my seed potatoes arrived today, is it better waiting until feb to start chitting them or start them now? If its better to wait, do you keep them in the dark to prolong chitting
Personally I don't think it makes much difference. I will be buying mine from my lottie shop tomorrow. I willkeep them in the dark for another week or so then they will be in egg boxes next sunday morning.
Quote from: ktlawson on January 05, 2007, 20:53:44
Personally I don't think it makes much difference. I will be buying mine from my lottie shop tomorrow. I willkeep them in the dark for another week or so then they will be in egg boxes next sunday morning.
thanks for the info, will be getting some egg boxes to stand them in, it wont be long before its all go on the plot again, lol
Hold hard Utwo,
For Christs sake it's 05/01/07!
Just bring your life in-a-bit, will-ya?
Loads of time, just take it easy - too early now for most - eh? KT?
If you have the seeds - you have to slow them down, now? how you gonna do that in this winter - put them in the fridge?
My egg boxes will be in shed till end of jan, then in greenhouse for 2wks, then in house for 4wks
hmmm.....mine haven't arrived yet. Still, plenty of time....might just give them a tinkle next week. Don't want to miss out like I did with the flipping onion sets and Marshalls! I can't expect the wonderful Growmore to send me seed spuds like he did with hunions!!
KT,
When the JAP hits you - what you gonna do?
LOL ;D
Quotethen in house for 4wks
They need plenty of light when chitting but cool temperatures, unless your house is like a fridge leave them in the greenhouse
Way too early for chitting yet anyhow
Quote from: Merry Tiller on January 06, 2007, 04:49:36
They need plenty of light when chitting but cool temperatures, unless your house is like a fridge leave them in the greenhouse
Way too early for chitting yet anyhow
Yep - except the experimental hot box ones, which will chit immediately then go in as soon as they have a couple of good sprouts, under a big plastic hoop arrangement, over rotting pony poo and a layer of compost which should keep the frost off. We'll see! ::)
Earlies will go in here late March/Early April, depending on weather, so chitting will start 4 weeks (late Feb/early March) before in cool and light like MT say (if dark, you'll get long weedy sprouts) :o
I really do not understand how it can be too early to start chitting your potatoes, I got mine just before christmas as we always do and put them into the tomatoe trays for chitting straight away. If you leave them in the bags you can get white soft shoots whereas if they are out in full daylight but frost free any growth is good growth. Being exposed to daylight tends to slow up any growth and form short stocky sprouts. At our local society we hold a competition for sprouted seed potatoes to encourage members to chit in good time.
(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7448/1000437cc9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
QuoteIf you leave them in the bags you can get white soft shoots
Not if you keep them COOL 8)
Got my 4 types of spuds today:
Arran Pilot - Earlies - First time for me as a trial in new plot
Kestrel - 2nd Earlies - love these, always do well
Desiree - Main Crop - First for me planting main crop.
Pentland Crown - I think, cant remember - first for me as a trial
Will leave 'em in greenhouse till feb to stop you moaning ;D ;D ;D Only 'cos I like ya ;D ;D ;D
Not wanting to split hairs but I did say "can" my potatoes for eating are in an unheated exsposed shed but they are starting to sprout. ::) ::)
QuoteIf you leave them in the bags you can get white soft shoots
Not if you keep them COOL 8)
[/quote]
Moaning, me? You'll have me down as a grumpy old man next >:(
I bought my Ulster Sceptre seed potatoes at the local GC yesterday (Saturday) and put them straight into their chitting trays. I use plastic seed trays lined with newspaper, with each potato separately wrapped in tissue paper so they are not touching. The trays are placed on top of the wardrobe in the back bedroom. I will check them periodically for disease, but expect them to be perfectly happy 'up there' until I need to plant them in March, weather permitting.
I have only once tried to chit potatoes in the garden shed, but lost quite a number to frost damage. The 'wardrobe method' works ok for me, and produces short stubby chits.
my local potato day will supply me with seed potatos. date? end off january. wont be getting worried about chitting for ages yet.
usually ut them in a coolish bright place, leave unattended for ages, then plant when the time comes. they always have good strong stocky shoots, and any that have not moved (chitted) are being dicarded at this point
I would normaly have my spuds ordered by now but this year i plan to get my seed potatoes from one of the 2 seed potatos days i have been looking at as i need variatys that are slug and blight resistant.
I chit mine on apple trays i get from a local supermarkert as soon as i get them.
I have a clothes horse that has lots of flat shelves and is on wheels and i usualy put the trays on that in the front room in front of the patio door for a couple of weeks to plan near the end of febuary.
Then i carry the trays to the car and plant on the allotment and pop the trays in the compost bin.
Cambourne
Our gaffer of the allotments is putting his spuds in the ground tomorrow :o
He is gonna dig 'em in deep on manure, cover them with manure, then mulch over the top.
Too early for me
Quote from: laurieuk on January 06, 2007, 09:52:30
I really do not understand how it can be too early to start chitting your potatoes, I got mine just before christmas as we always do and put them into the tomatoe trays for chitting straight away. If you leave them in the bags you can get white soft shoots whereas if they are out in full daylight but frost free any growth is good growth. Being exposed to daylight tends to slow up any growth and form short stocky sprouts. At our local society we hold a competition for sprouted seed potatoes to encourage members to chit in good time.
(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7448/1000437cc9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Hmm IMO set the going too early and you get long stems that are brittle and snap off, what you are after (allegedly), is short stubby stems. However it has been proved that chitting makes no difference at all
BTW strange competition - whats the judging criteria
The idea of the competition is to encourage people to sprout their potatoes with good strong SHORT sprouts that are strong enough not to get damamged when planting and to enable them to cut the potatoes if needed and be sure of success.