[davidevans]

Im hoping to plant out some chitted 'Rocket' potatoes tomorrow do i plant them with the chitted roots facing up or down - sorry if this is a bit of a daft question
Dave

[twysted1]

hi david i just did a google on growing potatoes and you should plant them sprouts up. potatoe seed, how to plant them.

[John]

There's a brief article on this site as well in the vegetables section, not as detailed as the great link above.

Note to self - must expand that section in my spare time - LOL

[SweetPea]

I'm highjacking this thread to ask another quick potato question

I'm still a bit confused about earthing up potatoes.  At the moment my first earlies (Duke of York) are plants about 6in high.  I planted the original seed potatoes under a mound of earth and I've been careful to make sure that the base of the plants remains well covered with soil.  In the literature I've seen however it states that when plants are about 8in they need to be earthed up.  Do they really mean to cover the entire plant with soil?  :shock: Or just to make sure the base is well covered?

I've struggled to find a really good picture of earthing up... it's like 'pinch out' all over again :?

[John]

OK, earting up serves 2 purposes. First it protects foliage from frost. So if you pull up earth from the sides just leaving an inch or so of foliage showing and there is a frost, only the tip will be killed and more foliage emerges later to power the plant.

Nest is a matter of covering up tubers to exclude light which will cause them to go green (green spuds contain a poisonous alkaline).

I often see people planting in mounds but I think that's wrong. When I plant it is in a shallow (4") trench. As the plants grow, I earth up from the sides to make the mound. I only earth up once or twice.

Does that make it clearer?

[Oliveview]

Another hijack bid....  do you have to plant seed potatoes or can you plant normal potatoes that have grown roots in the back of the cupboard?

[SweetPea]

Does that make it clearer?

It does, thank you very much!  As I said, I've already planted my spuds in mounds so it's too late to change that, but next time I'll try the approach you recommend.  LOL - at the moment I think I'm going to end up with small mountains over my potatoes!

[John]

Glad something went right today!
What a lovely cat - I assume it is your cat? - picture you have there.

In case it is not obvious, I love cats even more than potatoes.

[SweetPea]

That is indeed the lovely Olivia.  I spend some time on Saturday trying to take a photo of her specifically for my avatar on here but she kept moving too fast so I ended up with a lot of very blurry pictures! That photo was the result of half an hour of chasing her about with the camera, hence the rather grumpy expression she's wearing.

I love cats too.  Olivia was a stray and unfortunately, she's not very good with other cats, otherwise I'd definitely adopt a companion for her

[twhincup]

Another hijack bid....  do you have to plant seed potatoes or can you plant normal potatoes that have grown roots in the back of the cupboard?

I also wondered this when disposing of some old spuds at the w/e?

[Jake]

Another hijack bid....  do you have to plant seed potatoes or can you plant normal potatoes that have grown roots in the back of the cupboard?

I also wondered this when disposing of some old spuds at the w/e?

Yes, I've left some volunteer ones from last year growing in the garden (quite a few), I suppose its like growing supermarket ones. The last time I knew someone who grew supermarket ones they came out tiny, but he wasn't at all experienced so it could have been something else that made them so teeny.

[John]

Sorry Oliveview - our posts crossed

You're not supposed to replant sprouted supermarket or old potatoes because of spreading virus. However, I've had a good crop of Anya from supermarket spuds and hope to have a good crop of Valor from some saved from last year.

I'm coming to the opinion, especially at the cost of seed potatoes, that saving your own is a good thing as long as they're healthy,

[Gwiz]

In case it is not obvious, I love cats even more than potatoes.


taste like chicken?  
 
sorry i could`nt resist that.

[John]

Groan!

I suppose I did leave myself well open for that.

[comic_muse]

My Grandfather, who was a decent gardener, used to 'chit' large potatoes, then cut the chitted eyes with a portion of the original potato & plant them like 'seed'.  He used to grow super 'spuds'.  A little too freugal for modern times perhaps, but good growing guides recommend 'rubbing out' a percentage of the eyes to reduce the number of tubers ( on all but earlies) to decrease the number of shoots, & roots & subsequent tubers to maximise the size in 'bakers', mashers etc.  The new 'micro-plants' are set up for 'home seed production as they recommend keeping your own seed, which flies in the face of the anti-virus advice we get ?  Having said that, the advice keeps the seed potato suppliers in business ?