when to plant potatos

mrs_moneyspinner

I have just received my mail order charlotte potatos and there are no instructions on when to plant ... March? does anyone know please? Also, I thought a few grow bags might be better than my heavy soil - what do you think?

roywra

You can set them to "chit" so that they will have short growth on them when you plant them in late March / April about 12" apart, 2'6" between the rows in well prepared ground. If the tops grow above ground you need to draw soil up to cover them and protect them from frost.

Chitting is setting the seed potatoes on end with the eyes (or the end with most eyes) upwards in a cool, frost free, light room. Store them in a cool place until you chit them so that they don't start to grow. I would think that a 2 or 3 week chitting period would be enough

Hope this helps!

mhlldt

This site is pretty explicit
http://www.wcf-phoenix.co.uk/Web/Site/home/March.asp
It seems that different potatoes should be planted at different times !! Had a look because I am wanting to plant some myself - and the site does say they can be "chitted" in Jan/Feb.
Good luck

Biggles

mhlldt wrote: »

the site does say they can be "chitted" in Jan/Feb.
Good luck

It does, but I think that would be for the potatoes they suggest that you plant in pots to 'get an early start'.

If you're planting outside, you wouldn't want to start chitting much before the end of Feb/beginning March or the shoots will get too long by the time the frost is gone.

nodwah

I heard Bob Flowerdew saying to try planting some early spuds now and you'll get a crop a few week earlier next year. It's worth a go because I always have spuds sprouting from any that have been left in the ground the previous year - in fact i got a good crop of pink fir apple from what must've been wee tiny ones that were unpicked - gardening sacrelige I know

HampshireSeagulls

Growbags are not a good idea - too shallow. Best to plant them in buckets, you can add earth to keep the tubers covered that way. Even with an allotment, I still have buckets in the garden, and also at the school where I work - the children love to see them growing!

As everyone says above - chit them now, plant them in March.

mrs_moneyspinner

Hampshire Seagulls - I was thinking of using the grow bags upended like a sack - what do you think?

ndh_uk

Charlotte is a salad potato, so you are not after massive potatoes size wise.

If you have a greenhouse or conservatory then you could get a way with planting them in grow bags mid - jan onwards providing you give extra protection if there is a frost.

Cut your grow bags in half and stand upright. Plant the tubers down a bit, then top up with more compost as the plants grow.

Let us know when you start harvesting them - am interested to know.

Regards

Neil

mrs_moneyspinner

Thanks ndh - I will post here if anything exciting happens with mine.;)

mum_of_4

I will plant a couple of earlies in my polytunnel the rest get planted around Easter time depending on the weather sometimes earlier

RAS

Hi

Am quoting the potato guru Romans here

"On the whole, chitting, as described in most books and gardening programmes, is completely unnecessary – earlies, second earlies and early maincrops have a biological clock which, if started early. finishes early with a smaller crop. The main thing is to keep tubers as cool as possible without frosting them. If shoots are present then place them in light but cool, frost free conditions to keep the shoots small, green and robust. This way the “clock ticks” as slowly as possible, using up less of the growing potential when planting time eventually does come round. We keep our stocks in a cool shed under quilts. (Tip - old polyester quilts/ duvets / sleeping bags are ideal for protecting stored spuds and veg from frost.)"

Charlotte is however one of the varieties that can be used for out of season growing - so try a few under cover but keep the rest out of the daylight and frost free.