Potato Chit Test !!

[veggiechicken]

Here are some photos of 5 varieties of spuds at different stages of chitting - on the kitchen table this morning.
What advice would you give to newbies about keeping/rubbing off/planting out these spuds?

[Kirk]

Advice: Stick them in the ground.
More important things then "To chit or not to chit".
Like I need another coffee and a biscuit or three would be nice.
Run out of Malted Milk, have to be Ginger Snaps.

If they hadn't started chitting and were firm my advice would have been Chips .

[rustylady]

Just out of curiosity, what variety are the spuds second from right with the numerous little shoots?

[veggiechicken]

Anya - from a bag of supermarket spuds

[Bill HH]

I think the anya need a shampoo and set, the rest i would plant as is.

[Aberdeenplotter]

From the left , first set leave as is, next set, I'd be inclined to rub off as there is still a long time to planting time(I'd leave if planting was imminent.) next set and the end set are fine although you might want to remove some of the sprouts to get less but bigger spuds.

The Anya I would bin.

[Alison]

From the left , first set leave as is, next set, I'd be inclined to rub off as there is still a long time to planting time(I'd leave if planting was imminent.) next set and the end set are fine although you might want to remove some of the sprouts to get less but bigger spuds.

The Anya I would bin.

I'd agree with this. Even if are giving them protection it's still too early really to plant out. I've just started chitting my earlies for planting in the polytunnel in a few weeks time. If I planted them out now they'd only be sat in cold and wet soil.


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[Hazel at the Hill]

Anya - from a bag of supermarket spuds

Are you sure that you don't have some stray cress seeds in there?? Looks like a Grow Mr Potato Head's Hair thing to me.

[mothhawk]

...although you might want to remove some of the sprouts to get less but bigger spuds.

This bit of wisdom always confuses me. Since all the shoots are growing from the same potato, how can removing some shoots make that potato produce fewer new spuds? I can see that if there were fewer spuds the chances are they would be bigger, but I don't see how removing potential top growth, which is the powerhouse of the plant, will make less crop.

[Aberdeenplotter]

The powerhouse is actually the nutrients available in the immediate vicinity in the soil. If there are a large number of stems and remember potatoes are stem tubers,(Tuber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) they will exhaust the available nutrients before growing to full size.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I should maybe also have said that by removing chits/sprouts, I mean gouge or cut them out, theresult of which is that top and bottom growth is reduced

[Bigmallly]

Give the Anyas a club & enter them in Wacky Races.............The Anya Boulder Mobile.............

[mothhawk]

The powerhouse is actually the nutrients available in the immediate vicinity in the soil. If there are a large number of stems and remember potatoes are stem tubers,(Tuber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) they will exhaust the available nutrients before growing to full size.

Ahh, gotcha, AP. The potatoes form from the base of the stems, so less stems equals less places for them to grow from so less tubers overall. Clear at last, thanks for the link.

[veggiechicken]

Give the Anyas a club & enter them in Wacky Races.............The Anya Boulder Mobile.............

I thought Anya was Cousin It

[mothhawk]

So what's the optimum number of shoots to leave for maximum crop? Or if you left them all would you still get the same weight of crop, but with more, but smaller tubers?

I only grow earlies and have never considered this before, my spuds wait on the windowsill till the weather's right, then get planted as they are with all the shoots they've chitted.

Another question - if you cut a potato in half to give 2 pieces both with chits, will they produce more, less or equal to what they would have done if left whole?

(Who knew there could be so many potential decisions about spud planting?)