How to Thin Seedlings

[wifezilla]

For me it work on spaghetti squash and pumpkin. I gave the restarts to a friend and she had a pretty good harvest

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yes, it is perfectly possible to save the extra seedlings during a thinning, if they are worthy of it. Just be gentle and make sure the soil is moist. If they are really closely spaced, it often isn't worth the bother though.

 

[digitS']

Whether indoors or in the garden there's an important mind-set that goes with thinning.

You are greatly benefiting the remaining plant and not consigning the bunch of them to lives crippled by the absence of an opportunity to reach their full growth.

And, you are gaining a chance for the production of a crop which may otherwise be lost.

Steve

 

[Purple Strawberry]

I took my cucumber seedlings out of the seed starter container and put them each in a jiffy pot and gave the extras away. My dad came to get the extras and said that I didn't plant them deep enough that was why they were falling over. I planted them the same dept as they were in the first pot. So should I dig the holes a little deeper and put them further down or just hope the roots catch on and they start standing straight?

 

[digitS']

So should I dig the holes a little deeper and put them further down or just hope the roots catch on and they start standing straight?

That's a little difficult to answer. Cucumbers are vines - they tend not to stand very upright under normal growing conditions.

I don't know how well they set roots along a stem. They are so prone to fungal diseases, I think that it is best to just keep them at the same depth as they grew when emerging from the soil.

Usually, the problem with spindly plant starts has to do with a lack of sunlight and indoor temperatures that are too warm. The less light the plants have to use for photosynthesis, the lower the temperature needs to be. Without the light, the heat just encourages them to stretch.

Steve