Thinning of Sprouts

the removal of superfluous plants from rows or hills in order to improve growing conditions for the remaining plants. Sprouts are thinned in dense plantings of sugar beet, table and fodder root vegetables, seed corn, and sunflowers. The thinning is done manually or with a cultivator or thinning machine, which cuts down some of the plants in a row. This operation is called mechanized thinning or blocking.

Sprouts are thinned in the early stage of development. For example, sugar beets are thinned when the cotyledon develops, that is, in the seed-leaf stage, and no later than the appearance of a pair of true leaves. Such vegetable crops as table carrots and beets are thinned several times to obtain clusters of young plants or roots. If thinning is delayed, the sprouts become elongated owing to insufficient light. Growth is retarded, which severely lowers the yield and may result in the loss of crops. Crops sown by the drill seeding method do not require thinning.