Carrot thinning help!!!

[Total novice 1982]

Hi all

It's my first attempt at growing veg this year but I'm particularly confused with carrot spacing / thinning

Should carrots be thinned out so that there are clear gaps between each individual plant or do you thin them into small clusters? I Really don't understand and can't find anywhere that it tells you this in black and white.

Hope you can help

Cheers

[Martin H]

Hi novice, welcome.

Gaps between individual plants is best.

Good luck!

[Bigmallly]

You could let them grow in clumps then pick baby carrots leaving gaps in between..........best of both worlds.

P.S Welcome to the vine.

[Tripmeup]

Or don't thin at all...possibly helps prevent arrival of carrot root fly..

[johnjohn]

Hi novice, welcome.

Gaps between individual plants is best.

Good luck!

You could let them grow in clumps then pick baby carrots leaving gaps in between..........best of both worlds.

P.S Welcome to the vine.

Or don't thin at all...possibly helps prevent arrival of carrot root fly..

Well that's cleared that up then!

[johnjohn]

As Martin says, I think a gap is best but BM's advice is good too, you don't need to do it all in one hit so you can leave them to develop and thin to leave the gap when large enough to use in salads etc.
Preventing carrot root fly is important as Tripmeup suggests, this could be done with a covering of mesh or fleece.

[Tripmeup]

As Martin says, I think a gap is best but BM's advice is good too, you don't need to do it all in one hit so you can leave them to develop and thin to leave the gap when large enough to use in salads etc.
Preventing carrot root fly is important as Tripmeup suggests, this could be done with a covering of mesh or fleece.

Yep, I just sow them, cover with enviromesh or fleece and walk away for 3 months or so...

[Alison]

If they're too closely spaced you won't get decent carrots as they won't have space to grow. In order to minimise carrot fly it's best to sow quite thinly in the first place but I find that you also need to cover with enviromesh too otherwise they still get riddled with damage.

[Nicos]

.....including the local cats rearranging your carefully calculated spacing!

...and no.......no more cat comments please!

[bearded bloke]

your carefully calculated spacing!

you not seen my carrots then Nicos

[Bill HH]

If they're too closely spaced you won't get decent carrots as they won't have space to grow. In order to minimise carrot fly it's best to sow quite thinly in the first place but I find that you also need to cover with enviromesh too otherwise they still get riddled with damage.

I couldn't agree more, care taken to sow them thinly saves a lot of disturbance later. I add the seed to a couple of litres of sand, mix well and then spread them in a patch not rows. Later I may remove any that are touching, then take some as baby carrots to leave the rest well spaced.

[Two_Sheds]

Should carrots be thinned out so that there are clear gaps between each individual plant

Think of how wide a carrot is ~ one that you'd eat. That's how far apart each seed should be.



I say should, but of course it's not easy to get one tiny fiddly seed at a time, so it's OK to sow a small pinch of seed, every 2" or so. As they grow, pull out the biggest one in each cluster and eat it. Leave the remainders to continue growing

It's a waste of seed & time sowing too thickly: you'll just get 100s of miniature carrots that are too small to eat.