Allotments 4 All

Hi
These potatoes have been chitting now for 4 weeks and the shoots seem to be hardly growing??? any suggestions as to if they're ok and when will i plant then in the plot?? its still freezing weather in the midlands  ;D

They look fine to me!
I wouldn't plant them if it's too cold, best to wait a bit .

As She says - no fret!

Wait until the soil welcomes you - & then be ready with fleece for the later frosts. A week or so earlier in ice gains little!

Thanks both for the advice, glad they look ok, its first time Ive ever planted any potatoes so hope they will do well. Am off to do some digging now while its dry but its very windy so will go along armed with wooly hat, warm fleecem flask of coffee and hot bacon sarnie from the cafe  ;D

And they don't have to 'chit'.

do they not??? excellent, i need not worry then, thanks Tim  ;D

Have been reading Joy Larkom again,

she advises if you do chit spuds that once the sprouts start to show they could be sprayed with a seaweed fertilizer every 10 days or so till they are planted,

Sounds like a plan ;)

My first earlies (international kidney) have been chitting for at least 3 weeks now and are about 1cm long at most. I am not worried, nature will do what is correct.

I have beeen chitting my potatoes since the 1st of feb and mine look the same as yours ;D

M'lady - I've got the seaweed out.  Love seaweed!!

Glad you posted this, as my spuds are the same.  I feel sure that last year the shoots were longer, so I am relieved to know they are O.K.  I have different varieties this year,Pentland Dell and Pentland Javelin.

Quote from: tim on March 13, 2006, 11:23:16
And they don't have to 'chit'.

I agree with Tim. Threw some shop bought green potatoes on my compost heap one time and accidentally managed to get a fresh crop. So much for turning the heap!

And of course, there's always the other extreme!

Are potato sprouts anything like bean sprouts Ken :)

Never tried 'em....but never mind the quality, feel the width!

Cripes kenkew :o ;D these look like some I planted (on the old boys' advice and from a tangled bag in someone's shed) in July for a late crop. I thought the sprouts would snap off, and the spuds were soft as jelly. But lo in September there was a fine crop that finally got dug up in November.

No matter how tempting spud sprouts look (more like Quatermass from here ha ha) they're not good eating. Probably marginally toxic, but they taste too bad to eat enough to do you any harm. Anyhoo, I wouldn't suggest you do this at home  ;)

My spud sprouts are tiny too. No worries, if they don't want to chit now, they'll do it after Easter. Like everyone says, Patience is the Gardener's Friend ;D