Topic: chitting

[philcooper]

As a first time tater grower I've got some in egg boxes on the porch windowsill. They are Pentland Javelin but my shoots are very dark and brownish red in colour (they started while still in the garage), shouldn't  they be a nice fresh green colour?  ???

Don't worry, sprouts come in all colours even from white potatoes they get green as they get larger

Have a look at the Dutch Potato organisation's catalogue which shows sprouting spuds to get an idea of the colours http://www.aardappelpagina.nl/uk/About_potatoes/variety_catalogue

Here's one example

[hazelize_uk]

Sorry if this sould silly 'TIM' but what is NPK and my friendly knowledgeable allotment neighbour has given me the instruction of getting all my spuds in on the 17th March St Partricks day - he does this every year he said, is that something anyone else does?

[tim]

1. NPK? Same as TLC - a bit of fertiliser (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potash [yes,K!]).

2. Planting? There's folklore to cover every daily action, but it does help focus the mind. I'm not the potato guru, but I do it when:

a. The ground is prepared & workable - not claggy.
b. When the seed looks ready - with a bit of chitting. Some, like Pink Fir, are not ready with the others.
c. When I can work up the enthusiasm!!
d. 'Beating the gun' for anything at this time of year can only give you a marginal advance.

[laurieuk]

The shoots vary with the variety, pink is Cara, dark green is Rocket. These were set up bout 20th December as soon as I got the seed.

[cornykev]

As Tim says the soil has to be workable, so I will look the weekend and make my mind up then.   ;D ;D ;D

[cacran]

My friend and I bought our potatoes together. I spread mine out in a tray, carefulso they didn't touch each other. Put them in the greenhouse. She forgot about hers. She'd just left them in the carrier bag that she got them in and left them in the garage. Hers have chitted wonderfully. Mine have not got one chit on them.they have been there two weeks. What do you think?

[laurieuk]

The first thing that comes to mind is that they are different varieties, some chit quicker than others or maybe her garage is warmer than your greenhouse.Two weeks is not unusual.

My friend and I bought our potatoes together. I spread mine out in a tray, carefulso they didn't touch each other. Put them in the greenhouse. She forgot about hers. She'd just left them in the carrier bag that she got them in and left them in the garage. Hers have chitted wonderfully. Mine have not got one chit on them.they have been there two weeks. What do you think?

[cornykev]

Put my first earlies (accent) in this morning, got out early before the rain, so me and my mate planted the 3kg just before the rain came down, harvested some parsnips and the last of the leeks, pub and football now I suppose.  ;D ;D ;D