Learning Target: Plants have specific needs to live

Why? Thinning is important. As gardeners thin their beds to give their plants the best possible growing conditions, so must we. For our seedlings, it is important that we only keep one plant per cell. This is so that each plant will have enough space, light, food, water, and air circulation. Plants that grow under more crowded conditions must compete for these essentials and will be less likely to grow tall and healthy.

Two Ways to Thin: #1 - Pinch off plants at the soil line or cut them off at the soil line with scissors #2 - ****More gentler way: pull up the plant, with the root and all, and transplant it to another location

Before Thinning… Observe your plant with a hand lens. Take a look at the differences among the plants even at this very early stage of development. Are all of your seedlings exactly the same size? Color? Where are the differences, exactly? In the shape or size of the leaf? In the length of the stem? Did every seed sprout or germinate? Decide which one plant from each cell you will keep and which you will thin out. You will end up with a total of 4 plants per cell.

Transplant As you uproot your plants, you may do one or both of the following: Transplant one plant into one of your cells that have no seeds that germinated. Donate it to a classmate for transplanting

Activity Draw and label one of your uprooted seedlings in your science notebooks.