plant your potato and eat it

[planetologist]

I've been taking the chits off my potatoes, planted them indoors, and then eaten the potatoes. This is the first year I'm trying it, so I don't know how the plants will do later on, but so far the chits are growing into plants and look happy enough.

[King Carrot]

If you chitted them in light aren't they a tad green to be eaten? I cut my seed spuds up into slices with a shoot on to maximise the amount of seed I can plant but I wouldn't fancy eating them after they've been in the light for a month or so.

[timethatthetaleweretold]

This sounds like a good tip for a serious famine situation.

e.g. Ireland circa. 1850.

Having said that, I have a few rare/unusual potatoes where I wouldn't mind having my cake and eating it next season.
(planted 5 Black Vitolettes and will want to have the maximum to both eat and plant the following year).

Please let us know whether you get a good crop from just planting the chit-sprouts.

[Kristen]

I've got some seed potatoes that were left chitting from last July (left over from Christmas potato bags). They were all shrivelled up by the spring, but the chits were strong. I planted them alongside some new-this-season seed tubers. The last-year ones are very weedy plants compared to the this-year seed tubers. I suspect that your rooted-chits will be the same, as they won't have the "power" behind them from the seed tubers.

[planetologist]

King Carrot, they were chitting in the dark. After chitting in the light I'd think that peeling them would still leave quite a bit to eat.

Kristen, you might be right that I'll need to stay on top of the weeding more, but I think that would be a good price to pay for having the extra potatoes in the hungry gap. Also, because the potatoes started chitting in March, and I won't plant them out for another two weeks, the plants will hopefully be fairly strong by then. Some are already outgrowing their small pots.

[Kristen]

Sorry, I didn't mean that you would have to weed more, but rather than the plants I have are small / puny. I think the ones you are raising from "slips" will be small too, but let us know how it turns out please

[taff]

wasn't this done during ww2? Worked for them

[Kristen]

I think they cut the spuds in two (rather than taking "slips" - if I have understood the O/P correctly)

[taff]

I know from my father that that's what his family used to do, waste of an entire potato otherwise

[Kristen]

Good point!

[zazen999]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ers_33429.html

This is a thread from 2 years ago when I did the same-ish thing...and found tiny potatoes already growing in root trainers

[Kristen]

Do you remember what sort of yield you got zazen?

[planetologist]

I didn't weigh the crop, but I thought it was quite good. They were huge, some more than 1 kg. They were Cara. I'll be doing this again. I planted the first batch out in the middle of April and some got damaged by frost but something like 90% survived and went on to do well.

[zazen999]

Kirsten - I had to dig those up that year. But they seemed to be growing well at the time.

I'm glad you bumped this - I went into my shed yesterday to get a bag of this year's spuds and most of them have sprouted; so as a test I am peeling the sprouted bits off, and planting them up [with no potato attached] and seeing what happens. I'll probably put them in one of my other gardens [not at home] as a school trial.

[Currysniffa]

Interesting as the bag of Charlotte second early's I have in the outhouse have sprouted, It will be interesting to know how it works out Zaz ..