Thinning seedlings

[rpt]

When thinning seedlings do you pull them up or just snip them off with a pair of scissors?

[WendyC]

I pull them but there was a good tip on Beechgrove late last year where by you spread your hand over the seedlings and thin the seedlings from between your first and second fingers therefore protecting the others you want to keep. Sorry not explained it well but does work!

[rustylady]

When thinning seedlings do you pull them up or just snip them off with a pair of scissors?

What seedlings are we talking about?

[rpt]

I have a line of All Year Round lettuce in the garden that could do with thinning. Plus lots of other things when they get a bit bigger. I'm worried that pulling them will damage the ones I want to keep.

[rustylady]

Should be OK pulling them if you're careful. Do it in stages, removing a small clump of seedlings at a time.

[veggiechicken]

You could thin out alternate lettuce seedlings when they're large enough to eat, and keep pulling alternate ones until you end up with them at the spacing you want.

[Kleftiwallah]

Try transplanting the seedlings you have removed. The thinning process will hold them back a touch and you will have an extended crop. If they don't 'take' then you haven't lost anything.
Cheers, Tony.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I hold the plant I want to keep and then pull the others away sideways. As Tony says, the thinnings can be planted on.

[Two_Sheds]

lettuce...could do with thinning. Plus lots of other things

I don't like thinning, I think it's wasteful. I just sow thinly

[zazen999]

Me too. At least loosen the soil, remove them with roots intact and replant somewhere else. Or sow thinly.