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You could sow at the final spacing and skip thinning altogether, but with carrots that does not work well. Neighboring seedlings lift the soil for each other at germination, and a little crowding early on makes them compete and stand up straight. Sowing thickly and reducing in stages gives the most even result.
The other side of it is that thinning late means pulling once the roots have started to swell, which drags the neighboring root and damages it. Leave them crowded and you simply get a row of thin roots. The timing is read from the number of true leaves.
Which stage you are at is decided by how the plants look, not by the date.
| How they look | Which thinning | If you leave it |
|---|---|---|
| Seed leaves touching | The first | Growth stops and they stay thin |
| Three or four true leaves overlapping | The second | A row of thin roots |
| Leaves colliding and falling over | The third | The roots cannot fill and push each other |
| Shoulders showing and swelling | Thinning is over | Pulling now damages the neighbors |
Judge by leaf count rather than days. Sown the same day, growth rates vary a great deal with soil temperature and water.
The three stages
Widen the spacing at each stage until you finish about a fist apart, four to five inches (10 to 12 cm) for long varieties and three to four (8 to 10 cm) for short ones. Too close and the root will not fill, too far apart and it is more likely to split.
| Stage | True leaves | Spacing after | Do at the same time |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | One or two | 1.5 in (3 to 4 cm) | Weed and draw soil up lightly |
| Second | Three or four | 2.5 to 3 in (6 to 8 cm) | Feed and hoe |
| Third | Five or six | 4 to 5 in (10 to 12 cm) | Feed and earth up properly |
The final thinning falls roughly seven to eight weeks from sowing. Later than that the roots are swelling and every pull damages a neighbor.
How to pull them
Decide which plant you are keeping before you pull anything. Pulling wherever it looks crowded gives uneven spacing. Judge on the color and posture of the true leaves rather than the seed leaves, and keep the vigorous ones.
- Choose the keeper first Keep plants with dark, upright leaves and a thick base. Take out anything stretched and floppy, yellowing, or with misshapen seed leaves.
- Hold the keeper down Press a finger on the base of the plant you are keeping and pull the other one sideways. Pulling straight up lifts the neighboring root too.
- Cut anything that resists Where the roots are tangled, cut at soil level with scissors rather than forcing it. That is safer than damaging the taproot of the one you are keeping.
- Firm the soil back Pulling leaves a hole, so push soil back and firm gently around the keeper. A plant left leaning grows a bent root.
- Eat the thinnings From three or four true leaves onwards the leaves and thin roots are worth eating. The flavor is strong, so they suit fritters or a quick blanch.
Thin on a fine day when the soil is evenly moist. Bone dry soil lifts the roots, and mud leaves the keeper loose in the ground.
Feed at the same time as you thin
Carrots do their real bulking around ten to eleven weeks from sowing, and not running short in the lead up to that is what makes them fill. Feed twice, straight after the second and third thinnings. Do not put fertilizer at the base of the plants, which damages the roots. Place it between the rows or along the shoulder and hoe it in.
- After the second thinning Run a light dressing along between the rows and mix it in as you draw soil towards the plants. Think of this one as growing leaf.
- After the third thinning The same amount again, this time along the shoulder of the bed. From here on it is about filling the root, so not running out is the priority.
- Read the leaf color Small yellow leaves mean it is short of food. Dark green and oversized leaves mean too much, which gives you fine roots and magnificent tops.
Stop feeding a month before harvest. Nitrogen late in the crop reduces the sweetness and encourages splitting and leaf growth.
Green shoulders and drawing soil up
As the root swells the top of it lifts out of the soil. Daylight on the exposed shoulder produces chlorophyll and it goes green or purple, and that part turns bitter and hard. It is a quality problem rather than a disease, but it spoils both taste and appearance.
The fix is simply to cover the shoulder as soon as it shows. Do not pile soil on all at once, though: add a little at a time, never enough to bury the point where the leaves join.
- Draw soil up at every thinning After each thinning, pull soil from between the rows towards the plants. Doing it with the hoeing deals with weeds and aeration at the same time.
- Check every fortnight once they bulk Once the roots start swelling the shoulders emerge quickly. Any orange visible on the bed means cover it that day.
- Half an inch at a time Add no more than half an inch (1 to 2 cm) at once. Bury the growing point at the center and no new leaves come, and the plant stops there.
- Green roots are still usable Peel the green part off thickly and eat the rest. It is not a reason to throw the carrot away, but it means earthing up more often next time.
Recovering from thinning late or too hard
Even if you forgot until the plants have seven or eight leaves, do it anyway. Accepting some damage to get the spacing is better than leaving a row of thin roots. Always firm the soil back after pulling.
- If you are late, do it in two goes Going straight to the final spacing disturbs the roots you are keeping. Split it over a few days, with earthing up and a watering in between.
- If you thinned too hard Where the gaps are over eight inches (20 cm), feed those plants more sparingly. Too much room makes them swell suddenly, which splits them.
- Or shift the harvest If late thinning has left everything thin, delay harvest by two or three weeks and let them fill. Do not push it much further, or they split and go woody.
If you cannot commit to thinning dates, put all three in the calendar on the day you sow.