As I thin my seedlings I notice I can't seem to pull out all of the roots, some of them break at the base of the stem while others break off further down into the soil. Is there any inherent danger to leaving those broken roots in the soil?
Is there any danger to breaking off seedlings at the root when thinning?
- Thread starter manfisher
- Start date
I've never given that any thought. If the soil is moist enough, then tiny seedlings will come out in their entirety. A photo would be helpful in clarifying the situation and the size of the seedlings.
Bob
Old Gasman
Well-Known Member
Just put them in a bowl of water, slosh them around and the soil washes away leaving you with clean bare rooted seedlings ready to transplant.
Its not in the transplant process just the thinning out which means I cant wash them in water just yet. I will do that when I transfer to small solo cups
No, there is no issue with leaving those roots in the soil. If you are transplanting the ones that you have pulled out, with roots left behind, they may not all survive. But the roots left behind shouldn’t impact the seedlings in those cells.
Old Gasman
Well-Known Member
Ah yes I misunderstood. I miss out the thinning stage myself, i go straight from seedling to cell or pot as I figure the less you move them the better.
It didn’t seem to matter too much as long as you are careful. I had a small amount of loss, but it was very negligible. Like the others say do it when the soil is nice and moist it makes it a lot easier. I’m not sure what everyone else uses but I have been using a big heavy duty pair of tweezers for feeding reptiles to separate them when thinning, it was also very convenient because they where big enough to grab whole cells when I went to transplant to larger pots.
