sprouts look the same. How do I know which ones are best? The biggest ones?

Also, I'm having a hard time keeping everything from drying out. I just went to check on them and a lot of the plants were starting to shrivel. I guess it is just really dry in my area. Yesterday was pretty warm. I go through maybe a gallon of water per day just watering the plants. Anything I can do to help with the moisture in the soil.

I work in a cafe and we have tons of coffee grounds that we normally just throw away. Could I add this to the soil in the containers to improve the soil quality that I'm growing the plants in?

 

[silkiechicken]

So alot of the carrots were shriveling? Sounds almost like you could thin them that way. Pluck the shriveling ones. Don't know how big your container is, but is your plant box a raised bed? That might make keeping water in it harder. More organic matter and compost will help with water retention. Coffee grounds are good to add to compost, but might change the pH of the soil alone. Just one gallon of water a day might not be enough depending on the size of the area you are watering... I figured last summer for about 1000sq feet of garden, I went though 300 gallons or so of water per watering which was about twice a week, as figured though multiplying the time the hose was on and how the hose spits out about 8 gallons a minute.

 

[SoyBean]

They are all in containers. Nothing is actually in the ground of our yard. None of the carrot sprouts were shriveling. They look great, but my mint, tomato, thyme, and such were all starting to shrivel.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I posted something like this in our *Official Carrot Thread*

Here's an excerpt:
Planting: Direct seed carrots since transplanting may cause forking. Carrots need warm soil conditions (around 80 degrees) to sprout and will usually come up in about 7-20 days. Plant seeds about 1/4 of an inch deep spacing them about an inch apart. It is very important to keep seeds moist and to ensure soil does not crust over preventing the sprouts to emerge. As seeds begin to germinate thin them when they are an inch tall. Or you can broadcast the seeds in a small trench and cover with soil, first thinning when they are an inch tall to about 1 inch spacing. After about 3 weeks after germination thin again to about 3-4 inches apart. More space for larger varieties. To have a continuous crop stagger planting weeks apart. A fall crop can be planted 2-3 months before the first frost.