Thompsons

Can any 1 tell me why Thompsons and Morgans send out their potate seed so early it will be 2 months before I can think about planting.  Also what is the best way to keep thenm so they don't go off or chit?  I have contacted Tompsons who's attitude is they don't care and wouldn't even give any advice, any advice would be appreiciated.

I think you are being a bit unfair to T&M to be honest- walk round any garden centre now and you will see seed potatoes for sale-if they have them in,they will send them out-you could not expect them to store indefinitely-could you or did you specify a delivery time?

If you dont want to chit them yet- store in a dark cool but frost- free place- until you do-but won't it be chitting time soon anyway?

Can I ask what maks you say that their attitude is they don't care. Did you get that as a response?

I can see that they have alot of sales on at the min,  this is to make way for new stock, I suppose just the same as clothing stores etc. 

you should count yourself lucky, last year my first earlies didn't arrive til end of march!! Also my autumn onions/garlic and tulips/daffs arrived last week of November. One of my resolutions is to buy my things when they need to go into the ground or slightly earlier, NOT rely on on T&M to deliver it late

End of January seems a good time to chit potatoes.  Good Friday is the traditional day to plant your early potatoes.  Excellent timing.

You ask how to stop them chitting.  Why?  Surely you want them to chit?

I place them in egg trays in the light, but in a cool place.  You want short but sturdy chits.

alfiemoon, I had exactly the same problem last year; they arrived mid Jan. i emailed the suppliers and ended up phoning, eventually they said 'keep them in a cool place. They all withered and died without chitting, I complained and got my money back. I now don't order potatoes from these big companies; I just get them from the GC when I think the time is right.

All over the country Potato Day takes place soon (if not already)! The Hampshire one is this weekend but they go on all over the country right into March:

http://www.potato-days.net/

Do a search to find one near you!

Wow, I must say as a very regular user of T&M that I have always found them to not just be good with issues/problems/complaints, but exceptional, for instance, please accept our apologies, replacement plants and a money off voucher for good measure.

I think we can bacome a bit to obsessed with following growing advice to the detriment of common sense and trial and error. In my 3 years of ordering potatoes from T&M, having the same delivery time as yourself, I have never had any issues, but I have had good crops! As stated, simply pop them in an egg box, I cram mine in, and plant when you want to. It's really not that big an issue, they'll grow on just fine. In fact, last year was so wet, that I had them in egg boxes for 4 months before they were planted out, which yes, I know is not good practise, but point is, they grew and I've still got stored potatoes now.

There is of course one other thing that could have been done, or at least could be done in the future, and that's to order later, so they arrive more or less when you want them.

Try Lady Christl, their amazing.

Leggi, the problem is that they are being delivered much earlier than the suppliers initially indicated, the issue then is; what to do with them.

Sorry we don't know that -the person who complained has not yet come back and commented

Others have said this is a good time

We are a local garden centre in Birmingham and have just had our stocks arrive this week.

To grow potatoes successfully set the seed out in a light frost free room to allow the shoots to sprout. They will be ready for planting when the strongest shoots are 1-2 inches long.

We feature more on our garden blog see Growing Seed Potatoes

Sotongeoff; See my post from yesterday, in my last post just above, I was referring to my own experience with a large seed firm

Oh right -so come on alfiemoon you asked for comments and advice-what do you think?

Sotongeoff, I think we may have frightened him away

T&M send out there magazines well in advance, i use mine to make my mind up of what im going to grow. You dont have to order straight away you have around 3 months, which for me gives plenty of time to order and recieve without being early or late.

In my opinion its not T&M problem.