2 Ways To Thinning: The Hard Way & The Easy Way

There are two ways to thinning your garden, the simple way is to pluck out the smaller, weaker looking seedling and toss it into the compost bin and say good-bye forever.  The second way of thinning is through transplanting which consists of digging out all your plants (roots and all) and replanting them individually spaced out appropriately for mature growth.

Many of the seed packets I've come across have directions that suggest planting 3 seeds per  hole then thinning the plants out once they've reached about 2" tall.  Sometimes not all your seeds will germinate and so even after planting 3 seeds, only 2 or even 1 will sprout, all 3 will sprout if your lucky.  But even knowing I could have it easy and simply pull out the weaker seedlings when thinning I always choose to transplant instead, I just can't seem to get myself to simply pluck those little babies and say good-bye (I suppose that's the novice gardener in me). Veteran gardeners always seem to say that thinning by saying good-bye is always the best way to go, after hearing their explanations I can understand why.  With transplanting you risk losing all the seedlings by digging them up, not only do most plants find this move stressful but you also have to make sure not to damage the roots< A very good reason to nix the transplanting in my opinion, especially if you suffer from unsteady hands.

And though most veteran gardeners generally have this common belief regarding transplanting versus the 'good-bye' thinning method, I've had thus far, fairly good odds with transplanting results, even with seedlings that are too small to be transplanted (ie. thinning my lettuce bed).  Thinning by transplanting my tomato seedlings was equally successful and I was 5 for 5, all my transplants survived though one did look quite disheveled for days, but it wasn't anything a bit of added nutrients and good watering couldn't fix.

So I guess the question remains, do you thin out your plant bed by transplanting or say 'good-bye'?  I say the choice is yours, but you should try to transplant at least once, it's a bit of fun and you can make a more experienced decision that way.

Thinning The Tomato Plants

Oh goodness, here we go again.  As my tomato seedlings have reached about 2-inches tall it's time to thin them out (as in spread them out), don't want them fighting for space now do we. I get flashback attacks of the time not that long ago when I had to thin out the lettuce bed, trembling sweaty hands and heart racing. The experience was absolutely nerve racking but it turned out pretty well, only lost two little lettuce seedlings that hated me enough for it to commit suicide. The lettuce seedlings were quite a bit smaller than these 2-inch tall seedlings so I figure I should do fine.

Currently the tomato seedlings are in a state of agitation (as pictured above), they're like little children who don't want to share.  So the goal is to thin them out so they all can have their own little space (as seen below).

1st step, digging out the seedlings.  With my spade in hand I dug deep and far away from the seedlings to remove them from the ground without harming the roots in any way.  I set the seedlings still in their original soil aside and proceeded to the 2nd step, digging new holes in the plant bed for the seedlings' new home, one hole for every seedling, all holes 1.5-ft apart from eachother.

3rd step, I then went on to what I think is the most difficult part of thinning out any plant bed, separating the seedlings.  The roots are quite fragile and so being ginger and patient when separating the whole plant (roots and all) is key.  The leaves if harmed will grow back, but the roots if harmed will kill the entire plant.  I think I may have lost one tomato seedling during this process but 1 out 5 isn't so bad, right?

4th step, I placed individual seedlings in the freshly dug holes (one seedling per hole) with fresh soil and covered with fresh soil so that the root was well below the soil line but not so far down that the soil line was too far up the seedling stem.

Now you can see how much happier the tomato seedlings are in their own little space (pictured above).  

I also felt that this was a very good time to put in some structural support for the tomatos which would eventually get about 6-ft tall (I sure do hope they survive to make it that high- that would be exciting!). I figure it would be more difficult for me to put in some kind of support when the plants are bigger as their roots would be longer and thus easier to harm.  Since I have limited supplies I decided to use this circular support for three of the tomato plants, the idea is that (and I hope this works) the tomato plants can grow on each side of the circle, seems pretty iffy but I'm 80% sure it'll work.

So, now with my second thinning experience behind me I'm a pro, right?

"Late bloomers"

When I thinned out the seedlings

Remember I thinned out the mixed lettuce green bed thinking I had only been successful in growing a couple handfuls of lettuce and thanking the universe for even small favors, apparently I was wrong.  A couple days after I thinned out the mixed lettuce many many more little seedlings popped up!    And on top of the surprising good news of many more seedlings it seems that all but a couple of the lettuce seedlings I replanted for the sake of room to grow has made it through healthy.  Yay for me! :)

After I thinned out the seedlings

Read the previous post on thinning out the mixed lettuce seedlings

Thinning Mixed Baby Lettuce Seedlings

Thinning tender greens such as the mixed baby lettuce I've got growing in an old sink can be nerve-racking, my heart was pounding and my hands a bit shaky (I definitely would not make a good surgeon), but I had to do this for the sake of growing healthy lettuce, which requires not only light, water and air-circulation but also room to grow, having grown up in a house with two other siblings and over-bearing parents I can understand why.

I planted a blanket of seeds through-out the sink bed but it seems only a couple handfuls had chosen to grow the rest decided to bolt I suspect figuring they had something better to do, still, I figure this is a pretty good outcome for a first-timer and am grateful that I even have these few little lettuce seedlings to tend to.

Many of the little seedlings had grown within very close proximity of each other creating a kind of metropolis of lettuce seed leaves, this just won't do for healthy lettuce, they will no doubt be fighting for space, nutrition and water, thus thinning out was in order (moving seedlings further apart).  I thought them too small to begin thinning, the leaves being still very small and tender, I wasn't quite sure whether my clumsy hands would be capable but I hadn't a choice and so, just went for it.

I thought that watering the bed down would have made things easier but actually the wetness made it more difficult.  Watering the bed down simple made the soil clump which made it harder to dig up the seedlings and shake off the excess soil.  In any case I had already started and couldn't stop now so I pressed on wet soil and all.  I dug up the concentrated batch of seedlings, with my spade I went straight down as far as I could go without disturbing other seedlings that didn't need to be moved and dug up slowly.  Slowly and carefully was of utmost importance as the only thing on my mind was not to harm these tender leaved seedlings' roots, you can nip the green which would grow back but harming the root system means saying good-bye forever.

I was surprised to see how long some of the roots were on these little seedlings

Slowly, one by one I took a seedling and planted it elsewhere, making sure to spread them out.  Luckily I only had to deal with two clumps of seedlings, by the time I was on my second clump of seedlings my hands were a bit more confident and so was I.  

I'm sure some of the seedlings will die, it would be unfortunate but not unheard of, I would have to simply start all over again and that would be that.  Like I said before, planting and growing is all trial and error and learning loads on the way.

All done and looking a little claustrophobic