My spuds chitted themselves!

Got my box from dtbrowns.co.uk-cheers Dai great link, and being an impatient sort I opened the box to have a peek inside, they have since totally ruined my experiment of half chitted half unchitted-they chitted in the box behind my back! The little sneaky so and so`s! I`ve since opened them out onto the windowsill in my utility room ( or as I call it-my dirt room!).

Time for them to go in but as it`s snowing they won`t go in till it`s stopped.

Anyway, as part of my ongoing observations I am posting a few pics of them.







I opted for Desiree because you can`t beat a good dollop of mash!

 

Surely it's a tad early to even think of planting ?

 

I don`t seem to have a choice-I want them in when it`s right for the particular potato. I don`t want weak shoots/

when would you do them given the state of them as is?

 

Put them somewhere cool, Claire, that should slow them down, Obviously they have been frightened at some point, that`s why they`ve chit themselves.:rotfl::gnthb:

 

Hi Claire. I would be tempted to maybe take out some of those shoots, making sure that there are still 'eyes' that can produce more shoots. I had the same problem myself last year when I bought my earlies from B & Q. All I did was as I said, removed the leggy one's. They still chitted ok and I had a reasonable crop having planted out in mid april. Of course, I can't guarantee success, but it worked ok for me. Hope this helps, cheers...freddy.

 

LMAO Dai

Very quick

 

So an unheated porch would do? Should they go in the frost free greenhouse?

 

That`s fine Claire, as long as it`s frost free and not heated.:thumb:

 

Frost free greenhouse probably a bit hard to do, this time of the year ... you could bring them in at night though ...

 

I going to put them in the porch, it`s frostfree-not that it always feels that way when I go to collect the milk in a morning.


What do you say about the idea further up the thread about breaking of the current stalks if there are eyes a plenty?


This feels the way it did the first time I divided a phlox plant-extremely disturbingly scary.

 

"What do you say about the idea further up the thread about breaking of the current stalks if there are eyes a plenty?"

The existing chits look a bit long and spindly, they may break off when you plant them ... if there are other eyes, which have not yet chitted, then they should be capable of chitting - so, in theory !!!, if you break off the existing chits the others will then start growing - and if they have enough light they will grow more compactly.

 

There are actually plenty on them, I was considering cutting them actually-I don`t know how to do it but I remember my grandad doing stuff like this-maybe my memory is shot but I seem to remember him growing spuds from potato peelings or something, and is this right?-you can grow new carrots from the tops you cut off when preparing veg or is someone pulling my chain?

 

You can cut seed potatoes into two, leaving a couple of eyes on each, but I believe there have been studies that suggest you get the same overall crop - so you have more plants, less yield-per-plant, same overall-yield - but you need more soil area.