Speed of Charlotte potatoes from planting

[fishpond]

I was in a bit of a rush when I managed to get a bag of Charlotte potatoes.
The bed was already dug so straight in the ground out of the bag--no chitting.
Most are now showing exactly 31 days after planting 6" deep.
Somebody please remind me why we chit.
Just remembered there was no signs of life-no buds, shoots ---nuthin!

[Baldy]

Summat to do...

[BUFFS]

I have never tried chitting, never saw the point of it unless you want to speed up cropping. My charlottes went in 5-6 weeks ago and today I topped up the compost as they were all up and showing, so except for watering that's me tatties all done.....

[vixylix]

It makes you feel like you're growing something in late feb when you can't do anything else

[Alison]

It's also a good way of controlling the sprouting while you're waiting to plant them. Where I live I find it's best not to plant until mid April and I normally buy my seed spuds in January. I don't have anywhere cool enough to keep them dormant and if I just store them they'll form long, weak shoots which will get damaged in transit. By chitting I can control this and ensure stubby growth.

[sparrow100]

Some varieties need chitting to break their otherwise long dormancy. The Savari Trust says that many of their varieties should be chitted because otherwise our season is too short to get the best yield from them - they are bred to be very hardy and that hardiness includes a long dormancy.

As for Charlottes, and first earlies, I chit because what else am I going to do with 3kg of seed spuds in early Feb? Plus it warns the OH that everything is about to become covered with compost.

[Lumpy]

Chitting is because the estate agents have a secret plan to make growers want bigger window sills.

After the spuds, toms, peppers blah blah blah most people forgo any privacy via nets or blinds so..................

[Muddy_Boots]

From various internet places:

Why Do You Chit Potatoes?

The reason for chitting potatoes is that you start the growing process off before planting your seed potatoes, so once you do plant them out in the soil, you’ve given them a head start. In an ideal world, this also means that you will get an earlier harvest, and a slightly better crop as well.

Once you have bought your seed potatoes the question is whether or not you need to chit them and this is a question that has been long debated. We at Suttons believe it to be vital with first early and second early varieties and still a good idea, although not essential, with main crop varieties.


One of the first jobs of the gardening year is to chit your potatoes - that is, encouraging your potatoes to sprout before planting.

Why do it? Because it makes them grow more quickly, and as a result, you'll end up up with a bigger harvest.

Hope that lot helps.