Scrappy Coco
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1 beets seed germinated in 2 seedlings

I'm using a 9-cell square, and in each cell I put exactly one beets seed. I'm sure it was one because the beets seeds aren't small and I could clearly see I was putting one. 4 of the 9 I planted germinated regularly, and about 5 of them germinated into 2 or even 3 seedlings. I'm trying to understand if I can take out the soil and seperate them into 2 3 seedlings and plant them seperately, or are these seedlings actually connected to the same root and that's how beets grow? Also, if the are not connected to the same root, should I just snip off one of the two, or can I carefully seperate them? Thank you :)

By the way, how did it happen? :D
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rainbowgardener
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One beet seed, like one carrot seed, is not actually one seed. Carrots, beets and other things with very tiny seeds that are difficult to manage are often sold "pelleted," with several seeds in a pellet. The pellet is way bigger than a seed would be, easier to see and handle. It makes sure at least one sprouts each place you put a pellet. The down side is that all of them may sprout and then you have to do a lot of thinning. The thinning is important, otherwise your beets will be very small and stunted.

They are separate little plants and you can just snip off the extra ones at the base. That avoids disturbing the root of the one you want to keep.

Scrappy Coco
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rainbowgardener wrote:One beet seed, like one carrot seed, is not actually one seed. Carrots, beets and other things with very tiny seeds that are difficult to manage are often sold "pelleted," with several seeds in a pellet. The pellet is way bigger than a seed would be, easier to see and handle. It makes sure at least one sprouts each place you put a pellet. The down side is that all of them may sprout and then you have to do a lot of thinning. The thinning is important, otherwise your beets will be very small and stunted.

They are separate little plants and you can just snip off the extra ones at the base. That avoids disturbing the root of the one you want to keep.
Oh I see. Do you think that at this stage I can pull out a cell and carefully separate the root to grow 2 3 separate seedlings, or do you think that it will damage the roots and consequently kill the seedlings?

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rainbowgardener
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It is possible. If you can slide the tiny root ball out whole and plop it in a bowl of water the soil will wash away and the seedlings will separate themselves or be very easily separated. But then you have to get them replanted which is tricky, since they are root crops. You need the little root hanging straight down.

If you planted nine pellets, you may end up with 30 or so beet seedlings. Do you have a place to put them all? It is easy to damage them in this process.

imafan26
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I have separated beet seedlings before. You do have to be careful not to break the root when you tease them apart and transplant them before they get too entwined. Some times you can separate them in water, but I like to try and get some of the soil with the root.

Scrappy Coco
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imafan26 wrote:I have separated beet seedlings before. You do have to be careful not to break the root when you tease them apart and transplant them before they get too entwined. Some times you can separate them in water, but I like to try and get some of the soil with the root.
rainbowgardener wrote:It is possible. If you can slide the tiny root ball out whole and plop it in a bowl of water the soil will wash away and the seedlings will separate themselves or be very easily separated. But then you have to get them replanted which is tricky, since they are root crops. You need the little root hanging straight down.

If you planted nine pellets, you may end up with 30 or so beet seedlings. Do you have a place to put them all? It is easy to damage them in this process.
I think I will try to separate one of the cells if it goes okay I will do the same with the other cells, and if it doesn't go okay I will just snip the smaller seedlings in the other cells. Thank you :)



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