To chit or not to chit?

[Laura Hillier]

Hi Everyone,

We have just been thinking about the early jobs in the new season and were wondering, do you chit your potatoes? If you do (or don't) what made you decide that method?

Answers may be edited and published in the March issue of GYO.

Laura

[Bigmallly]

I'm lead to believe that "earlies" benefit from being chitted but it does not matter for maincrop. That's what I do.

[Thelma Sanders]

They arrive early, so I have to store them - so they may as well be chitting til planting time

[Samurailord]

I always chit my potatoes, even though some of the current thinking say that it isn't necessary because I want to give them as much assistance as possible to grow and produce a decent crop for me before the dreaded blight hits.

Andy

[Martin H]

I always chit my potatoes, so I don't know if it helps or not. But I don't see how it can hurt so my reasoning is the same as Thelma's.

[Laura Hillier]

All votes for chitting so far! Do we have any non-chitters?

Laura

[Bill HH]

My name is Bill and I'm a chitter. You know how it is, I fell in with the wrong crowd and they were all chitting, before I knew it I was too. Can't stop now.

[Nicos]

We always used to chit our spuds because that's what all the books told us to do!

Now I will only chit them if I buy them too early to plant because they will chit naturally in the netting bag and then the chits get torn off when you remove the spuds at planting time.

Farmers don't chit- so I suppose there is absolutely no desperate need to do so unless you specifically want fewer , larger potatoes at cropping time.

Will I chit this year??...nope.

[marcofez]

I normally chit all my spuds. So i'm going to try both ways with next seasons, just to see if there is any difference in doing so!

[Sheneval]

I grew potatoes for the first time this year and I chitted beforehand - I had a good crop and chatted whilst they grew so will chit and chat again this coming year

[veggiechicken]

I'm a little chitter too. I spread them out on the spare bed and watch them shoot into life. They're my kind of houseplant - totally fuss-free..

[lottie dolly]

I only chit mine because it was the recognized thing to do,by chitting you can use the strongest looking ones,then double up the others,what i am concidering for 2014 is,sow the first earles without,weather permitting,the idea being,they will take longer to emerge,and that should be a bonus,as the weather is so unpredictable that time of year,

[Penellype]

I usually try to chit mine but sometimes I find the shoots simply don't want to grow. I plant them anyway and have never had any problems. I planted some sarpo axona in July last year and I didn't chit those. They grew very quickly.

[mothhawk]

I only grow earlies as I have no room for main crop. I let mine chit simply because I buy them early to be sure of getting the variety and quality I want, and have to keep them until planting time anyway.

I do wonder about it though. If potatoes are planted without chitting, would they grow shoots and roots at the same time? And would that result in stronger, faster growing plants as the shoots would be 'fed' from the tuber but also be getting fresh nutrients from the roots?

And if potatoes are set to chit, would it be better to set them on damp sand so the tuber can draw moisture up and not shrivel so much as the shoot grows?

[bearded bloke]

I'm fairly sure most of us chit because it is the method most commonly "handed down" by our elders,I'm equally sure that although it gives the plant a head-start it is not strictly necessary.
Dig up a "volunteer" & look at the size of the tuber it is growing from,the bulk will be about an inch in diameter,hence why it was missed at harvest time,also note the depth it has grown from which will almost invariably be deeper than the normal recommended planting depth.