Tattie confusion!

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi all!

Just a quick question for some of those who are a bit more experienced than us!

I keep reading lots of threads about potatoes and chitting and planting, and was wondering if anyone can simplify the mass of info for me, as I'm just getting more and more confused with every post on the subject!

I understand about chitting your spuds, and that some folks recon it improves yields, whereas others dont think it necessary, and that it is traditional to plant your spuds at Easter, but what I'd really like to know is do you plant all your spud varieties at the same time, First Earlies, Second Earlies, Early Maincrops and Maincrops, or is it necessary or better to stagger their planting?

We've quite a few varieties to try this year, some of which we arent sure as to which cropping they fall into, so are not quite sure how to treat them, so if anyone can help confirm our understanding or give us any info I'd really appreciate it!

The main varieties we are growing in the ground on our second plot are 1 kilo each of :-

First Early - Pentland Javelin
Second Early - Charlottes
Maincrop - Desiree


The trial varieties we are growing (in large buckets) are :-

2 Salad Blue tubers
4 Witch Hill tubers
2 Highland Burgundy Red tubers
2 Mr Little's Yetholhm Gypsy

All of the above trial varieties are from one of the grapes who sent us a wonderful little trial Pack (many thanks CC), but we aren't sure which variety is which and when we need to plant them, so any advice on them would be really appreciated!

Many thanks in advance for any info / help / easing of my confusion!

[Peter]

Suzanne, just shove em in on St Paddy's day and wait for the blight to take them. 2006 was not a good spud year for me.

St Patricks day is a commonly used dividing day for when to plant your spuds. It will not hurt to plant all at the same time, there are two ways to tell when they are ready to lift.
1/. You fancy eating them and dig them up.
2/. The foliage dies off.

One simplistic view is that a new potato is just a potato harvested as early as you can get something worth eating. Nicola and Charlotte for example can be eaten as "new" or maincrop, depending when you dig them.

[nick the grief]

Hi Mrs D.

1st earlies take around 8 - 12 weeks to mature (depending on variety)
2nd earlies 10- 12 weeka
and mains 12 weeks +

so you need to get your maincrop in in plenty of time to ensure that they have time to mature (more of a problem for Jennie in Shetland I guess than you in Partington)

You don't need to get them all in together but if you do hopefully yoor Javelins ( if you pardon the phrase) will finished as your CHarlottes come to fruition. Earlies are really best dug and eaten fresh rather than trying to keep them.

Your Charlies (er sorry I meant Charlottes not anything else that I could see ) make a great tattie salad boil them in their skins then cut into chuncks and mix with some onion & herbs whilst they are still hot then lashings of Mayo

As to your trial varieties

Salad blue are blue
Highlands are red
witch hill are white
and yetholms are all the above I think

[sewer rat]

Evening Mrs D
Some of your tattie info goes as follows
First earlies - can be planted from beginning of March until May - ready to harvest approx 10 to 12 weeks from planting.
Second Earlies - can be planted from March til late May - ready to harvest approx 13 weeks from planting.
Maincrop - can be sub-divided into early and late maincrop but your variety, Desiree is classed as an early maincrop so plant from March til late May ( I would put it in the ground about a fortnight after my second earlies) and should be ready to harvest approx 15 - 17 weeks after planting.

Obviously the above info is pretty general and you should be guided by the local weather and soil conditions.

As for your unusual varieties, sorry but I can't help, but I know they are sold as microplants by various seedhouses and that they (the seedhouses) usually send out growing instructions - might be worth dropping CC a PM to see if she can assist

[sewer rat]

Nick is faster on the keyboard than I

[Mrs Dobby]

Many thanks guys, thats lovely, nice clear instructions that my poor ickle brain can take in, just what the Doctor ordered!

[Alice]

Hello Mrs D, I may be all wrong here and if I am I'm sure others will be along to say so. As I understand it you can plant any potatoes on whatever date suits you as long as you have worked out that the top growth will not be up before your last frost. You can stagger the planting date if you like but this is largely to ensure you stagger your crop and don't have everything ready all at once.
The difference between first earlies, second earlies, mains and late mains, apart from the characteristics of the potato, is largely down to how long it takes them to come to eating size. I think some of the times which have been given are quite optimistic, BUT we all live in different parts of the country.
I would say first and second earlies, tend to have the characteristics of salad potatoes (your Charlottes and the likes) . You can lift them from 10 weeks if you just want wee salad potatoes to 13 weeks + for bigger ones. They are best eaten fresh and don't store well. If that is what you want to eat you can stagger the planting date and just have that variety. But these early potatoes give lighter crops than mains so you have to factor in if the amount of ground you have can give you the amount of potatoes you need on that variety.You can then move on to your maincrops which might take 16 to 20 weeks to be eating size and late mains taking 22 weeks. These varieties are much heavier croppers so you can store some for leaner times.These varieties come with different characteristics, some being specially good for roasting (Rooster) or boiling or chips. And most have good storing properties.
For a late salad potato you can have Pink Fir Apple.(about 22 weeks from planting)
Really what you are trying to do is spread your potato crop over as much of the year as you can, and to do this by working on planting dates and the characteristics of different varieties and their length of time to maturity.
It will all come down to trial and error by you, in your area, but I hope this helps and doesn't complicate the matter further.

[JennieAtkinson]

Well I'll throw a spanner in the works and say we are still eating our stored second earlies!

[Alice]

Brilliant Jennie, but I would say on the whole they don't store well, and in general, likely not to be the same animal as the ones fresh from the ground. Maybe they do better in your cooler conditions.
And MrsD, should also have added, when working out the latest you can plant potatoes, you have to look at when is your first expected frost (dear knows when that is now) because that will cut down your top growth, and count back how many weeks to maturity you need eg 20 weeks for mains, and that is the latest you can plant your potatoes and get them to maturity.
Hope that helps and doesn't confuse the issue.

[Crazy Chickie]

Hi Mrs D, sorry I didn't give you any 'destructions' for your tatties. The dark blue and red spuds are the salad blues n highland burgundys, the white ones are witch hill and the dark purpley are mr littles yetholm's gypsy. Highland burgundy is a maincrop, and they have an inner circle of red flesh which apparently is kept if you steam or fry the tattie. Mr little's is an early maincrop as is the salad blue (its got blue flesh and is supposed to be the healthiest tattie around). And witch hill is a first early. Its gonna be my first time growing n eatting them too as I got them as micro plants last summer. Not too sure about chitting times and if you should chit your earlies before your maincrops, but I was just going to chit them all soon (been meaning to get round to it for about a week now but things keep getting in the way of gardening at the mo)

Enjoy

CC

[Snadger]

Well I'll throw a spanner in the works and say we are still eating our stored second earlies!

Likewise, but they have started to sprout!. My earlies rotted when I mistakenly tried to store them!

[Earthbabe]

We managed to store earlies until about November (apart from the one's in the freezer) and are happily still munching through our desirees which according to my diary I planted in June and dug up in October. We had a great crop and some of them are huge.

Incidentally desirees are supposed to be highly drought tolerant and ours seem to have proved it plus they are superbly scrummy and also make great mash.

[roitelet]

Hi Mrs D, as you have your potatoes just stand them in boxes rose end up. (thats the rounded end that has the most eyes) and they will start to sprout. Put the boxes somewhere light, cool and frost free and they will 'chit'. If you leave them in thir bags they will start to grow anyway but as they are all huddled together the sprouts will go leggy. When you plant them rub out all but 2 of the sprouts, it is supposed to give a heavier crop.

Best of luck

[Geordie]

If it helps, chitting is the premature aging of the seed potato. It may speed things up at the beginning but it also speeds up the onset of senescence and potential yield is reduced.
If the tubers are firm and dormant when you buy them it is possible to make a judgement about how many to speed up.
If you also encourage apical dominance after chitting by removing all side shoots and just leaving the rose-end sprouts; fewer but larger tubers will be produced.
If you leave the tubers with all the shoots sprouted and plant them on their sides, more numerous but smaller tubers will result.

The main factor is not really chitting but the temperature of the soil when planting the seed potatoes, this has a greater difference.

[Mrs Dobby]

Wow, thanks all for the info and advice, I may now even be able to work out what we are doing lol!

We've set the tatties to chit in separate sections of egg boxes, upstairs in our loft conversion, in the window, its fairly light, but cold up there as there's no heating, yet frost free as its indside so it should be just the right place!