Do you actually thin seedlings?

I posted a picture and question on my blog about thinning sunflowers. And it made me wonder, do gardeners who plant from seed thin the seedlings to ensure healthy plants or are you too afraid or reluctant to kill/transplnat the seedlings.

What is the success of the transplants? Or do you let the seedlings have "the survival of the fittest" life in your garden.

I tried to thin and transplant sensitive 4 o'clocks once and that really put me off of thinning seedlings.

Pinch or transplant? Which is the best choice or is there another way.

 

I do thin my seedlings as one will be stronger and some very small .The stronger will over power the others and weaken the strong ones.

 

I thin carrots mercilessly, and give the surplus to the stable rabbit. If we sow anything else and space is too tight I try to move some somewhere else. I'm a real softie when it comes to those little seedlings.

 

I try to get em up by the roots, then put them somewhere else. I just cant stand killing the little baby plants

 

I plant seeds far apart so I don't have to thin.

 

I thin. If I plant in a tray or large pot, then I have to prick them out individually, or at least in very small clumps. If I sow directly, then I also try to carefully ease the thinnings out to move into gaps. Can be very handy on the allotment. Tis a labour of love though and if I appear to have a huge glut and nowhere for the thinnings, then I have to confess to just nipping the excess off at ground level.

 

D2D: I have just had petunia seeds come up in a begonia plant. I have been thinning them out and putting them in their own container. The main plant is still doing good. I now have a lavendar petunia and many more to come as I do more thinning.

 

I thin them too, but what I do with the "loosers" depends on what the plant is and a variety of other options--like extra back-ups in the event of seedling failure, or if I want to give seedlings to fellow gardners or in the case of beets, I just plant them in a bed beside the one I'm thinning. Some I just throw away.
It just depends what you want to do.

 

I moved a large seedling sunflower that was too close to another sunflower and did not do any damage to the original site of sunflowers. The transplant lost it lower set of leaves though. The next grouping of seedlings to be thinned will see some causualties because there is no where to transplant. I could give my mother the thinned plants. As you say it never hurts to share.