Chitting potatoes

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hiccup

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Chitting potatoes
« on: January 24, 2017, 18:24 »

              Evening All

                              I dont know if this is a daft question or not, but if you plant your second
                                 earlies three weeks after planting your first earlies, do I start chitting
                                 the seconds three weeks later also. Sounds even dafter now I've written it down.
keep on digging

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Mr Rotavator

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Re: Chitting potatoes
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2017, 19:08 »
Start chitting as soon as you buy them. In an ideal world I would buy and plant straight away but I have to get in early to get the varieties I want so I store them by chitting.

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hiccup

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Re: Chitting potatoes
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2017, 19:56 »

       Thanks for that mr rotavator. I lived on Abbotsbury rd and Chapelhay for some years by the way.

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Salmo

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Re: Chitting potatoes
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2017, 18:50 »
Hopefully when you buy your seed potatoes they will have been kept cool so that they are dormant with no sign of a chit (shoot) anywhere. Most of the garden centre ones are in the warm, already with chits.

Let us suppose we have perfect seed potatoes that are still dormant.

The object of chitting is to advance the life cycle of the potato so that it produces( bulks up) tubers earlier. Also if potatoes have a well developed chit at planting they grow straight away with no delay. First earlies are well worth chitting, second earlies and maincrop the case is not so clear but there is an advantage in earlier bulking in early blight years.

Six weeks before you expect to plant (not critical) bring the potatoes into the warm for a day or two until you can see tiny chits. That means the dormancy is broken. If the dormancy is broken when you buy them then follow as follows

At his point put them into a cool, light and frost free area. A back room with heating turned low is ideal. Too cool and their development will be very slow. As long as there is plenty of light the chits will not grow more than about 2cm long but they will continue to change. Later on you will see small bumps round the base of each chit. These will develop into the roots as soon as they are planted in soil.

If it comes to your planned planting date and the weather is terrible, or you are delayed in some other way your potatoes will happily sit there until you are ready.

So, back to your question, you can start them all chitting at the same time, or wait a bit with the seconds and mains.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2017, 18:57 by Salmo »

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hiccup

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Re: Chitting potatoes
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2017, 20:19 »



              Thanks Salmo. That's everthing I need.
                                                                           Cheers.



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