Beetroot

[brownfingers]

I know it is normal practice to thin out beetroot seedlings, but what if you don't? What if you leave them to push each other apart? Could they be left until some baby beets form and then thin out to get some bigger ones? It just seems a bit of a waste to throw plants away if they will produce some nice beetroot away.

[roitelet]

Just what I do!

[Mr Bones]

Same here and when I do thin out, either eat the thinnings as salad or transplant them straight into another bed. The transplants sulk for a week but most take and grow into full sized beet.

[damian1225]

I use that method with beetroot and raddish, let them grow and then take every other one as a small one and leave the rest to grow on , maybe its because im northern and too tight to waste lol

[Small pumpkin]

I don't direct sow, so I don't have that problem. If I did, I would probably transplant the ones that needed thinning out. 100% agree, don't like wasting perfectly healthy plants.

[MarkPelican]

I both sow directly and transplant plugs. I tend not to thin those that I sow directly, the problem is that you can get a lot of very small beetroot and its difficult to keep them weedfree. Also when picking them, I find that I loosen beets around the ones that I'm pulling out which means I get all sorts of different sizes picked at the same time.

When I plant plugs, I space them at about 3 to 4 inches apart and get better sized beetroot and (because they are pre-germinated) I get more even cropping.