Thinning Radishes Is a Pain

Thinning plants is one of those tasks that feels so hard. Here you've gone through all that effort to plant something, you've watched these little plant babies grow, and now you're just supposed to, what... pull some of them up?

I don't know about you, but thinning plants to me feels like a moral dilemma: the plants you pull will die, but if you don't pull some, none of your plants will have the room they need to grow to their fullest potential.

Fortunately, I've found a way around this dilemma. I just replant the little guys I've thinned, even though most professional gardeners will tell you not to do that. It's a gamble, but I've had pretty good luck saving my plants that have fallen victim to thinning.

Let's explore how to make the most of every single one of the seeds you've planted. With any luck, you'll get extra radishes out of the deal!

Why Do You Need to Thin Radishes?

Let's say you plant some French breakfast radish seeds. After waiting about a week, you get impatient that nothing's shown up yet, so you plant some more. Wouldn't you know it, but then the original seeds germinate and start to appear, followed by your second batch. Now you have double radishes.

I personally wouldn't mind being able to harvest double the radishes, but the problem is the plants themselves. They will mind when they discover they don't actually have enough space to grow.

Other situations that require thinning include planting more seeds than necessary because you're worried the seeds will have a low germination rate or because you're having trouble separating out tiny seeds.

How Do You Thin Radishes?

To solve any little space issues, you can thin your radishes and then replant them. Radishes should be at least an inch apart (you'll need more space for larger radishes like daikon), so look for ones that are too close together and then pick one of those to remove and replant. I would choose the one that seems a little more spindly, a little less hardy, than its neighbor.

To remove the young radish plant, lightly pull on the leaves. If it doesn't come right out, then dig around it with your finger and pull more from the root.

How Do You Replant Thinned Radishes?

Once you've pulled a couple of plants, it's time to start replanting.

Like I said, this is a gamble. Treat your thinned plants gently since you've already disturbed their roots by pulling them up.

Use a dibber to dig a hole wide enough that your tiny radish root won't scrape up against soil as you're lowering it inside. Gently place the radish seedling in the hole. Plant them in their new location pretty deeply—right up to their crown for good soil support.

Water them immediately after replanting. Then watch them over the next several days to see if they make it.

Will It Work?

Bottom line: You might get a new radish and you might not. But at least we're giving it a go! And perhaps easing some of the guilt that comes with thinning plants.

The trick is to have minimal root disturbance while you're getting the plants back into the ground and to avoid leaving them to sit around too long. You really want to baby them.

How can you avoid having to thin radishes in the first place?

Whenever you're sowing seeds for a root crop like radishes, it's critical to space those seeds far enough apart to give each root room to grow to its full potential. Radish seeds are fairly small, and it's easy to go the lazy route and scatter them about or plant them in rows too close together.

The ideal spacing between each radish seed is about two inches (unless, of course, you're growing a larger radish like a daikon). It's a good idea to check the back of the seed packet for how large each taproot is expected to grow and what the seed company's spacing recommendations are.

There are a couple gardening tools that can help you follow the seed spacing guidelines. In the picture below, you can see the dibber I use to help me plant radish seeds. It has 4 points spaced perfectly for planting small radishes (2 inches apart). You can use a similar tool to press very lightly into the soil to create shallow holes.

Alternatively, you could use a hori hori to dig a little trench that's just 1/4 inch deep in the soil. I like to use stakes and twine to create a nice, straight line that I can trace with my hori hori so that my radishes will be planted in rows.

Do your best to place only one radish seed in each hole or every two inches or so down your trench. Stagger the next row so that those radishes will be growing in the window of the first row.

Taking the time to get your spacing right when you're planting means you won't have to return and thin when you have too many baby radishes trying to grow in the same spot.

Once your re-homed radish babies have reached maturity, here are three signs to look for to know when they're ready to be harvested. After harvesting, you can go right in and plant more seeds.

I hope this encourages you to experiment in your garden and realize that you don't always have to follow traditionally accepted methods. Making your own way is what makes gardening so much fun!