potato chitting

[drinaud]

hello all! was just wondering if anyone could tell me if its suitable to plant chitted potatoes which have small white shoots instea dof green ones?

cheers.

[Thurston Garden]

Two years ago I had 50kg of seed which was delivered in 2*25kg paper sacks. I knew I had no way of chitting that amount of seed so decided to leave the seed in the bags in the porch until planting time.

Boy was I an unhappy camper when I tipped the first bag into my wheelbarrow in the field! Out IT came....plop...one mass of long white shoots entwined with each other. It took almost as long to separate each tattie than it did to plant them out!

Did they grow and produce spuds? They sure did but it was my first year in the field so I don't know if the yield was good or bad.

You could always knock off the longest white ones and leave a good few of the shorter ones and stick the seed somewhere light and frost free for a week or two and they might well green up nicely.

Don't be too eager to plant the seed - nature has a fickle way of catching up!

[Annpan]

Don't be too eager to plant the seed - nature has a fickle way of catching up!

Wise words TG... I am in the process of learning this the hard way


Last year I planted potatoes that had chitted themselves in my veg cupboard... they did grow, but I only got 1 more potato than I planted still, everyone seemed to have a bad potato year last year so I will be doing the same this year with left over odds and sods from the back of my cupboard... might as well plant them as chuck them on the compost heap

[Millymollymandy]

They should grow OK but just be extra careful when planting, if the shoot is long, not to knock it off when putting the soil back over the spud.

[ina]

might as well plant them as chuck them on the compost heap

They'll grow on the compost heap, too!

[eccentric_emma]

oh no! im worried now. i didnt chit mine properly either just forgot about them and left them in the box then planted them willy nilly! eep. oh well nothing ventured nothing gained!

[MKG]

Latest research comes to the conclusion that chitting earlies is a damn good idea, chitting second earlies may or may not be a help, and chitting maincrop is a waste of time.

Thing is - I can't find where I got that info. from.

[maggienetball]

Gardener's World - Monty Don. Spot on too! They did a trial and the results were pretty telling. As a result I didn'rt chit my mains last year and got as good a crop as I have ever done.

[VSS]

pretty standard practise these days.

[Annpan]

so I could have tomato seeds sprouting on my window ledge instead of main crop tatties?


*scuttles off to kick potatoes off of the prime loacation in the house*