Seed potatoes question?

wellused

I have just bought some seed potatoes first earlies and maincrop, these have been placed into egg cartons in a cool light place to chit. As the ground won't be suitable for planting potatoes until March at the earliest how do seed potatoes cope with this long period of growth out of the ground?

Linda32

In my limited experience, they won't cope at all. What I would do personally is take then away from where you have got them now and put them somewhere cool, dark and frost free.

If necessary you can make it dark by simply putting them in a dark bag of some kind, whatever you have but not plastic.

About two weeks before you want to plant them out, you can then chit if you want to.
The time has nothing to do with the calender really and everything to do with the weather at the time.

HTH

safestored4

What you've done is just fine. Where did you pick them up? Most garden centres don't get them in until the end of the month. As you have made an early start, if you have a greenhouse or outside porch have a go at growing some of the earlies in pots to get new potatoes for Easter.

CommitedToChange

As soon as I get mine I leave them to chit - last year for about 2 months! they seemed to cope fine.

I've seen some in poundland already

dogstarheaven

please note

Linda32 wrote: »

In my limited experience, they won't cope at all. What I would do personally is take then away from where you have got them now and put them somewhere cool, dark and frost free.
i agree
If necessary you can make it dark by simply putting them in a dark bag of some kind, whatever you have but not plastic.

About two weeks before you want to plant them out, you can then chit if you want to. not two weeks, but bring them out to chit in a cool/frost-free, light place at end of Jan/early Feb. The cooler the better as these will ensure the roots stay short and thick. 2mths later, they'd be ready to plant out

The time has nothing to do with the calender really and everything to do with the weather at the time.

HTH

wellused

I bought them from Wyevale around £4 for 2.5kg the red Duke of York first earlies were showing signs of chitting now so I daren't leave them in the bag or they will develop thin white shoots which will break when I take them out. The maincrop seeds don't show any sign of chitting so should I put them back into the bags and wait a few weeks to get them out again?

cyclonebri1

Linda32 wrote: »

In my limited experience, they won't cope at all. What I would do personally is take then away from where you have got them now and put them somewhere cool, dark and frost free.

If necessary you can make it dark by simply putting them in a dark bag of some kind, whatever you have but not plastic.

About two weeks before you want to plant them out, you can then chit if you want to.
The time has nothing to do with the calender really and everything to do with the weather at the time.

HTH

I think your experience must be very limited, without offence, like the later poster said this is how everyone does it, and has done since time gone by. It's all about letting them have light and fooling them into an early start.

Given an exceptionally early 1st Jan start like this, they won't be ready for outside until march.

What I want to know is why don't nurseries have seed potoes available for late Xmas cropping, they bring these out early August, just too late to get new pots for xmas:(

Sambucus_Nigra

Cool dark and frost free will only result in very long chits.

Potatoes start to shoot after the winter solstice which was 3 weeks ago - so keep them somewhere light and cool and plant them around St Patrick's Day. Nothing will happen to them in the meantime apart from growing short stubby 'chits'.

Sambucus_Nigra

wellused wrote: »

I bought them from Wyevale around £4 for 2.5kg the red Duke of York first earlies were showing signs of chitting now so I daren't leave them in the bag or they will develop thin white shoots which will break when I take them out. The maincrop seeds don't show any sign of chitting so should I put them back into the bags and wait a few weeks to get them out again?

No, they will be fine chitting now.

Linda32

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I think your experience must be very limited, without offence,

No of course not, no offence at all. Its a fool who never stops learning

I have tried chitting potatoes before but just ended up with a rather sad looking shivelled soft mess that I thought would never last in the ground. Maybe I am wrong and they are tougher than they look.

So now I don't bother or put them to chit when the weather is starting to look promising.
I have learnt that on our allotment we can't grow main crop potatoes, and I've found that to be the case. The yeild isn't worth the effort and I do notice that no one has any growing after the earlies have been harvested.

Always learning. :T

STOCKWIRE

Linda32 wrote: »

No of course not, no offence at all. Its a fool who never stops learning

I have tried chitting potatoes before but just ended up with a rather sad looking shivelled soft mess that I thought would never last in the ground. Maybe I am wrong and they are tougher than they look.

So now I don't bother or put them to chit when the weather is starting to look promising.
I have learnt that on our allotment we can't grow main crop potatoes, and I've found that to be the case. The yeild isn't worth the effort and I do notice that no one has any growing after the earlies have been harvested.

Always learning. :T

Normally happens when they are chitted in a warm dark environment, but they will still grow and produce a crop. Planting them without chitting will only lengthen the growing time and delay harvest. You might find that second earlies would be better for you as they do not need chitting and can be harvested over a longer period. They can be harvested 13 weeks after planting which would be no longer than unchitted earlies, but will carry on growing to September and will store .