Grow Your Own Magazine

TheGrosvenorStPlotIn january in sew cabbage in moduels 3 seeds in each mould and On wednesday i tryed thinning out my cabbages which i planted out in march So i started on 1 row digging them up keeping the strongest and putting the second strongest in another prepared bed and throwing the weak in the compost bin.But after i had done one row they all went floppy and looked dead so i got so advice off gyo,i watered them a bit more than usual but still today they look the same ..Have i killed the poor buggers? but iv'e still got another 5 rows to thin out and i was thinking what if i just cut the other 2weakest plants with sissors then iam not disturbing the root system? but will this lead to some sort of bug getting into the open stem?

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You should never dig plants up to thin them out. What you should have done is pull the surplus seedlings out of your modules to leave one strong plant per cell. You then plant this cell onto the lottie at the recommended spacing for cropping. Thinning out means pulling out the surplus plants and discarding them.

Why did you sow so many?
I know seed is cheap, but you've made a rod for your own back, with all that thinning. I just sow one seed per module. Germination is usually 90-odd percent, so you just don't need to sow hundreds.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

A lesson learned for next year methinks !!
Instead of pulling out your thinnings as you have been I would cut them off at ground level as you suggest - quicker and easier though you won't have any to plant in your extra rows. As for disease, you're already killing the plant, so where's the problem ? It will not spread to the remaining healthy plants -get snipping !

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Monday 7th July

Thanks to you all as you say sewer its a lesson LEARNED, Ithink i dd go a little mad with the seed sowing back in january 3seeds per moduel twosheds i know i wont be DOING that ever again and if i do sow more than 1 seed Rusty i will pull the surplus seedling out before hand...thats again for your advice.......Novice gardeners Phhhhhh