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Advice: do I need to thin my carrot seedlings?

genevieve.juilletgenevieve.juillet Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg
Hello all, I’m a new gardener growing carrots for the first time. I’ve read a lot about root fly, so I’ve planted my seeds in between rows of onions (sowed at same time) and have had my plot under fleece. My carrots seedlings seem to be coming up well, but I’m worried now that I’ve sown them too close together! My questions are, should I thin them and risk root fly, or just leave them? If I need to thin them, how can I deter root fly? Thanks! Picture of my seedlings here.

Posts

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Bonsoir, Genevieve; vous etes bienvenue a ce forum.  Carrot seeds are so small that it's almost impossible not to sow them too thickly.  To a certain extent, thickly-sown seedlings will naturally thin themselves, as the weakest lose out in the competition for space, air, light, water and nutrients.  But you'll get bigger and better carrots if you thin them some more when they are a big bigger and easier to handle.  You can keep on thinning them as they grow, and enjoy some tender and delicious baby carrots while leaving the rest to get bigger.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    If you're concerned about fly, I covered my row last year with a row of 5-litre plastic water containers, side by side and with their bottoms and caps removed and, for the first time, I had no fly.  Apart from acting as mini-greenhouses, I left the bottles in place until the foliage was trying to get out of the tops.  When I removed them the foliage was quite floppy, but soon recovered and I had my best crop ever.  Once used, I suspended the bottles on strings from the garage rafters, ready for this year.  They took up virtually no space and are a useful item to look out for.
  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286
    I personally would let them go on a bit and pull a few as tiny salad carrots. I plant my carrots next to onions/garlic, never had root fly after thinning or pulling.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I suggest thinning them just before dusk as carrot flies are less active then. The same advice goes for harvesting.
    Rutland, England
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    You can also thin in high wind, apparently the flies don't like that either. Those seedlings don't look to bad though and I would wait to thin until they get big enough to eat as baby carrots.
  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
    I have a mystery- keep receiving replies to Geneviete's query re thinning carrots! Hope she also had some replies!
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