Potatoes: Buying, Chitting, Planting, Earthing Up; Harvesting.

Sally_A · 21 January 2011 at 5:40PM

OK chaps and chapesses, spuds can be confusing so here's what I think is a simple breakdown that removes any mystical qualities about the humble yet important spud.

Buying - you should buy your seed spuds by end of Jan, early Feb at the latest.

Chitting - place them in a cardboard tray in a light and frost free place - large north window in house will do (cut a cereal box lengthways, and use mini collars cut from loo rolls to keep them upright or use egg boxes), Mine have been chitting for a week now, so I may be a tad early but it's better than keeping them in bags. Put the potatoes "rose end up", if you look at a seed potato, one end will have more eyes ready for sprouting than the othr (hens egg sized seed spuds are the best, which is why it is better to buy where you can see them, rather than online). Have just recently read the Dig for Victory book that recommended who reckon 2 good strong chits grow the best sized/quantity of spuds.

Planting: From St Patricks Day (17/3), if the ground is warm enough, I will start planting, but if the weather is rubbish, aim to get your spuds in by the end of April. First earlies need at least 12 inches between seed spuds, all others a generous 15". Spuds will happily enjoy a manuring of the trench before you plant them.

Earthing Up: this helps to protect new potatoes from the frost, and also stops sunlight getting to the tubers on thinner soil and turining them green. Think patting sand around a sandcastle, so ensure you leave enough space between rows to be able to get in there with a fork, and hoe up the the plants with loose soil.

Harveting: First earlies can be ready from mid June onwards, best picked after flowering or when the flowers are dying off. With the later ones, sometimes you think you have killed the plant, but all that has happened is the haulm (ie the green bit above the ground) is dying back. Maincrop potatoes can be saved until spring in the right conditions.

Personal Notes: The blackbirds have been singing mating songs around here for the past week, a bit earlier than I would have thought, so am anticipating a warmer spring - If I'm wrong I have no chance of suing the birds

Any questions, feel free to ask, but I can only give you experiences from my area

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Linda32 · 21 January 2011 at 5:52PM

Hi,

Thats a very good post, its helpful and informative. It will be alot os use, I'm sure.

I wonder if it will be /could be made a sticky?

elsien · 21 January 2011 at 6:14PM

What difference (if any) does chitting actually make?
I know you're supposed to do it, but I didn't bother last year and I still seemed to get a reasonable crop from them.

Sally_A · 21 January 2011 at 6:23PM

Chitting is to get them raring away for an early start, the great Alan T says that chitting for maincrops is a waste or space, it's definitely worth getting the 1st earlies and 2nd earlies chitted as these should keep you going to at least September.

I do chit my maincrops, but if I have a great harvet of 1st and 2nd earlies and live off them for a while, I wouldn't notice the difference re the maincrops....but I do know that Sante my preferred maincrop is fairly reistant to all viruses/germs/sniffles out there.

[Deleted User] · 21 January 2011 at 6:56PM

Brilliant Sally. Thank you esp re timings and spacings

RAS · 21 January 2011 at 6:58PM

Alan Romans recommends not chitting and I understand that commercial growers try to avoid seed potatoes sprouting before planting, it prematurely ages the plant.

I suspect it has its origins in the great show bench culture, where yield would be happily sacrificed for fewer larger potatoes offering more chance of a matched set. And with WW11, when the diffulties of tranport meant that the eyes were removed and transported because they did not have the fuel to transport whole spuds.

GreyQueen · 21 January 2011 at 9:47PM

I buy my 2nd early Kestrels in mid Feb and chit in egg cartons on living room floor, which is very warm and light. This gives me lovely, strong sturdy shoots. Plant deeply in mid March and keep a very close eye. Have had them thru in as little as 21 days, despite earthing-up at point of sowing. Gotta watch for the odd fluke mid-May frost blast and make preventative deployments of horti fleece. Harvesting heavy crops first weekend of July, but last year things went on 3 weeks later. Never water the spuds, even when no rain for weeks, as I have a lot of organic matter in the soil and like them to delve deep for the moisture. Usual reaction of lottie neighbours when harvesting is "Bl**dy hell, look at the size of that!" Have had a single spud tip the scale a 1kg and return on weight harvested versus sown is 9-fold. I love my Kestrels, those bouncing violet-eyed beauties.

Fluffysheep38 · 22 January 2011 at 1:01PM

I wonder if someone maybe able to give me some info on potatoes.

Last year I planted in rubble sacks and had good foilage but when I eventually dug up the potatoes most of them were tiny. I decided that it was probably more trouble than it was worth to do them this way again.

I've heard that growing potatoes in the ground improves the soil for further growing.

I have a lawn out my back which I am hoping to turn into a small allotment but am unsure of how to go about it.

If I was to do potatoes in it would it improve the ground. If so, how do I go about starting the process. It's a grassy lawn, but more weedy than grass. It is also quite stony.

I would be grateful for any advice/help anyone has.

Thanks

Sally_A · 22 January 2011 at 1:13PM

Spuds grown on newly converted grass to soil can be susceptible to wireworm.

As for improving the soil, I'm not convinced, I reckon all the digging, compost and earthing up involved is the real benefit.

Mine grown in inside out compost bags last year were tiny, but that could have been me not keeping up with the watering

.

valk_scot · 22 January 2011 at 1:28PM

It's the process of cultivation that improves the ground, as Sally A says. If you did all that without the potatoes the ground would be just as good tbh. And yes, there's the wireworm.

Spuds grown in bags need to be kept well watered and fed regularly. In my experience if you're after a decent crop, ground grown is far more sucessful.

mardatha · 22 January 2011 at 1:32PM

My old neighbour told me when I moved here that we cannot grow earlies, the season here is too short. Does that make sense to anybody ? I didnt like to ask him "why not"? - cos he looked at me like he thought I was an eejit and I didnt want to prove it LOL

Potatoes: Buying, Chitting, Planting, Earthing Up; Harvesting.

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