Method and system for sorting a series of plants (11-13,54-56)) arranged in a carrier (16,46), such as a roller trough (16), on the basis of characteristics. For this purpose said series of plants (11-13,54-56) is transferred in its entirety from such a carrier (16,46) to a first intermediate storage (20,57). From there, plants (11-13,54-56) that have a certain characteristic are transferred to a second or further storage (21,22,58,59), depending on said characteristic. From each intermediate storage (20,57) the plants are collected into a series in a first (24), second (25) or further buffer (26), respectively. In the interim, the carrier (16,46) is moved from the first transfer position to a second transfer position. When a complete series of plants with a specific characteristic has been collected in one of the buffers (24,25,26), this series of plants is transferred in its entirety to the carrier (16,46), which is now empty and optionally has been cleaned, at said second transfer position. The system can be provided with an evaluation system such as a camera (19) system for determining the characteristics of each individual plant. For positioning the individual plants some distance apart for the purposes of the evaluation, the system can be provided with a preliminary storage, upstream of the first intermediate storage, into which the series of plants is transferred from the carrier, the plant being evaluated during movement from the preliminary storage to the first intermediate storage.