[purplebean]

I have all my seed potatoes set up in boxes chitting. However I bought a few to save and plant in July I know I might not get many Christmas spuds but I like to try each year and see what happens. Last year I put the spuds in a paper bag in the fridge until July but I am wondering if they would be better in a paper bag and in an airtight box in the fridge. Does anyone else try to save some for planting later and if so how do you store them?

[Ma and Pa Snip]

Leave spuds long enough in a fridge and they will still sprout, despite the fact you dont want them to.

If you want to try some planting some for Christmas yielding I assume you will be doing so in a greenhouse.
Why not  use some from the your crop of early's rather than trying to hold back seed potatoes now.

[Yorkie]

You will need to leave 60 days from harvesting to re-sowing if reusing spuds from an earlier crop in the season.  Also bear in mind that there is the risk of reintroducing viruses or blight if these existed on the first crop.

[fredhogg]

There is one of the seed companies that supply tubers for Christmas harvest.Shall now trawl through them but its bound to be one that i have thrown away.Will advise i want to do the same..

[Yorkie]

Just a cautionary warning fred, the seed spuds sold for Christmas are very expensive once p&p is taken into account, and the vast majority of people on here who tried it reported little success - there's a few threads on here if you do a search.

Not wanting to put you off, just make sure you're aware of the potential outcomes 

[DD.]

They're expensive without the p & p.

[Kristen]

There is one of the seed companies that supply tubers for Christmas harvest.

JBA do them. Price is a consideration, as the others have said.

http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/autumn-and-Christmas-potatoes-c11.html

Price for 1kg for the Autumn is the same as price for 2.5kg in the Spring (excluding the carriage)

[Ma and Pa Snip]

You will need to leave 60 days from harvesting to re-sowing if reusing spuds from an earlier crop in the season.  Also bear in mind that there is the risk of reintroducing viruses or blight if these existed on the first crop.

A good point yorkie.
I had made the fundamental error of assuming someone wouldn't use  seeds potatoes from a blighted or virused crop and one should never assume anything.

Thanks for making the point.

[TheSpartacat]

I should think you'll have difficulty stopping them from producing long white chits in a brown bag
.
How about delaying them a little in the fridge, and then start chitting as normal from the end of March?
If you give them a light spray of seaweed solution occasionally it can help them over such a long chitting spell, and then sow them in JUly as per Christmas potatoes.

Also I noticed last year that JBA sell their leftover seed potatoes cheaply- 50p i think- from around June. They were all gone by the time they were advertising Christmas potatoes.
Their leftovers would no doubt have been kept in excellent storage conditions, better than we could hope to achieve, so that might be an option? If you want to avoid postage- some garden centres also sell off leftover seed potatoes in summer, but their condition is not so great and they can be a bit wizened looking.
The guy in the next plot did well with a hoard of cheap 10p a pack spuds planted in July, he got a great crop, harvested in Sept. He skipped the chitting, but if you chitted you could plant a bit later for a later crop?

[fredhogg]

price consideration taken on board shall look at brown paper bag method.on a quick search dobies have sold them, above mentioned JBA and Victorian nurseries.BROWN PAPER BAG

[purplebean]

I think I will put in the fridge and check every two weeks if it seems not to be working I will take out and chit as suggested and just see how long I can delay until I have to plant. Got to be worth a try as the price of the potatoes for Christmas is ridiculous.

Last time I tried it they had clearly been in the fridge too long so I like the idea of taking out after a while and chitting for a bit before planting. I intend to put them in tub trugs outdoors and then move into the greenhouse before it gets too cold

[Kristen]

I intend to put them in tub trugs outdoors and then move into the greenhouse before it gets too cold

You probably won't need the greenhouse - except to keep the frost off the tubers. The foliage will have died down before the frost (probably / depending where you are) as the light and temperature is becoming too little of each for any further growth of the plants - if you plant First Earlies on 1st August they will be ready for harvesting after 10 weeks - so mid October.  I leave mine in the bags / pots until harvest though as I think they keep better (than if I harvested them)