potato growing

All as @JWK said

Yes. First & Second Early and Main only "classify" how long they take to mature (and the longer they do the heavy the yield). I think its a common misconception that Earlies should be planted earlier - no reason not to plant all three types on the same day - you can even plant the Main Crop first e.g. if the plot for them is ready earlier!

There are a couple of schools of thought, but I only subscribe to one of them.

When your seed tubers arrive store them in the cool and dark until ready to chit them;when you get them out to chit them then if any have already got sprouts on rub them off so they can start again.

I think that wastes the tuber's stored energy, so the K-way is:

As soon as they arrive start them chitting. Put them in the place with the most light (I put them in my conservatory - maximum light there ) but it must be frost free. But, barring frost, the colder the better as that will slow down the rate at which the chits grow.

Thus, for me, there is no prescribed time duration for chitting - the correct elapsed time for mine to chit is from the day the seed tubers arrive in the post until the day I plant them

There is nothing to stop you just planting them, they don't have to be chitted, but if they are lying around for a bit, before planting, then chitting starts them into growth so that when planted they get a wiggle on straight away. As @JWK say: it gains you a couple of weeks (but, for example, for a Main Crop which is being grown for a late Summer harvest and for storing over winter, it really won't make any odds whether pre-chitted or not - except for my earlier point of not wasting the tuber's energy by having to rub long shoots off the tubers :(

 

So I can begin chitting process with the ones I received from grow your own now?
Will they be ok using so bought compost when it is time to plant?

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I've put them in the shed on a table by the double window. It's north facing though. I'm not sure if that's enough light? I'm wondering if it might be better to put them in the kitchen. It's brighter in there but not as cold.

 

I think that one advantage of giving main crop an early start, and earlier lifting is that you reduce, albeit slightly, the chances of blight or/and its effects, as blight up here at least tends to appear mainly in the later summer months.
Up here we're a few weeks behind the south as far as regards the growing season but last year I bought my King Eds on 24 January and set them chitting. Sowed under black plastic on 21 April. They started showing about 10 May when I lifted the plastic and were lifted on 16Sept.
Sadly we've just this week finished all the stored crop.

Been to Tesco this week to buy King Eds for seed, and consumption and delighted to find they are the same price as last year - £2.50/2.5 kilo.

 

I expect they will be fine. If you find the chits are growing too long (more than 1/4" over the next 3 or 4 weeks) then I would move them to more light, but for me cooler [but under no account Frosty] temperature is better.

 

Just what I have ordered at the weekend. I've made a good choice for once.

 

Are you supposed to keep them out of direct sunlight? I'm sure I've read that.[/quote][/quote]

 

Yes..just somewhere light without the heat....

 

I planted some First Earlies homeguard a few weeks back in the greenhouse and just noticed they have started popping up through the surface already. I'm really excited now and relieved as I thought they would have suffered because of the cold weather.

 

Quick question: Can you eat a seed potato? Even if it's got a few sprouts sticking out. Mrs nFrost thinks not.

 

Sure, its just a spud ... However ... if it has started chitting, in good light, it will have gone green and then it won't be safe to eat (like any green potato).

Its also possible that Seed Tubers may have been treated with chemical (that goes for any seed), but I can't remember ever having come across any Seed Potatoes that have been. (Sweetcorn is a common example, the special supersweet hybrids are not good at germinating and it is a race between Germination and Rot :( so they are often coated with a fungicide - thus not good to eat! )

 

I'll compost them then I think. The shoots aren't that long though, none longer then an inch.

 

If you cut them open and there is no green they will be fine to eat - unless they have shrivelled up already (but I doubt that is the case, unless you have been chitting them since last August )

Compost Heap will do just as well though - mind you, they'll probably grow there !!

 

Surely the original seed potato is still present when it comes to harvest time and that it probably would be eaten anyway? Or does it disappear in the soil?