Potato PANIC!!!

[j r hilton]

I have had my spuds in both a cold greenhouse and also in a cool utility room and they have shown no sign of chitting. I think I will also have to just plant them and hope for the best. Dont know why they have not chitted.

[Eternal Sunshine]

Last year we were in a mad rush as had only just got the allotment & it was nowhere near being ready to plant anything in. Dexterdog gave us some potatoes that someone else had got from B&Q or similar place, that were being thrown away, it was so late in the season. They had chitted themselves in the bags.

We shoved them in the 1st bit of ground we had prepared, and had a fantastic harvest of potates while all the old hands around us were losing theirs to blight. The moral of this story is - they want to grow, just put them in the ground & wait.

[deezyb]

i planted my Jersey Royals and Charlottes today, and although chitted, they're not that chitted if you know what I mean..! Anyway, in to the pots they went. Some of mine were wrinkly...but they'll be fine. From memory, last year's seed potatoes were pretty much the same, and I had a great crop!

[sewer rat]

I will not be chitting my potatoes at all (Lady Christl, Charlotte and Edzell Blue) and I didn't chit last year either and had a great crop. However, some were starting to chit in the bags, but this year as they are being machine planted, I wouldn't expect any sprouts to stay on for long.

[Nicos]

Sally...Dark and warmth make them chit faster ( and long spindly shoots!)
Light and cold slows them down, but produces a more 'robust' type of shoot.
Underground they would have dark and cold ..so somewhere in between...which is fine.
The problems start when the soil ( and therefore the spuds) are too wet...and rot ..so check your soil conditions...everyone's are different!

No- you don't need to cut them up, but some people do, and get a decent crop. I've never done it myself, but would be interested to compare the final yield.
Anyone tried this??...what did you think???

[terrier]

If the ground stays very wet ( my veg patch is flooded yet again)would it be benificial to plant the seed pots in straw and earth up over them?

[gojiberry]

Just in case any one missed it Monty Don is doing an experiment on Gardeners World with chitted and non chitted potatoes and with early, 2nd early and maincrop potatoes. Unfortunatly that wont help anyone at present as we wont know the results till harvesting time.I put my potatoes to chit with mixed results, my self saved charlottes were well chitted but most of the rest hardly anything at all.
I have never cut potatoes up and I think a lot depends on the size of seed. A lot of seed has been small this year and I would not recommend cutting up small seed. T&M suggested sowing closer together on some seed because of their size.

[Eternal Sunshine]

I'm thinking of planting the first of our potatoes today as the weather is quite good here and I'm off work. Our plot is a bit wet but not too bad. I've looked at the 10 day weather forcast and they're saying it'll be a bit colder at night by Tues & Wed next week - down to 1 degree.

Hope I'm doing the right thing.

[allotmentlady]

Good luck eternal sunshine............

[Farmer_Gyles]

cheers all for the advice!

[Sally]

Yes, thanks everyone for your advice and help, I'll leave it a while before I plant them as my plot is almost underwater. If this weather stays ok and I'll be on my way! I just can't wait for everything to start coming up.