Root Thinning Rules. How To Thin Out Beets, Carrots, Parsley, Radishes?

Root crops have one feature: they form seeds so small that it is impossible to sow them with a normal density of standing (celery, parsley, radishes, carrots, and others) or form seedlings (beets), from which several sprouts of closely spaced plants grow. As a rule, thickened plantings drastically reduce the quality, and hence the quantity of the crop. Root crops are crooked, horny, small, and often tasteless. For root crops, a very important technique is planting thinning. But it cannot be done as needed and when necessary. It is the timely and high-quality thinning that will allow you to get the desired full harvest.

General rules for thinning

To obtain the required plant density, the seeding rate of root crops (involuntarily) is increased by 4-6 times. To create an optimal nutritional area for plants, it is necessary to fulfill, according to agrotechnical requirements, 2-3, and sometimes 4 breakthroughs of seedlings and plants.

• The first breakthrough is always performed in the cotyledonous leaflet phase or after the first true leaflet has formed. If the seedlings are uneven, then the first breakthrough is performed in the phase of the cotyledon fork, without waiting for the formation of cotyledon leaves or a week after the mass germination. In order not to pull out excess seedlings, thinning is performed more often by pinching the seedlings close to the ground or using tweezers to remove them.
• The second breakthrough is usually carried out after 15-20-30 days or, according to the requirements of agricultural technology, in the appropriate phase. With this thinning, strong plants are left, and weak ones are removed. Between the plants there should be 0.5-1.0-1.5 cm and no more, because due to different weather conditions, diseases, attacks of pests, thinning can occur. With a sparse standing density, plants also form poor-quality roots, and the yield decreases.
• The third breakthrough is actually the formation of the final (required) standing density. The distance between the root crops is 4-6-8 cm. If the agricultural technology provides for multiple harvesting (for example: on a bunch of carrots, young root crops of beets), then the most developed plants are removed, the rest are left for growing.

The next breakthroughs are effectively reusable selective harvesting.

Thinning of individual crops

Thinning canteen beets

When planting beets with seedlings, each forms 5-6 seedlings. The beets are thinned twice. Preliminary watering is carried out, which allows you to pull out the plant without damaging the root system next to the growing culture.

According to the cultivation technology, beets are thinned out during the growing season 2 times:

• the first breakthrough is performed in the phase of 1-2 leaves, removing the weakest, underdeveloped plants from the sowing. Plants are left in a row after 3-4 cm. If the beets have sprouted unevenly, then thinning is transferred to a later time and is performed in the phase of 2-3 leaves. These plants are excellent seedlings and often produce better yields than direct thickening. If there is no separate bed for this seedling, plant it along the edges of beds with other crops (carrots, onions).
• The second thinning is carried out in the phase of 3-5 developed leaves. By this time, the root crop has a diameter of up to 3-5 cm and can be used as a young root crop of bunch ripeness. When thinning, the tallest root crop is pulled out, and the small ones are left to grow for the next thinning or selective harvesting. When thinning, the distance is left 6-8 cm, and later varieties (for storage) up to 10 cm in diameter.

Thinning carrots

Capricious, but necessary in our menu, culture. Small seeds sprout for a long time. To prevent seedlings from being sparse, an increased seed rate is usually sown. Since carrots are sown at several times with a running start of 10-12 days, and thinning is one of the important agricultural techniques, it is enough to fiddle with carrot beds in the summer. On carrots, 3 thinning is carried out, and with multiple selective harvesting, their number reaches 5-6.

• Carrots do not tolerate thickening, therefore, the first thinning begins 1-2 weeks after receiving mass shoots. In thickened places, they break through several plants at once, leaving a distance of 1.0-2.0 cm in a row no more. Do not forget to carry out after the breakthrough, fertilizing, watering the plants and light hilling. They are necessary to keep the plants from carrot flies.
• The second thinning is carried out when the root crop reaches a diameter of 1.5-2.0 cm (phase of bunch ripeness).
• The third breakthrough is final. By this time, the final density of standing is formed on the carrots and the distance in the row is at least 6-8 cm. Root crops with a diameter of 5 cm are removed. At a smaller distance, the roots will be small. With a breakthrough, the largest root crops are harvested, since by the final harvest they greatly outgrow, the pulp becomes rough and not so sweet and tasty. The final harvest is carried out in the third decade of September. Earlier harvesting of carrots reduces their yield.

Thinning parsley

Favorite spice and flavor and vegetable culture. The agricultural technique of sowing and thinning is the same as carrots. The only difference is in the timing of seedling. If carrots emerge in 5-7 days, then parsley in 15-20, and in dry years - in 25 days. It is best to plant parsley in the form of compacted crops, mixing parsley seeds with radish or salad seeds. These crops emerge in 3-7 days and serve as parsley seeding markers. By the time they are harvested, seedlings of the main crop appear.

Root and leaf varieties of this culture are usually grown on garden plots. For both, the aboveground mass and root crop are used, more pronounced in root parsley. Parsley is thinned out and selectively harvested throughout the warm season as needed. By autumn, 5-8 cm are left between the plants. With such a density of standing, the root crop of root parsley retains all its valuable qualities (sweet aromatic pulp, root crop without cracks, even shape).

Parsley plants, seeded or left unharvested for the winter, form young shoots and edible roots, which are also thinned out.

Thinning radish

Radish is the most common early root vegetable. Cold hardy and early ripening, it provides the family with fresh vitamin salad from early spring. It is sown at a temperature of +10.. + 11 * C and after 25-35 days the crop is harvested. Like carrots, radishes are sown at several times (only in the cold season in spring and autumn) with a run-up in time of 5-7 days, which prolongs the time for obtaining fresh produce.

Radish thinning is carried out twice

• one week after the mass shoots, they pull out underdeveloped, lagging plants or noticeable flower beds. Leave a distance in the row of 1.5-2.0 cm.
• The second thinning is carried out with a root crop diameter of 4-5 cm and after a few days the root crop is harvested.

It is not possible to describe the thinning periods for all vegetables grown by seed. Above are the data of the most common vegetable and spice crops. Tentatively, all root crops are thinned 2-3 times. The first breakthrough is carried out after mass shoots not earlier than 2-3 weeks. The second - when forming a root crop of bunch ripeness, used for food (radish). The third - if necessary, the final formation of the density of standing (carrots, beets). Moreover, the standing density depends on the size of the standard size root crop (for example, the diameter of carrots is 5-6 cm, beets 9-10 cm, radishes 2-3 cm).