What's the advantage of thinning plants. I've never thinned plants. I just
don't see the reason for digging up plants and losing some when they would
of been fine .Planted where you want them the first time. Is it for
pollination. Or something important. Or to fill in spots with extra
plants.

Diesel

"DogDiesel" wrote:
What's the advantage of thinning plants. I've never thinned plants. I just
don't see the reason for digging up plants and losing some when they would
of been fine .Planted where you want them the first time. Is it for
pollination. Or something important. Or to fill in spots with extra
plants.

Diesel

Thinning is done for direct seed into the ground. Not all the seeds will
germinate so people will put twice the amount of seeds in the ground. Then
thinning the plants is done by cutting one that is closest to each other.
Two plants close to each other will not do as well one. Cutting the plant
to the ground with scissors is better than pulling. Pulling may damage the
roots of the plant that is next to it.

I find thinning is useful for small hard to handle seeds. It seems to me
the larger the seed, the faster the germination (not always the case). For
larger faster germinating seeds, I plant them at a normal space apart,
after the plants start to come up I will put a new seed in the vacant
space.

Small seeds can be handled with practice by pinching some seeds. By rolling
thumb and finger slowly back and forth, a seed or two will drop out where
you want to plant. If dropped more seeds than needed, that is where thing
come in handy.

Some seeds that I get from the plant itself like marigolds or zinnias in
the fall. I break the plants apart and shake or spread the seeds on the
ground in the fall. Then thin the plants in the spring. This is called lazy
gardening.

Ninety percent of my veggie garden is seeds directly into the ground. I
sill have snow on the ground. 15F degrees this morning.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

AFAIK, the purpose of thinning is to let the strongest seedlings survive and not be crowded out by its weaker siblings.