Chitting Hell

**WendyC** · 18-02-2015, 09:02 AM

Potatoes look fine to me. As to when you should plant them that would depend on where you are, the conditions at the time and what variety they are. Adding your location to your profile would answer that one. As an example I am in Sussex and I generally start planting in the third week of March through to mid April. If the foliage gets frosted it can really set them back, and we can get frosts into the third week in May.

**Nicos** · 18-02-2015, 09:09 AM

Yep, they look fine!
You'll probably find they may go a bit wrinkly between now and planting out....but that too is fine

As Wendy says...planting out depends on your location and your last predicted frost date.

**Thelma Sanders** · 18-02-2015, 09:09 AM

That sounds about right to me, but I'm in the SE

**arpoet** · 18-02-2015, 09:17 AM

A couple of years ago on beechgrove they gave a tip that if the tuber was very dry and wrinkly, dip em in water before planting out.

**Lawa** · 18-02-2015, 09:24 AM

These are my first earlies arran pilotes.

My 2nds havnt really done to much yet.

I live in the west midlands and these will be going in bags and buckets! I have a cold frame as well.

**Bigmallly** · 18-02-2015, 10:05 AM

You can also if you have the space, cut the potato into sections so you have a couple of chits on each piece. This should increase your yield.

**Guest** · 18-02-2015, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by Bigmallly View Post

You can also if you have the space, cut the potato into sections so you have a couple of chits on each piece. This should increase your yield.

TY BM I forgot that fact. Hopefully I will remember when I go to plant mine out

**Kristen** · 18-02-2015, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by Lawa View Post

This is my first time chitting can you tell me if these look ok?

Looks fine. As long as the chit is short, stubby, coloured rather than white, they are fine.

Your chits are getting quite long, that might mean they are being kept somewhere warmer than they need to be ... but at all costs they must have some light, and be frost free. Other than that the cooler the better.

If you are worried about them getting wrinkled then spray them with water once a day.

And when should I be looking to put these in.

The sooner you plant them the more chance there is that the tops will be up and need protecting from late frosts, and the more times you will have to do that ..

I now plant my really early Spuds in bags / containers and grow them in the garage until the sprouts are above the top of the compost, and then move them to conservatory (frost free) and later to greenhouse. That way the ones that I plant outside are late enough that I rarely have frosts late enough that they need protecting.

If you can't do some in containers then I would plant in stages. Say 1/4 each week for 4 weeks. That will spread the harvesting time, and will mean you have fewer that are "ahead" to protect if there is a frost.

Depends, a bit, on how many seed potatoes you have ... if you have loads I would spread the planing times, if only a few then probably more important that you have a decent, early, crop of lovely New Potatoes when they are expensive in the shops and your own will taste much better for being freshly harvested before cooking

**Lawa** · 18-02-2015, 10:38 AM

Thanks I am planning on doing in pags and morisons buckets.

They are in my utility that has bno heating but the tuble dryer in their. Next to the window. all the chits are dark purple / green. I have a fair amount of seeds so planning on staggering them at weekley intervals. i may have a go with one or two in some buckets they can go in a garage at night to protect from forst and out in the day?

**Aberdeenplotter** · 18-02-2015, 11:05 AM

Originally posted by WendyC View Post

Potatoes look fine to me. As to when you should plant them that would depend on where you are, the conditions at the time and what variety they are. Adding your location to your profile would answer that one. As an example I am in Sussex and I generally start planting in the third week of March through to mid April. If the foliage gets frosted it can really set them back, and we can get frosts into the third week in May.

and up here, we can get frosts in early June. I normally plant around 20th April. That was my Dad's ideal date and I follow his example.

**Penellype** · 18-02-2015, 07:55 PM

To give you some idea of how long potatoes take to produce greenery, which may then be damaged by frost, this is what I did last year in York. All plantings were in the garage to start with unless indicated otherwise.

5 March Pentland Javelin (early) planted in bag - foliage visible by 14 April
27 March Pentland Javelin planted in bags - foliage visible 21 April (note the shorter growing time)
both these bags were earthed up to the top and foliage reappeared on 23rd and 26th April, when the bags were moved outside, needing frost protection.
14 March Charlotte (2nd early) planted in a dustbin inside an old wooden compost bin, very well insulated by other containers. Planted about 2ft deep and the lid was put on the bin. Leaves appeared by 29 April.
25 March Charlotte planted in an old water butt next to the dustbin, again about 2ft deep. Foliage appeared by 29 April.
31 March Desiree (maincrop) planted in bags. Foliage visible and ready to move outside by 19 -23 April.
12 April Sarpo Mira (maincrop) planted outside in raised bed. Foliage visible by 7th May.
In a very warm spring I got away with hardly having to protect the plants at all, but I keep a large amount of fleece and bubble wrap for that purpose if necessary. So far I haven't had any plants damaged using this method. In the cold spring of 2013 I waited until early April to plant the potatoes and the foliage appeared by the start of May.

**KevinM67** · 18-02-2015, 08:09 PM

Good post Penellype !!!

**Penellype** · 18-02-2015, 09:16 PM

Originally posted by KevinM67 View Post

Good post Penellype !!!

Thanks! I try to keep a note of everything that happens to my veggies so I know what not to do next time. it is becoming something of a challenge as the number of types of seed I have seems to be increasing at an alarming rate!

**Lawa** · 19-02-2015, 08:09 AM

Thats great thank you I think I am going to have an experiment and see what happens

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