Am I chitting correctly?

[martynsread]

http://homepage.mac.com/martynsread/PhotoAlbum39.html

Hi, I'm having a go at chitting my first seed potatoes (Pentland Javelin from B&Q). I put them in a seed tray with what I thought was the eyes pointing upwards. Then we had some bad frost and I thought I'd better bring them in, so I put them on a windowsill in the kitchen.

I've been checking them every day, and nothing has seemed to be happening. Yesterday I turned one over to see tiny buds coming out. I thought they came out of the eyes on the top - not out of the bottom?

Have I done it all wrong? I've attached a link to a picture to show you what I'm seeing. Also some of the buds haven't grown and seem black/dark brown. Currently I've got them all turned over now to have the buds facing upwards.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hi MSR, welcome to the Vine! I've not done pots before either, and after intense scrutiny of my seed potatoes I decided to lie them in a big seed tray on an obvious smooth bit where there were no eyes FOR SURE, then when something happened at one end I turned them the right way round.

How long have you had them? My Nadines have only just started to do something after 3 weeks in the tray.



BTW - my cronky old PC won't load your pic

[martynsread]

Hi Hazel,

I've had them about 3-4 weeks I think, and I reckon the buds are just a few days out. So are you saying it's trial and error but when you get a bud then make sure that the bud side's pointing up yes?

Many thanks,

MSR

[shirlthegirl43]

From my limited experience I would say not to worry - the sprouts will appear no matter which way round you have them. When you plant them just make sure that any shoots which have appeared are pointing upwards. Some people say not to bother chitting anyway so it must not make a huge difference.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I suspect that it's a bit more scientific than trial and error, but it works for me! But yes, when you see the bud - point it upwards.

There'll be other grapes along soon to let you know about how long it should take for them to start to sprout, but if the shoots go black, it may be that the frost has had them?

[JennieAtkinson]

Hello Martyn and welcome to the Vine. I would echo Shirley. When they are chitting they will chit wherever they want. Its planting them with the shoots pointing upward that is important.
It also depends on the type of spud you are chitting. My first earlies are well ahead of the salads and the maincrop haven't even started. I have had them indoors in a box in a cold bedroom for about two weeks now. Hope this helps!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Some people say not to bother chitting anyway so it must not make a huge difference.

Good point, Shirl, hadn't thought of that! Not something to get your knickers in a twist over, then!

[Birdie Wife]

Another question re chitting - it's been said that if you rub off extra sprouts when you're about to plant, and leave 2-3, the resulting tubers will be bigger, so far so good. But as chitting artificially ages the tuber by encouraging sprouting and faster growth once in the ground, is it better to rub the extra sprouts off once they start to appear rather than once they are about to go in the ground? That way the tuber doesn't put in extra energy to sprouts that are just going to be rubbed off anyway. Any thoughts?

[Nicos]

Hello there!
I just look at the eyes .....and instead of the eyebrows being above, they should be underneath- rather like bags under the eyes!
...just like they are in your photo!

[Gryfon]

Luckily mine already had nice sprouts when I took them out of the bag

In some varieties chitting helps with the amount of potatoes you get to harvest at the end. Remember watching a Gardener's World program where they planted chitted and unchitted and the chitted won by a long way!

[SueA]

Hi Martyn, took me a while to get to see your pic. but it looked fine. You should chit your potatoes indoors somewhere frost free & you can get the sprouts appearing at either end, you just need to point them the right way up. Usually the end with the most eyes on it will sprout best. Just rub off any which look very black or damaged to prevent them rotting as they may have got caught by the frost when you had them outdoors.

[martynsread]

I am chitting correctly!

Many thanks to everyone for their contributions - what a great forum - just realised you can upload pics onto the forum too - here's my first chitting pics - all the best Mart.

[rustylady]

When chitting potatoes you need to keep them cool but frost-free. To me that means indoors in the back porch. If you let them get frosted they won't grow.

[nick the grief]

Are you chitting comfortably ....

.... then I'll begin

They main reason for chitting is to get them started into growth a bit earlier ( it can be a bit cold in the ground this time of year so they stay dormant). Also when you see howmany shoots there are you can rub some off and it gives you fewer but larger spuds.

As a rough guide there will be the remains of the stalk where they were attached to the mother plant last year & the Eyes are the opposite end but as Alice said you can just turn them over if they are upside down.

The need to be kept some where bright & frost free but not in full sun as they will just dehydrate & shrivel.

As Alice also said it's not a proven fact that it actually makes a difference but if you feel happier about it I think thats the main thing

[Protea]

Another question about chitting....

My first and second earlies are chiting nicely on the windowsill, but i specifically wanted to NOT chit my maincrops and the other half of the second earlies i have, so i spread them out on trays and put them in a dark cool cupboard that i have (as advised on here), just checked them today and they are growing quite a few white shoots which i really don't want - do i?

Not sure what to do - should i bring them out of the dark and onto the windowsill with the others, or keep them in the sark? how to i stop them from chitting until i'm ready to plant them?