Chitting potatoes

[Gardeners Delight]

I have just bought a couple of small bags of potato tubers, but have read conflicting advice about 'chitting ' them any suggestionsThanks in advance, this is all new to me my first year on the allotment

[nick the grief]

Hi GD,

I'm sure Geordie wil give you the full answer as he's our Gandalf the greypvine The theory is that it gets them going before you plant them. If read that some people spray them with a weak feed of Maxicrop (seaweed feed) to help the shoots grow nice and Healthy, other people rub some of the shoots of to reduce the number of tubers to get bigger ones and then again I know some people that just buy them and bung them in!

I always start mine off somewhere light but out of the sun (it might shrivel your shoots (always painfull ) they don't need heat but I try and keep them frost free. A window in the shed would be good.

Hope this helps.

[Nicos]

Egg trays or boxes are easy to put them in with 'smiles' below the eyes. Leave in light or dark...everyone suggests differently(!) until the time for planting. If your chitting place is light and warm , they will be ready sooner than a cool dark place.They would also be more more frost tender.We leave ours in the summerhouse..frost free, with light..and only get about 1/2 ins chitting before planting,but they always do well. 1 ins is the recommended length. Frost free is the main thing!
Chitting just produces spuds about a week earlier. If you lived further North then this may be more important to you,but if you just want spuds then stick them in the well manured ground once they have chitted,so long as there is not a severe frost forcast and the ground is not very wet/sticky (or too dry!!!-french ex-pats take note!!) You can start chitting as soon as the spuds arrive. Remember..it's hard to kill a spud..just keep it frost free. Enjoy your new allotment....best thing we ever did!!!

[Geordie]

Hi GD,

Thanks Nick (I think!)

Unpack and lay the tubers out in a single layer in a tray with the 'rose' end uppermost. This end has the most eyes or buds and sprouts will arise from these. Some suppliers offer 'pre-chitted' seed.

Keep the trays of tubers in a cool but frost-free place with at least moderate light, such as in an unheated room. Direct sunlight is best avoided. Sprouts will form within a few weeks. The tuber is therefore ready to grow away as soon as planted. Tubers can be laid out to chit from January onwards, but planting should be delayed until March in sheltered and southern areas or April in less favoured districts. Earlier plantings can rot in the ground or the shoots can be frosted off on sharp nights. By this time the sprouts should be about 5cm (2in) long and dark coloured. Longer thinner sprouts are caused by excess heat or too little light or both, and tiny sprouts suggest conditions are too cold.
If the weather is unsuitable for planting, tubers can be left to chit further, even into May, without too much loss of crop.

Although unsprouted tubers can be planted, the chitted ones benefit from their flying start. Early cultivars will crop earlier and more heavily if chitted. You can help the process by rubbing off all but the four strongest sprouts so that the tuber's energy is diverted into a few really strong shoots that form new potatoes as early as possible. Second early and maincrop potatoes also benefit from chitting but they don't need thinning of sprouts. Chitting later cultivars results in earlier foliage before blight or drought strike and they mature earlier and can be gathered before slugs damage the tubers.

For those of you that dont or perhaps cant dig in potatoes in the normal way here is my guide for you....

Spread well rotted manure or garden compost on the ground at the rate of a barrowload of manure, or two of compost, per 10 sq m (11sq yd). If you have neither manure nor compost, use a proprietary brand of bagged manure or an organic fertiliser instead.

Place seed potatoes on the soil surface at the usual spacing - in rows 20cm x 75cm (8in x 30in) for earlies, and a little further apart for main crop. If you're growing in a bed system space evenly at 30cm (12in) apart for earlies and 35cm (14in) for maincrop. Cover each row with a few inches of hay or old straw. Mark the rows or leave a bare path between them so that you don't tread on the tubers before they come through.

As the potatoes start to emerge, some of them will push the mulch up instead of growing through it - give them a helping hand! Continue to top up the mulch as the shoots grow. Cover the whole area, including the paths.

When the mulch is about 15cm(6in) thick and the plants are growing strongly, cover the mulch with a thick layer of grass mowings. This excludes light - stopping the potatoes from turning green - and helps to hold the mulch down. You can top this up as needed, provided you allow the first layer of mowings to dry off before applying a second.

Slugs are no more of a problem with this method than any other. Blackbirds can be a bit of a nuisance as they pull the mulch about.

I think I should get ahead of myself and prepare a "how to" guide for the next veg that will be most often enquired.....my guess would be tomatoes.

[Berr]

A dose of the chitters.

Geordie,
Thank you for another very helpful article. I've never grown spuds before but I bought some first earlies from the GC a few days ago. I've left them in the boot of my car protected from frost. There are two concerns that I'd be grateful for your advice on. I intend to plant them in tubs in mid-April (central Scotland) but I see that they've already begun to chit. Surely the shoots would be far too long by planting time- eleven weeks away. How can I stop them chitting themselves to death? The other matter is about planting medium. I'm blessed with huge quantities of old horse manure. In your valuable essay on composting you describe old horse dung as being like tobacco. That is exactly what this stuff is like. Can I plant them in this material and nothing else, i.e. no soil? Also, when I've made my raised beds in the polytunnel would filling them with nothing but this stuff be a good idea for general veg. growing?

[Patsy]

I tried the no-dig method you describe Geordie, on a patch of ground that wasn't suitable for much else, but ended up with tiny potatoes riddled with little black slugs. As I don't use slug pellets I don't see how I can succeed at this method yet I originally got the growing information from the HDRA website. Any ideas? One of the chaps on our allotments says he uses a bulb planter to take out a core of earth, pops in a seed potato (and a slug pellet or two!) and sticks the core back in. He certainly gets a good crop but I imagine if I try that one without the pellets I'll still end up with the little black slugs?

[Geordie]

Hi Patsy,

I would try a slug resistant variety in your case, Charlotte,Kestrel, Nicola, Osprey or Wilja are all supposed to have some resistance.

Berr, the length of the shoot is determined by the temperature the potato chits at. The cooler the temp the slower the rate of chitting and visa versa. It is not uncommon to have a shoot of 2 inches when planting out your potatos. As for the growing medium, I would aim for a 50/50 split between manure and soil. If using all manure whilst it should work it may be prone to drying out and tends to bind in layers. I know that I have had the odd 'stray' potato grow in the compost heap which has always produced a reasonable crop.....maybe it would be worth trialling one or two just as a comparison and then you would know for next year.

For the raised beds, manure would not provide the necessary mix of nutrients needed for the various veg I imagine you want to grow, so I would have 3 layers - soil at the botom, then manure then a top layer of soil.

[Berr]

Geordie,

Thank you, that's very helpful.

Berr.

[nick the grief]

Told you Gandalf sorry Geordie would come up trumps ... or chits in this case.

It just goes to show, no matter how daft you think the question is always ask, thay way you won't get disheartened and you will remain an allotmenteer or veg gardener. then when you meet someone new you can pass on the advice and they will think your as clever as geordie.

[Jaxom]

I think I should get ahead of myself and prepare a "how to" guide for the next veg that will be most often enquired.....my guess would be tomatoes.

Geordie. This would be a fantastic idea As I will be growing a number of tomatoes this year, I welcome any advice you can give.
Each time you write a piece for the Grapevine I always find it to be comprehensive and easy to understand.
Jax

[nick the grief]

Hi GD,

.....my guess would be tomatoes.

I'd be interested how you grow your pot leeks. I grow some mammoth pot leeks from seed each year but not for show, they sem to stand well and offer me an alternative to the Musselburgh.

[fruit&vegvirgin]

geordie, are you married? if not, why not?!!! no, seriously, I just read through all this and realised that my allegedly chitting potatoes were upside down. having put them the right way up, I can see they might do someting...

[JennieAtkinson]

Geordie - did you post a "how to" for tomatoes?? Having just got my seed potatoes this was all great advice. Thanks again

[Geordie]

Not yet Jennie, will try and compile one this weekend

[ShazzaB]

Newbie Potato Grower

Hi im sorry, I feel a bit stupid asking this..., I have read all the instructions provided and there is one thing I am still not sure of.....which way up do I plant my chitted potatoes?? Do i plant them so that the green stem is up or down?

Am sorry for appearing daft but I just cant get my head round it.

Thanks in advance for your help.