Seed potatoes - long white shoots

[Scottish_Gooner]

Hi all,

This is how my seed potatoes are looking:




Are they salvageable? Do I cut the shoots off or leave as is? Will they still grow?

I'm hoping to plant half of them next weekend, weather permitting.

[RaptorUK]

Hi all,

This is how my seed potatoes are looking:

I'm hoping to plant half of them next weekend, weather permitting.

Wow ! lack of light ? too warm ? or both ?

I would rub them off and put them in the light in a cool (frost free) place . . . then plant when you want to. the alternative is to buy new, but if you want to plant next week you won't have enough time to chit them.

[Alison]

Definitely lack of light. You can still plant them like that but you'll probably knock off a load of them. You actually don't need to chit at all but it us nice to feel you're doing something so I always do.


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[Kristen]

If you want to plant "now" then if it was me I would just plant them very carefully trying not to break the shoots off. They will be very brittle, compared to short, dark-coloured, chits of spuds that were chitted in good light.

If they break off it will delay the harvest a bit, but if your time for planting is restricted them better to get that done rather than rub off the shoots and wait for them to re-chit in good light

You can plant without chitting (e.g. just rub the shoots off) but it will take them longer to be ready to harvest, and wastes the stored energy that has already been used to form those shoots. For maincrop the delay would not matter, for First Early folk usually want them to be ready as early as possible

[solway cropper]

Too long in the dark, poor things.

[Scottish_Gooner]

It was indeed a lack of light and from being too warm.

If I was to cut the white shoots in half, would that cause issues?

Also, is it likely I'll have a reduced yield now?

[Richard Eldritch]

You should get some spuds, but if you can get new seed then I would....

[Kristen]

You should get some spuds, but if you can get new seed then I would....

Will definitely get spuds I don't see any need to buy seed potatoes as they aren't shrivelled up so they have plenty of energy left to create new shoots if necessary - thus it will be OK to just rub off the long white shoots and re-chit them or just plant them.

Once you get to planting time it is better to put the spuds in the ground - almost no advantage chitting them at that point (house temperature for chitting warmer than soil, so some advantage probably) as most of the advantage of chitting them is doing it in the weeks prior to planting date to give them a headstart.

Personally I wouldn't worry about it, I'd put them in trying to be careful not to break the shoots.

[Richard Eldritch]

I think my issue would be the length of time since they broke dormancy. Could that shorten the life of the plant?

[Kristen]

Interesting point, but I don't think so. I had some Autumn Sow seed potatoes that I didn't plant. They were sat on the windowsill chitting until the following spring - they were definitely! all shrivelled up then - I planted them with the new seed potatoes I had bought, and they matured at the same time. So I think time-to-harvest will be from planting - it will be delayed if soil is cold / shortened if soil is warmer, but that's about it I reckon.

(Don't plant the seriously shrivelled ones - the crop was pathetic, by comparison with the brand new ones )

[Richard Eldritch]

Interesting, cheers Kristen.

[Scottish_Gooner]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll plant them and hope they'll do ok.

I'm annoyed with myself for allowing it to happen. I didn't want to start chitting them too soon, and then forgot about them due to a few busy months at work.

Lesson learnt!

[Richard Eldritch]

Are they going in the ground or in pots? If they're going in the ground just cover them gently with multipurpose compost rather than heavy clay soil which could damage it

[Kristen]

Here's what my over-chitted ones looked like when they were planted!



and after they sprouted - very weak shoots



Here's a [same size] container planted with new-season seed potatoes at the same time

[rosiepumpkin]

mine have even longer and thicker white shoots. can i rub shoots off an whap them in the ground then? if so, i'll put one bag in thr ground tomorrow and move the other to the shed where it can wait until late april when the other patch of ground is done for them