How do I thin my carrot seedlings and is it the right time to do it?

[Pennies]

I planted my carrot seeds very close together (just pourred them from the packet) so they need thinning.

Any tips on how to do this?

They're currently about 3cms high - is it too early to do it yet? I'm worried they'll be too fragile.

A good tip from my grandad is to mix sand with the carrot seeds before sprinkling them out, one pinch at a time.

For now you can thin them, they say throw away the thinnings but I don't like to and I've successfully spaced out replanted carrot seedlings, they grow a little hairier that's all.

Good luck

The danger with thinning carrots is that the smell of them that is made when the soil is disturbed attracts carrot flies.

So, the advice is:

1. do it in the evening when the flies are less active

2. water afterwards to damp down the soil & smell.

3. instead of pulling up the carrots, consider using nail scissors and snipping off the tops at ground level - this will also help the fragility issue.