Chitting and planting potatoes

[jonohanson]

As I will not be having much space left for the spuds this year I have decided to use the pop up garden waste bags, I think they are £3 from wilkos, and do the job great.

[Naga]

I never thought of the bags rotting, which is a shame because they seemed quite ideal. I would plant them in the ground but I've still got to sort the garden which out will be next month.... putting a black in bag inside is quite a good idea but I think I'll pop in to Wilkies and see what I can pick up.

In fact I could of swore I saw some bright coloured rubberish round tubs for garden waste, only small, I would guess 10-20L and they were were from the pound shop, so I will pop back in to town tomorrow and see what I can pick up, thanks for your input everyone!!

[adjohnson1971]

Yet another potato question!!!!!

Have just bought an early potato growing kit, 3 "bags" for growing, 5 seed potatos of swift, charlotte and maris peer. The intention is to grow them in an unheated greenhouse. I bought my father in law the same kit in early january and the swift had some nice looking chits on them. Anyway my kit turned up yesterday but the spuds were "chitless" Its claimed that i can have spuds in 7 weeks!!! Is this likely or will i just have to chit them and wait a bit longer???

[Geordie]

indeed you will, swift and rocket are capable of producing potatoes in 7 weeks....though you may want to leave some a little longer depending on the size of potatoes you want to eat.

[Eyren]

My seed potatoes, bought three weeks ago and kept cool, only have the barest hint of chits right now - if yours have been kept in cold storage, they are probably just dormant. Don't worry - once tatties get going, they put on growth like you wouldn't believe!

P.S. All the studies suggest that chitting doesn't actually affect the yield - as far as I can tell it's just a fun way of checking that your potatoes are ready to plant

[Two_Sheds]

Chitting is done to get your spuds growing a little earlier .. it's the same principle as starting seeds off on your windowsill while it's still too cold outside.

It doesn't increase yield

[-pat m]

Chitting disaster Help please?

I have just planted my first earlies in the poly tunnel and have gone to get my next spuds for chitting and someone has moved them to a dark cupboard! The sprouts are up to 6 cm long!! What do I do? Bin them? Plant them now? Break them off?
Regards
Pat

[shirlthegirl43]

I would rub half the sprouts off and see if more come. Or bung them in as they are.

[Digger-07]

I would suggest you put them in somewhere cool with good light until you are ready to plant them. If you rub the sprouts off they will not sprout again from that eye. Plant them as soon as you can.

[TonyF]

Bought mine yesterday, interesting none of the 'regular' Uk varieties, except perhaps Charlotte, buying the varieties that the locals grow this year to see what happens.

Interestingly, no need to save boxes because here I buy them in open wooden seed trays, like small veggie boxes from the markets, so no need for egg boxes, come all ready to chit.

And for the seed spubs in bage, get a big tray from the local supermarket, where they give them away as part of their recycling effort, so no need for eggy boxes for them either.

It's often only the smaller things that make a difference here but it's a rural and agricultural based society, nothing gets thrown away until it's wholly unrepairable, interesting contrasts, even for domestic gardeners.

[Jameslovell]

Some of my chits are green and some are darker almost black. Do different varieties chit different colours? Also some are becoming soft. Should I be concerned about either of these? There are some pics attached to help explain what I mean about the colours.

[tattieman]

Don't worry about the different colours that is what happens with different varieties.
Some will go soft as they will be drying out but they will still grow ok.

[Jameslovell]

Thats good. Thanks for the info tattieman.
Was starting to worry that I was doing something wrong or not doing something.

[-pat m]

I’m gonna throw my monster chatted potato’s in tomorrow; Panic over
Thanks
Pat

[selfraising]

Panic!! I got my seed potatoes in early January and put them straight into the shed for chitting, wondering if that was too early. I have checked today and still no shoots. Am I being impatient or should I bring them indoors and see if that works?