Potatoes - where to start? (Merged Thread)

McKneff

I reckon the "plated" is a typo for planted:T

Dohhh - slaps head:rotfl:
Sorta guessed what the chitter thing was

csnann

Actually, you can grow a potato seed from the fruit that grows after it flowers - unfortunately it takes several years for the resulting plant to develop the edible tubers!

RAS

You can sow seed from the green berry that forms and you will get potatoes the first year, although they will be all sorts and probably not very big.

Lotus-eater

Farway wrote: »

Chitting refers to letting the seed spuds grow some new shoots before you plant them

Often done using egg boxes, one spud per egg slot, spud eyes upwards [or most of them any way] in a warmish light place, like a window

This is supposed to give a head start, but Gardeners World & others have done trials and found no difference in long run

I missed that on GW.

I have always understood that it's worth chitting earlies but not maincrops, however you will get maincrops a bit earlier if you do chit,

Did GH find it wasn't worth chitting anything?

It seems to make sense to me I must admit, that first couple of weeks it would be sat in the cold ground producing the same sprouts that you get when you chit.

Farway

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I missed that on GW.

I have always understood that it's worth chitting earlies but not maincrops, however you will get maincrops a bit earlier if you do chit,

Did GH find it wasn't worth chitting anything?

It seems to make sense to me I must admit, that first couple of weeks it would be sat in the cold ground producing the same sprouts that you get when you chit.

Not a scientific or reasearched answer, but I think the chitting is a spin off from bygone years and perhaps thrift & show bench

Once chitted you could divide the tuber and maybe plant three from one spud

Thus cost saving and also the "maximum yield from one spud prize" in one go

As I have pointed out before, can you imagine commercial growers chitting say20,000 spuds to sow a field? Of course they do not, even for earlies

Lotus-eater

Well chitting 20 000 potatoes is different to the 30 that were on my bedroom windowsill obviously........

Worth it for me to get me spuds a week or two earlier than otherwise, not worth it for the farmer with 20 thousand maincrops to plant.

I did find a piece about Irish farmers chitting and a scientific write up about the merits of chitting a while ago, so some farmers must do something.

I think you might be right about the thrift, that makes total sense.

Miss_Ratty

I always wondered what the difference was between a seed potato, and the usual ones in my cupboard with the tubers! So is it always best to purchase seed potatoes from a garden centre, or are edible ones that I leave for too long in my cupboard disease free too? Can you grow them second generation etc., like when they have been bought seeded and grown and you keep a spud for growing more, or can they pick up diseases along the way? Spuds are great!

SEE

Don't forget that when your seed potatoes have chitted you can cut them in half. Just make sure each half has shoots and get twice as much spud for your money:beer:

Farway

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

I always wondered what the difference was between a seed potato, and the usual ones in my cupboard with the tubers! So is it always best to purchase seed potatoes from a garden centre, or are edible ones that I leave for too long in my cupboard disease free too? Can you grow them second generation etc., like when they have been bought seeded and grown and you keep a spud for growing more, or can they pick up diseases along the way? Spuds are great!

You can use the ones that sprout in your cupboard, but I would be wary of planting them in the garden as they may be carrying some disease, should be fine in a pot though as any disease will be confined to that

Not advisable to grow as second generation, that was one cause behind the Irish potato famine in the mid 1800s, blight carried over

Seed spuds are normally grown in Scotland where the cold prevents greenfly from carrying sap borne disease from one plant to another [luckily the midges prefer blood not sap]

humphriess

Hi, I am growing potatoes for the first time in various pots and bags. I bought a bag of earlies in february about 20, chitted them and planted some of them about three weeks ago. they seem to be growing well. Have covered them about three times already.
When planting i run out of pots pots and compost. I havae these no can i still plant the rest of my chitted potatoes? Can i hold onto some of them and plant in another few weeks to avoid a surplus?
Thanks in advance
Sarah