Carrot - thinning

General tips / questions on seeding & planting

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RoRo
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Location: South Devon

Much to my surprise I will have to thin out my carrots - the rabbits haven't got them yet !! Can the thinnings be transplanted into other areas or is the risk of carrot fly too much.

Based on this success I might also try a later cropping carrot any ideas

Many thanks
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Jenny Green
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Unfortunately carrots don't transplant well. The root won't grow normally if it's disturbed. You can eat the thinnings though if they're big enough. Thinning is the time to watch out for carrot fly as the disturbance causes the plants to give off more of the odour the carrot fly are attracted to. Make sure the soil is moist and remove the thinnings from the area asap. Also make sure to replace the barrier immediately if you're using one to protect the crop.
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Johnboy
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Hi RoRo,
Just a rider to Jenny's posting. Hold the plant you wish to keep firm to the ground when pulling the ones you want to remove. All too frquently the one you want to keep comes up with those you are thinning.
JB.
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Compo
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Autumn king is a good late cropper
If I am not on the plot, I am not happy.........
Allan
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If you are growing Autumn King sow in late June as thinly as possible, no carrot fly active then and thinning hardly necessary if you do it right, Even the small ones are just as nice, indeed we sell them sreperately at a much better price per kilo as some customers prefer them.
Hint, never scrub carrots if you want them to keep, but a gentle was is fine.This is why Supermarket carrots go bad if kept, the scrubber ruins the skin.
Allan
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Johnboy
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Hi RoRo,
If you sow approximately one inch apart thinning out can be left until there is something meaningful to eat on the end. With Autumn King I use pelleted seed which makes sowing for me so easy. I am experimenting with growing Autumn King and Early Nantes Carrots in 4ftx4ft fleece covered raised beds and eventually they will end up, after all the thinnings have been eaten, with Carrots spaced at 3 inches in any direction. It's an awful lot of Carrots and so far I am about 2-3 weeks away from beginning my thinning process.The reason for the ex[periment is that I intend to downsize in the near future and want to know just how much I can produce on a vastly reduced plot.
JB.
taralastair
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Location: Manchester

Hi all. We have got some carrots in containers and so far have thinned them very little as I want to use as many thinnings as possible as baby carrots. My question is about when should carrots we big enough to use. A time reference (i.e. x number of weeks after sowing) or size reference (tops x number of inches from soil) would be really useful.

Tara
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