Chitting and planting potatoes

[Emmylou]

It's confusing because you're thinking too hard.

Just put them in the ground.

You only chit earlies to get them off to a flying start.

Earlies mature quicker than mains. So they are ready earlier.

Yes, thats the conclusion I came to!!
Thanks

[zazen999]

I've merged a few threads....as there's lots of spud questions at the moment.

Enjoy.

[selfraising]

I was lazy I planted mine straight in the ground in the tunnel without chitting, think of pulling them up to chit


marion

Mine went in too without chitting as I had waited since January

[coreopsis]

Both of mine are main(Desiree and Pink Fir Apple).There were in the bag I bought them,I had a look yesterday and they started to chit themselves.I won't put them into the ground before April.

[raine]

spuds

help! have just found some first earlies that i forgot about and now they have all chits of about one and a half cm. what should i do about it- plant as they are, rub some off,or trim then down

[rob the roller]

Spuds

You can use them as they are, but be careful. Suggest making a bigger hole than usual in the bed and partially filling it with compost, then lay the chitted seeds carefully in the compost, then cover carefully with more compost. A bit expensive on the compost but should get you off to a good start.

[zazen999]

Plant them as is.

[raine]

many thanks!

[Iamhanuman]

Iamhanuman - it's only one week, so unless there's a pressing reason why you can't plant them next weekend, why not mix the compost now and wait until then? You're going to have to learn a bit of patience if you want to be a good gardener

I know I require more patience! I just know some don't use fertiliser at all at the beginning stage, and also Tattieman sprinkles it straight into the soil on his vid, plus I really was eager to get a start tomorrow

The spud's will not take up the fertilizer straight away so plant your spud's and mix some fertilizer and when the spud is ready to feed it will be there for it nothing to worry about ....jacob

thanks Jacob for that - guess that is what i will do

[tattieman]

Iamhanuman you can mix your fertilizer and compost together and add your potatoes straight away. I know you can't see in the video but I sprinkled my fertilizer around all of the potatoes as it is slow release pelleted fertilizer I was using.

[Iamhanuman]

Iamhanuman you can mix your fertilizer and compost together and add your potatoes straight away. I know you can't see in the video but I sprinkled my fertilizer around all of the potatoes as it is slow release pelleted fertilizer I was using.

I did actually see and after reading the box properly and realising it was the same stuff, that is what I did! Many thanks again for great information!!!

-------
And today, Potato Planting Day Cometh, at long last.

Have I been waiting a long time for this? Ummm yes!

From the far off days of the Dobies catalogue, through the chitting, to the preparation of the rubble sacks... finally the tatties are in!

But guess who planted last?
Well, Son did me proud. I can now say that he planted potatoes before his old dad ever did.
He took them out of the chitting tray, popped them in a cullender, carried them outside, chose his rubbles sacks, pushed them in shoots facing up, scattered fertiliser (potato food) and then scooped up compost and covered them up, finishing off with a nice patting down!

I cannot believe he is TWO YEARS OLD!!!

So that was the Epicures - 1st Earlies.

Then Darling Wife came back from Confessions of a Shopaholic and planted the Edzell Blues - 2nd Earlies, which say to put out in April, but hey i'm doing the lot here on Tattieman's advice (and who better) then finally at about 11:30 creeping around in the garden, dear old me goes out to stick the Roosters in for me main crop!

Luvverly!!!!

Me I am happy. It is an experiment and I can't wait to see what happens in a week.

Phew, well i'm off to climb under a big shamrock and wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's day morning after and not too many hangovers.

Tara!!!

[tattieman]

Hope it all goes well for you Iamhanuman. We got frost here last night so the ones I did in the video are out in the greenhouse. Glad they weren't watered.

[Iamhanuman]

it's still getting very cold here and the occasional frost, but i am going to keep covering them up i think - seems best

[windowsillqueen]

Can't I just plant the spuds that have sprouted in my cupboard?

OK - this may be a daft question but everytime I buy potatoes a couple at least end up 'chitting'. Can't I just chit some of the spuds I just bought at Aldi and plant them? They're nice little ones - not sure of the type. I don't particularly want to make another trip to Stax for seed potatoes....

I'm sure Jamie Oliver said you could just whack a potato in the ground and you'd then have loads!! Thought it sounded a bit too simple at the time.....

[Nicos]

In theory- yes!

In practice...some eating potatoes have been sprayed with growth inhibitor and may not do as well as seed potatoes.
They also won't have been sprayed against certain ailments- so you may actually be introducing blight spores ( for eg) onto your land.