Where should I put'chitting' seed potatoes

[Snow]

I hope to get mine tomorrow. i think its probably too early to chit unless you have a greenhouse/conservatory.

I'm going to put mine in the garage for a fortnight first, no window, cool but frost free and i expect they wont do much. then into the house by a windowsill in coolest rooms.

[Snadger]

Ont frost free windowsill to chit followed by greenhouse bench later on with piece of polystyrene laminate flooring underlay ready to cover them if frost beckons.At present they are in a drawer in the shed as they are maincrops and don't need chitting yet.

[Dorothy rouse]

Mine are in a light, unheated, spare bedroom, the Earlies are sprouting and the second Earlies are just beginning, Maincrop doing nothing yet. No warmth, but they are in the house, so def not freezing.

[Bren In Pots]

Mines sharing a bedroom with the overwintering chillies and potted on tomato armpits, they're about a foot away from the windowsill nestling in egg boxes.

[GreaterMarrow]

Argh! It's all so confusing!!

[veggiechicken]

Don't worry about it, GreaterMarrow, there's lots of leeway with chitting. Not too cold, not too hot, not too dark, not too bright. If the chits grow too long you can snap them off, if they don't have chits it doesn't matter, plant them anyway.

[Bigmallly]

Don't let it confuse you. If they don't chit, it's no great loss, they will still grow but may take a week or two longer.

[Kristen]

Argh! It's all so confusing!!

The only real issue, as I see it, is what you do with them if you don't chit them.

You can store them somewhere - i.e. dark and cool - and they will sprout (if not immediately then "at some time"; first earlies will tend to sprout sooner / more than mains - the earlies are in more of a hurry, that's how they got their name )

If the stored tubers grow long, brittle & weak, shoots you can break them off, and new ones will grow ... but to my mind that wastes the energy that the tuber has expended growing the shoots, and it has to start new ones, from scratch, which takes a while [compared to not having to regrow them]. That delay is only important for early potatoes - if you aren't in a hurry then a delay of a week or two won't matter, so for Mains its no big deal. We like really REALLY! early New Potatoes - they are expensive in the shops at that time, and we have been waiting all winter for them - so in particular for my First Earlies I want them to get started and get on with it and get them planted.

You can plant them, without chitting them, it makes no difference to the Potato itself. Chitted ones have already started into growth so will be a week or two earlier maturing than non-chitted, but that only really matters for really early First Earlies. A Main Crop will be ready for harvest a bit later ...

So for me it is all about what I would do with them if I didn't chit them, and thus I put them in trays, with the little eyes (where the chits / sprouts will come from) upwards and I put them in the coolest place that is guaranteed frost free. I check them every week or so and throw away any that are rotting (that almost never happens with good quality seed potatoes) and I turn any round if I got them upside-down! - so don't worry if you aren't sure which way up is correct

The ones that I want to plant really REALLY! early, which for me will in mid-February in bags / containers in the conservatory, are being kept in a warmer spot in the house to encourage them to chit - whereas the Mains etc. won't be planted out for ages, so they are in the coolest spot, with decent natural light, that I have.

These were left in the dark, or the bag, too long and have long brittle chits - this is what I am trying to avoid:


This is what I want my chitting Potatoes tubers to look like:

[stevejohnson53]

One of my silly questions !

Whilst potatoes are chitting do you mist / water them or do you just leave them alone? I am just worried about them drying out.

cheers

[Kristen]

If they are somewhere cool they probably won't need any misting, but of course as we go through February towards March things will warm up and the Sun will be stronger ...

Misting them is good, stops the tubers shrivelling so much, but not essential. If you have the time then mist them

[Valleyman]

Mine are currently sat in the North Facing window sill of the kitchen. The thermometer indicates it stays around 10-11C in that location. They seem to be having a lovely time.

Little do they know I have no where near enough pots and places to plant them all.

[Nicola.P]

Mine are in my front room which is about 16 - 18 degrees. Been there a week and all of them have just started to sprout (couple of mm at most) they are green/ purple coloured so seem to be doing ok. I don't have anywhere else to put them that is frost free but they seem to be doing ok.
That said my shop bought potatoes chit themselves in a warm pitch black cupboard when I forget to use them.

[GreaterMarrow]

So...I'm thinking of going to buy some seed potatoes from the garden centre this weekend and try chitting them...then I was going to use a no-dig method I saw on "The Allotment" (an naff old ITV show that I found on YouTube in case you haven't seen it!) - basically you chuck some wet cardboard down, cover it in manure then put black plastic on and grow through that - anyone got any thoughts on this?

If it's a bad idea please tell me because I would rather an honest answer!

The only reason I'm going for this method is because I haven't managed to dig any beds on my new allotment yet because the ground is so hard due to all the frost!

Thanks

I live in the north west by the way, so it's not the warmest area!

[Kristen]

I haven't managed to dig any beds on my new allotment yet because the ground is so hard due to all the frost!

What sort of state was the allotment in when you got it?

If it has been reasonably recently cultivated, and was previously well cultivated (so the soil is in good heart, and not overly compacted) then I think a no-dig method would be fine.

If the ground is rock hard, heavily compacted, and was covered in, say, brambles when you got the plot then I think the new plants will struggle to get their roots down enough to put on even a half decent show, so you might be disappointed at the outcome / crop.

[GreaterMarrow]

What sort of state was the allotment in when you got it?

If it has been reasonably recently cultivated, and was previously well cultivated (so the soil is in good heart, and not overly compacted) then I think a no-dig method would be fine.

If the ground is rock hard, heavily compacted, and was covered in, say, brambles when you got the plot then I think the new plants will struggle to get their roots down enough to put on even a half decent show, so you might be disappointed at the outcome / crop.

Hmm...it wasn't badly overgrown but doesn't look like it has been cultivated in a while as apparently (I was told by the council guy who showed me round) the previous tenant just kept chickens on there and didn't really grow anything.

Thanks for the advice