You must thin, if you want carrots. I believe the recommended spacing is 4 inches. To the extent there are gaps in the row, I carefully transplant extras to fill in. While seedlings, carrots are easily transplantable.

Thin 2-3 inches but depends on the variety your growing. What did the back of the seed pack say to thin them to? On the back of the seed pack will be the instructions and the best recommendations for the variety you;re growing.

I switched to pelleted carrot seed several years ago so I can sow at the proper spacing and avoid having to thin.

I always over-sow carrot seed so thinning is done 2-3 times over the first 4-5 weeks during their early stages. Usually thin to 1.5" apart works well as the strong overtake the weak which get crowded out if too close. A harvesting tip I learned here a looong time ago was to push the carrot into the ground first and then pull it out, it breaks the soil seal and tiny hairs......results may vary ;-)

You should thin if you want decent looking carrots, though they can still be eaten. They don't have to be in rows, just pull up the smaller ones leaving the stronger ones to get bigger. As they get bigger you can always pull some to eat while letting the remaining ones grow. I would think transplanting carrot seedlings you would end up with fat stubby or deformed roots, but they would still be edible, maybe harder to clean.

Nope. I transplant carrot seedlings all the time (that is, plants an inch or so tall), and I never have problems with deformed roots. Take some care to set the root in vertically. Larger plants may suffer, however.

I'll spoon out carrot seedlings and move them to bare spots with no problems. I do the same with sweet corn seedlings but using a small hand shovel when my little push seeder double drops seeds.

I watched a video where a guy plants carrots in sections of plastic gutter inside a small green house and when the tops are about 4" tall he digs a trench outside and slides carrots and all the dirt into the trench. Kind of cool.

I have transplanted corn, but I cannot imagine anything more laborious than transplanting carrots! And why? Just sow and thin if necessary.

Laborious? For a one inch plant? Um, take a spoon and a minute. I sow somewhat densely, but I still end up with a few uncomfortably large gaps. I can imagine lots more laborious things.

I try not to sow too thickly, but carrots don't have a germination rate as good as some other things. I sow a row because that's what the rest of the garden is and it works for me. I then thin while I'm weeding, about 2 inches apart. I grow several colors just because they are pretty. Any small carrots I thin out I just poke a hole with my finger in some blank spot and stick them there, most seem to survive but it messes up my color scheme, LOL.

Last year I tried planting carrots in cardboard egg crates with the bottoms of the depressions poked out and then sitting the egg crates into trenches lined with compost when they germinated. It was supposed to keep weeds out of the carrot patch and avoid thinning and weeding as well as letting me plant inside earlier. It did avoid thinning and weeding, and all my carrots germinated but they never grew at all. I planted inside in April, put them into the garden in May and by September I had carrots about the size of a knitting needle. The carrots that were planted conventionally in the rest of the row grew well and sized up nicely, so it's back to the row for me.

Annie

Ooh, that's a nice idea. Colored carrots. Next year I'll do rainbow. For that matter, I need to do that in my beets as well. I do red and golden, but I could have white, yellow, and striped.

I've tried planting/starting other things in those cardboard egg cartons but never had much luck. It may be due to whatever chemical residues are in the paper particular if they are made from recycled materials? Have also tried growing those pretty rainbow carrots but their flavor/sweetness seemed to be off and it may be a trade in for their pretty appearance.

That's useful to know. Now that I look it up I see that beta-carotene, which gives carrots the orange color, also gives it flavor, and different colored carrots can taste different. See https://www.winecountrycooking.com/carrots-more-than-orange

I had some yellow and white carrots one year. The orange ones tasted better.

I tried a carrot variety of a different color and wasn't impressed, hence the decision not to plant them again. Makes sense Dan.

I sow them with a few extra seeds that I thin early on. I sow about 1½ wide in the row.

Interesting. I grow several multi-color crops. To me, at least, golden beets and red beets taste pretty much the same, though there is some argument about that in the literature. Rainbow chard has no difference in flavor between colors. That being said, I've heard that different color tomatoes taste quite different. Purple and black tomatoes have anthocyanins, which can make them somewhat bitter and astringent. Same as for purple carrots.

Any suggestions of carrot varieties to try:

Nantes-type (Napoli) , Kuroda , Baltimore Hybrid..

I haven't seen Atomic Red around lately...

I usually don't do well with carrots.

Usually plant seed too close.... ( Shame on me probably ).

Okie HU