Brian and his Spuds

I have some potatoes chitting....how long do they take..???????

Also I have bought some that have already chitted is it ok to put them in the ground or Potato sacks...........Thanks for your reply

all depends on variety, but essentially once u have  1/2"-3/4" of shoots you are good to go. A word of caution, with regard to potato planters, if the temp gets down to -2 or more, it really can set them back, even if you fill the planter right to the top from the start. A sheltered place surrounded by other pots is the way I go about it, in the ground, as long as they are earthed up, should be fine.

Bit early for planting Brian- the soil is too cold and wet in most places and they are not frost hardy-you would be better of moving the chitted ones into a cooler frost free well lit spot-it sounds as though they have been in a warm gloomy shop?

As for how long it takes for the shoots to appear-is bit like how long is a piece of string?

It takes as long as it takes.

Perhaps have a look at this

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/basics/how-to-chit-potatoes/256.html

hi brian,for me its a bit early im not going to put mine in untill the end of the month then it will be 1st earlies and second earlies leavind mine in the shed in egg boxes

Hi all im glad somebody asked that question as we have started chitting 3 weeks ago and almost nothing for the earliy Winston or the second Kestrel and main Cara maybe 1/4" or so thats all, there  in the well window lit garage and not frosty at all and i was getting a bit worried But all this info and now no probs just patient thats all i need ,never was much good at them

many thanks for the spud info and by the way iv just returned from the allotment i was there 15 mins just toooooooooo cold, nice cup o coffee and a pint 2nite good luck all 

Alan4711

hi alan me to, as my allotment is on a hill it was freezing so got some seeweed off the beach run it over to my plot threw it on to dig in later and went home to hot soup.

Thank you for your remarks on the spuds..it looks as though we are going to have a couple of days good weather.....as brian is retired he will shortly be at the allotment digging..........Have a good day..............

jon cob wrote (see)

it just to bad that it had been proven that chitting does not increase production or get you an earlier crop.  chitting provides no real benefit. rhs ans several other source have proved this though testing.

 

Odd then that the RHS still recommends chitting for an earlier and bigger crop

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=716

scroll down to propogation.

my potatoes are in ground already in hot bed cloche so no chiiting for me.