How do you chit potatoes?

[Jade16418]

Iv heard a lot of stories on how chit potato do I keep them ina dark cantanier or have them in a open airy place or have them in water I don't have a clue yes I'm new to the growing veg so any advice on growing anything would be nice iv currently planted indoor at night out in day in fabric moulds for germanation is carrot broccoli perplue sproting sprouts parsnip onions nothing seems to be happening been about a week now when should I see the sproting

[veggiechicken]

Hello Jade and welcome. Its a bit early to be planting outside unless you live somewhere warm!! Could you add your location to your profile please as that will help us answer your questions.
You chit potatoes by spreading them out in a shallow container - like an egg box - and keeping them somewhere light but cool. They don't need watering or to be put in soil. I keep them in a spare bedroom!
Its still too cold for me to put any seedlings outside, even during the day. You should keep your newly sown seeds somewhere warm until they have sprouted, then keep them somewhere light indoors until the weather improves.

[Bren In Pots]

Jade stand them upright in something like an egg box them pop them on a window sill.

just follow what VC says then you won't go wrong

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine Jade, I echo was already been said........Tatties cool........seeds warm.

[binley100]

and light..........
Someone told me that they'd moved their tatties into the dark cos they were going green .......all you get then is long spindly shoots which are not good .
oh and hello from me too.........

[out in the cold]

Sprouting should take place in about 2/3 weeks, depending on what you are growing, how close to optimum temperature the room is.

[Bigmallly]

and light..........
Someone told me that they'd moved their tatties into the dark cos they were going green .......all you get then is long spindly shoots which are not good .
oh and hello from me too.........

That reminds me of something I think it was TS said..........about keeping them in the fridge I believe, would that not affect the chitting process or am I missing something?

[veggiechicken]

I think TS's spuds were saved from the previous year's crop - so kept in the fridge until required for chitting/planting.

[out in the cold]

That reminds me of something I think it was TS said..........about keeping them in the fridge I believe, would that not affect the chitting process or am I missing something?

Although I am a fairly newbie gardener, I kinda understand a lot of the theory (having supervised a number of Biology "please takes" in my time...)

I would have thought that placing them in the fridge would have dropped them below germination temperature range.

[binley100]

I bet farmers don't worry about chitting ........they wouldn't have time or space...

[veggiechicken]

...and all the little chits would be knocked off by the planting machine........

[Aberdeenplotter]

it's not so much that Bins. Commercially grown spuds are machine planted. Any sprouts would get broken whilst rumbling through the machinery

[binley100]

So why do we worry so much then ........

[out in the cold]

I bet farmers don't worry about chitting ........they wouldn't have time or space...

Fair point.

I will ask some of the kids that are from local farms tomorrow (if I remember) how they get around this. I suspect that chitting just increases the chances of proper germination and given that even a large allotment is "small plot" stuff compared to a tatty field, it probably doesn't matter to the farmer if a few plants don't take

[veggiechicken]

Don't we chit in order to gain a bit of time -starting them growing indoors while its too cold for them to be planted out. No other reason?