seed potatoes

[carrotclare]

My seed potatoes have gone beserk and some of them have really long straight sprouts - approx 20cm.
I assume that I can't cut them shorter because this might damage them.
I am not sure if I can plant them like this? does anyone have any advice?

[crichmond]

dont cut them, plant them as they are it just sounds like they didnt have enough light to chit properly.

[Birdie Wife]

Some of mine did the same, 'twas lack of vigilance on my part - I put them in a cupboard and forgot about them

You need to be very, very careful how you handle the sprouts, they are very delicate and easy to knock off. I planted mine with the sprouts pointing upwards in a deep hole backfilled very carefully, with the top of the sprout just below ground level. I'm hoping I can fool the seed spud into thinking it's just broken through the ground. Dunno if it'll work, but the spud has put a lot of work into growing those shoots and if they can be persuaded to grow, then it won't need to grow more. Cross fingers!

[Getoffmylande]

From past experience i can say that even if you take off the shoots that are long and spindly the potatoes will still grow again.I have my seed tates in the tray in the greenhouse and use a paraffin lamp at night to keep the frost off and fleece on the warmer nights. Only the first and second earlies really need chitting as it is not proven that maincrop potatoes show any benefit for chitting before planting.

[carrotclare]

Thank you for your advice everyone. I did indeed leave them in a dark box in what I thought was a cold place but obviously not dark or cold enough!
My intention was to chit them as I did last year in egg boxes on my dining room table which seemed to work a treat. This year it'll be a different experiment altogether.
fingers crossed!