Allotments 4 All

You might remember I was looking for some seed pots last week to put in the first bed we dig. Well they arrived by courior this morning and they had already started sprouting in their net bags  :o Is this good or bad? I had to break off some of tyhe shoots to get them out of the netting as they had grown through it - will this affect how they grow?

Also I am wondering if they look right - my Geoff Hamilton book has a piccy of "good" & "bad" sprouting pots & mine look very much like the bad ones - pots not green, sprouts pale etc. What do you think? I know I am very late with them, but have I been robbed? Is there any point in me planting 'bad' potato seed?





TIA
Saz

They will be fine.

They sprouted in storage and were most likely in the dark.

Give them a bit of light and they will change,

Jerry

As sandersj89 says, plenty of light, not too warm, they should green up. As for losing some of the chits, a lot of people remove all chits but one anyway, so it's no harm if you did lose some extracting them from the netting.

When are you planning on planting them? If they're to go into the ground this weekend, the shoots/chits probably won't green up before then. As they are a little thin and straggly, you will need to take extra care when putting them in the ground, as weak shoots have a tendency to come off.

Niamh

Quote from: Niamh on May 25, 2006, 12:57:20
you planning on planting them? If they're to go into the ground this weekend, the shoots/chits probably won't green up before then. As they are a little thin and straggly, you will need to take extra care when putting them in the ground, as weak shoots have a tendency to come off.

They probably wont go in until the weekend after this one. With all this awful weather we've been having we havent got around to strimming the plot yet & until that happens the bed cant be dug ;).  Dh is out buying a strimmer as I type as we figured we'd end up wasting lots of money trying to hire a strimmer & dodge the rain ;D

So if I leave them on a windowsill until then they should be ok? Does it matter how much or little sun they get? All my window sills get direct sun for at some of the day.

Saz

As much light as possible is good, as long as they don't get too warm! With the weather as it is at the moment, day time temperatures are lower than normal, so the 10 days or so on a windowsill should be fine.

Niamh

Personally I'd leave them somewhere light and bright but not in direct sunlight through a window otherwise the tender chits might get scorched.

The front of the house gets sun for all the afternoon & the back of the house gets sun first thing in the morning so think I may be moving potatoes around the house for the next week or so to avoid getting them too hot!

Thanks for all your replies - its funny how even with a pile of books and the internet for extra knowledge you still need reassurance & to ask "Is this ok?" ;D. I'm still feeling a little nervous about this growing lark so having A4A here is a big help.

Thanks

Saz

What ever you do I can almost guarantee that you'll get a crop of spuds, even chopping them in half and breaking all the chits off won't stop them growing :) Don't worry

Back of the house should be OK - the morning sun tends to be less hot.