[Jeebus]

Hi all,

I ordered my seed potatoes from Wilko this year, and to my surprise they have already arrived. It's a bit too early to chit them, so what's the best thing to do with them? They are currently in their netted bags, within a cardboard box. Can I just leave them there? If so, where's the best place to put the box?

Many thanks

[New shoot]

Somewhere dark and frost free, but cool.  Mine are due any day and are going in the shed as the house is too warm.  I'll fleece the box if need be i.e. if we get snow or freezing temperatures for days on end.

[Jeebus]

Great, thanks. I was hoping you wouldn't say shed though as mine is a tip at the moment. Oh well, better start tidying up. Do you check on them very often when you store them in the shed?

[New shoot]

Generally once a week.  If I store potatoes in the shed to eat, I check them weekly, so seed spuds get treated the same.  If one rots, it spreads quickly.

 Pre-season is a good time to get the shed in order, if that makes you feel any better 

[rowlandwells]

 I think I said in  previous relies that I keep my eating potatoes in a potato box I Made as for my seed potatoes I to expect delivery any day and yep it is a bit early I usually leave my seed in the sack for a couple of days then set them up in chitting trays in the conservatory needless to say there are a few black looks from somebody  how long are those potatoes going to be in  there 


not long Dear I'm going to move them in the greenhouse when the weather improved and off cause it never happens   but if I  put them in the greenhouse now either they would probably  get frosted or the mice mite have a field day

I find it best to keep shtum  and make out there not there 

[mumofstig]

My 1kg of Sarpo Mira have arrived;)
As these will be the last ones to be planted, I don't want to start them chitting for a good while yet, so they are in the salad drawer in the fridge 
No-body here to nag me about it!

[rowlandwells]

funny you should mention seed potatoes because we called at our local nursery today and they have there  seed potatoes and onion sets in so although I've ordered and waiting delivery of my main crop I thought I must get some early potatoes what a choice they have about ten early varieties to pick from and there all pick and bag your own


so we bought several varieties of earlies they where £1.75 KG  is that about the going rate we also bought 2 trays of polyanthus in 3in pots 18 per tray for £3.00 per tray I thought that was good value 

[Jeebus]

Thanks for the replies.

Glad I'm not the only one who gets told off for having a chitting factory in the spare room. Our main problem is the cat though, as she loves to take the potatoes from the eggs boxes and walk around the house with them in her mouth for some reason.

Wilko potatoes were a bargain at £2.50 for 2kg. Last year I paid £3 per kg from the Suttons website. The only thing is I went a bit mad this year, and so have 12kg of seed potatoes.

I also ordered my onions sets from Wilko - £1.50 for a 500g net. I used the same ones last year and was very impressed with the results.

[DD.]

I set mine up for chitting as soon as I get them - in the frost-free greenhouse. Even after a couple of months the chits are only about an inch long. I've even planted spuds that have been chitting for about 4 months. The spuds were a little wizened, but grew fine. The chits seems to get to a certain length and stop.

[Mr Dog]

Like DD I'll be chitting mine from getting them to planting. Last year that was almost 3 months, from 25th Jan until 20th April.

[Aunt Sally]

I've just heard that the "loose" potatoes are in at out local garden centre.

We usually grow half a dozen or so varieties.

We have some bankers, like Picaso, Arran Pilot and Charlotte... and then a few more, can't wait 

[andreadon]

You can also store them in the loft - that's perfectly cool right now

[JayG]

I've never tried refrigerating them to try to prolong their pre-chitting storage life; like DD I put them in the light in a cool bedroom as soon as I've bought them.
Don't worry about them chitting too fast or too much - I've had 'spare' seed potatoes bought at the end of January still perfectly plantable in August (albeit somewhat wizened!)

Worst thing is to keep them in the dark at room temperature - you will get long, weak, white chits which will snap off when you plant them (best to rub them off and start again if that happens.)

[DHM]

The garden focused site has predicted the last frost here as the last week of march so to start chitting around now for planting out the 4th week of Feb. I'm delaying by a week though because of the late cold snap.

How many chits do you leave? I normally reduce to 3 but I know people who leave them all on.

[mumofstig]

I plant with all their chits.