to chit, or not to chit

[adamhartree]

hi all, there is curantly a debate going on, on our allotment about weather it is worth chitting potatoes. most people are saying yes it is best to but some people say they dont see the different. just wondering what your views are about this.
happy growing

[The Large One]

all iv'e read recently says reasearch shows seconds and main non chit tend to catch up with their chitted equivelent so i'm not bothering but earlies can benefit from it so i chitted mine for 4 weeks before planting them out last weekend

[Two_Sheds]

I was looking for the Gardeners World chitting trial and found this:

They used two varieties of each Early, Second Early, and Maincrop, and chitted half of each batch.
They were all planted at the same time.
Each batch was then weighed and assessed. Maincrop - virtually no difference between the chitted and unchitted batches. Second Earlies the chitted performed about 20% better; with First Earlies the chitted were about 55% better

(I can't find the original trial results though)

[zazen999]

What else are you gonna do with potatoes between getting them [Jan/Feb] and planting them [17th March]?

[Kristen]

What else are you gonna do with potatoes between getting them [Jan/Feb] and planting them [17th March]?

Quite! That would be my question too. If they have travelled to you directly from cold storage and you put them in the fridge (is yours big enough? ) then they will stay dormant.

If they've been in the warm in the garden centre or your home for a bit whilst you were thinking about what to do next (I'm speaking of myself here!) then dormancy is broken, and they are are going to sprout.

You could put them in a dark place, and rub off the over-long chits when you plant them, but that will waste the energy that went into producing them ... less left for the re-chits that will have to form.

So I draw the conclusion that they might as well be in a tray, eyes-upwards, in a well lit but cool place. I think it brings forward cropping date for earlies, but I'm not really bothered if it makes any difference to Mains, or not.

[Nicos]

Wot Zaz says......I just store mine the right way up so the chitting is controlled- rather than having to spend ages carefully cutting the net bag they arrived in to release the self-chitted spuds undamaged!

One year I decided to wait til March before buying my spuds of choice to avoid having to do just that- could I find the varieties I wanted????

[Shadylane]

Same here, all three types arrive together so they all get chitted together, whether it makes a difference or not. Obviously if you buy them separately then you can get your mains closer to the time they need to go out and just bung em in.

[Potstubsdustbins]

All mine are in egg boxes on the window sill. I have always chitted my seed working on the principle it can do no harm and may well do some good and like Zazan says what else you going to do with them.

Colin

[Florence Fennel]

I am chitting for the first time as I was disappointed with the yield of first earlies last year that were container grown. I'm also (with advice and encouragement from other grapes) trying taters in the ground for the first time as well as in the potato planters.

[Pies]

i just store all mine on the bedroom windowsill