what have I done wrong?

Hi everyone. I have potatoes 'chitting' on the kitchen windowsill, they have pleanty of green shoots, but the potatoes are going green too! I guess I can't plant these?

 

The skins go green in reaction to exposure to light. They'll be fine to plant. The green tint in the skin is just chlorophyll (plant blood).

 

Nothing wrong, Dave. The potatoes do just turn green when exposed to light.
It doesn't matter as you're not going to eat that seed potato - they usually just rot away once they have done their job.

 

I think I will wait until the end of this month (March) to plant them out. Do I leave a bit of the new growth showing (above the soil) and then keep topping up as the shoots get longer?

 

I bury them completely, but not deeply. Maybe a couple of inches of soil over them. Then I earth them up as they grow. If you leave a bit out, I'd be worried about frost or slugs or snails getting at the shoot before the tattie has had chance to send out new roots and establish itself.

 

Yes, that makes sense. Well, this will be my first attempt, so lets see what happens. Am I right in thinking I should leave them till about the end of the month. The shoots are about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch at the moment.

 

I'd wait til the end of the month, but I've heard murmerings of a change of trend towards planting them a bit earlier so as to try and beat the blight season.

 

I read that shop bought cooking spuds should not be used for seed potatoes for a couple of reason including the fact that they are treated with growth inhibitors, but I have a few old shop bought cooking spuds that have chitted better than my seed potatoes! Has anyone ever planted ordinary potatoes with any success?

 

I've always used shop bought ones that have chitted themselves. They do very well. If they sprout, they'll grow.

The reason the practice is frowned upon is because unlike seedies, they are not certified to be disease free.