Chitting in a bucket - spud experiment

[shirlthegirl43]

I decided to plant one of my charlotte spuds without waiting for it to chit. It was planted on 4th Feb in a 10litre bucket with general purpose compost and spud fertiliser and the picture was taken today, with one of the charlotte (bought at the same time and left in a bright spot for chitting) sat on the soil for comparison.

I felt that this might help people who wonder about the gains from chitting.

The bucket has been kept in the house and is sat next to the patio doors for maximum light (due to the recent frosty weather). It will be put in the greenhouse soon as I now know that is frost free.

[veg4681]

BTW thanks for carrying out the experiment and letting us know. Just goes to show that we shouldn't worry too much about chitting then .

[terrier]

I'm chitting my pink firs in buckets of rotted equipoo and leaf mould and they can take their chances

[veg4681]

I'm chitting my pink firs in buckets of rotted equipoo and leaf mould and they can take their chances

I have noticed that Pink Fir doesn't appear to chit well and same goes for Maya Gold, hardly chits. But the experiment surely demonstrates that we don't need to worry too much and besides Pink Fir is main crop tatties.

[Geo]

Taken from the R.H.S. Website....

Although unsprouted tubers can be planted, the chitted ones benefit from their flying start.

Early cultivars will crop earlier and more heavily if chitted. You can help the process by rubbing off all but the four strongest sprouts so that the tuber's energy is diverted into a few really strong shoots that form new potatoes as early as possible.

Second early and maincrop potatoes also benefit from chitting but they don't need thinning of sprouts. Chitting later cultivars results in earlier foliage before blight or drought strike and they mature earlier and can be gathered before slugs damage the tubers.

Geo..

[shirlthegirl43]

Please do note that I only planted one! The rest are still chitting happily.

In all honesty, I planted one to see how early I could get home grown spuds

[HeyWayne]

.....sorry, did you say "chitting" in a bucket?

[shirlthegirl43]

.....sorry, did you say "chitting" in a bucket?

Was Madmax's suggestion for a catchy thread title - wondered who might pick up on it

[HeyWayne]

Was Madmax's suggestion for a catchy thread title - wondered who might pick up on it

Madmax is clearly a man of great humour!

Well done, I like it.

Speaking of humour, and going slightly off thread, I bought myself this T-shirt t'other day: Ringspun Mens Greenfingers T-Shirt Bright Yellow - M and M Direct

I thought it was amusing...

[shirlthegirl43]

Superb!! I like that one Wayne.

[shirlthegirl43]

Well today the shoots made it above the top of the bucket. I have earthed them up with miracle gro compost (coz that's the bag that is open). I am wondering about giving them a bit more of the spud fertilizer stuff. The leaves are opening and the shoots are good and strong - I was worried that they would maybe be a bit weedy as they are growing so fast and so early but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Might plant a couple of the Vales Emerald too.