Thinning carrots is a long, tedious and unpleasant task. In order not to spend hours on the garden bed in the process of its cultivation, it is necessary to know the methods of planting carrots, in which the seedlings will appear uniform, neat.
Planting carrots with seeds in open ground without subsequent thinning
In the practice of gardeners, there are several options for such planting carrots:
- on toilet paper (as an alternative to purchased strips for garden crops);
- jelly landing;
- before winter (this option is relevant for the autumn period).
Seed preparation
Carrot seeds must be calibrated before working with them. Salt the water and pour the seeds from the bag into it. Those that come up must be removed. Sinking to the bottom will be ideal for landing.
Preparation must be done in advance: 12 days before they are planted in open ground. First of all, the seeds from the bag are poured onto a prepared rag and tied so that a knot is obtained. Do not tighten the fabric too much so that the planting material lies freely.
The second step: a hole is dug, 25-30 cm deep and a prepared knot is placed there. The soil is moistened and covered with earth from above. Within the allotted 12 days, the existing essential oils will come out, which prevent the high-quality germination of carrots.
Over time, the nodule is removed. The seeds that are there will increase significantly in size, and may even begin to germinate. It becomes much easier to work with such material. Then the contents are poured into a bowl and mixed with potato starch, which makes the seeds not so sticky, white and convenient for further manipulations (thanks to the color change, they are clearly visible on dark soil).
How to plant
A groove of the required length is made on the prepared bed. Due to the fact that the carrot seeds have increased in size, they are easy to plant with sufficient spacing between planting material. Sprinkle with earth or sand on top. Such simple manipulations will ensure good germination, and will save you from thinning in the future.
The sown furrow does not need watering. The seeds sprout well anyway. The appearance of a crust on the soil after watering will only slow down the development of seedlings. With the correct fulfillment of all conditions, the first sprouts will appear in 3-5 days.
You can slightly change the way you prepare. After removing the nodule from the ground, the seeds are poured into warm water (not hotter than 50 degrees). Withstand this until the liquid cools completely. Further, the material is taken out, dried and sown in the above way.
You can plant the carrots so that they do not thin out afterwards, you can stick the seeds on toilet paper. You will need a three-layer roll, special starch glue and a cotton swab.
To prepare the glue, you need to boil a glass of water and put a teaspoon of starch there. Boil until thick, then cool. Next, a drop of glue is applied to the prepared strips (about 1 cm wide) of paper with a cotton swab, on top of which a seed is laid out. The distance between the drops is 4-5 cm.
In the prepared area, grooves are made about 3 cm deep. Further, strips with seeds are laid in them and crushed by the earth. It is important to know that with this method of planting, the planting material germinates much longer: up to 20 days.
