[Grubbypaws]

I have just watched a u-tube video on growing potatoes and it advises removing all but 2 chits. He stresses the importance of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIgN7axaJ00

I have planted potatoes for years and never done this. I have looked in my RHS handbook and Joy Larkham Grow your own Vegetables and no where is this technique mentioned.

Should I be doing this or not? What is everyone else doing? 


edit to fix link

[m1ckz]

i never have//i leave them all on

[mumofstig]

i never have//i leave them all on

Same here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmKJ8JARyIg

[snowdrops]

No I just leave them alone, I'm of the opinion the potato knows what it's doing

[spadework]

I believe the theory is that by restricting the number of shoots increases the amount of large potatoes that form.

So leaving all the chits on give a mixed sizes harvest whereas restricting to two chits give fewer tubers but larger. The overall yield should be the same. 

[alexroyall85]

Hi all

I don't believe in chatting potatoes had a trial the other year of some that were and some that weren't.
All grew at the same rate and emerged all at the same time.

[mumofstig]

There were trials on chitting versus not chitting, can't remember who did them, now 

They said that it was worth chitting earlies & 2nd earlies, because it starts their growing time off before they are actually in the ground, so you get an earlier crop. However, because of the longer growing period, it wasn't worth chitting  maincrops.

As my seed potatoes are usually delivered before they can be planted, they may as well be quietly chitting, 'til planting time comes around.

[JayG]

If you rub off all the chits on a potato it will very obligingly grow a new set, so I could imagine the same thing happening underground if you plant them after removing all but two of them.

I've never partially de-chitted and then dug up my seed spuds to find out if that's true though  - I just plant them horizontally so that at least some of the chits will be facing upwards or sideways and hope for the best. Seems to work OK.

[lettice]

Just leave them, do not go removing chits, you may damage or scuff the potato which is not what you want to do.
The potato knows best, as others have said.
Been chitting for years and the crop does benefit.

[whitehill1]

I assume this to the feed all of it goes to one plant, so bigger are the potatoes. Last year I did transplant 2 self sown toddlers which has just one shoot in a well drained spot and watered well. To my surprise that's the best yield I found so far. Yielding Potatoes are bigger too. To repeat again

[DD.]

One potato will only produce one plant, irrespective of how many chits it has. And don't get me started on diseases, especially blight, that can be carried over-winter in self sown (volunteer) spuds!

[m1ckz]

can planting own sets creat blight    a guy on our allotments does it every year  he grows .desiree

[DD.]

Planting your own saved seed potatoes runs a risk of carrying over a host of diseases. You may get away with it most of the time, but you only need to do it once. They don't sell certified seed spuds for no reason.

[victoria park]

I guess the question is what is the guarantee ?
My desiree seeds this year are from wilkinsons and part of the safe haven certification scheme.
Look that scheme up and little is guaranteed apart from free of ring rot, and best practice methods of production. No mention of "disease free"whatsoever.

Deep down, it's all a matter of trust and little else. Do you trust a bulk seller or your own judgement. On abandoned allotment sites and farms all over the country, volunteers are sprouting everywhere with little effect on the overall quality of harvest.

[mumofstig]

The mother plants are checked in field and 

must have been kept free during the propagation period from Blackleg spp.
Potato leafroll virus, potato viruses A,M,S,X and Y.

At tuber inspection

There is a nil tolerance for the following Group 1 diseases on all classes of seed potatoes; Colorado Beetles, Potato Cyst & Tuber Nematodes, Ring Rot, Wart Disease, Brown Rot, Spindle Tuber Viroid

They are also inspected to ensure low levels of Skin Spot, Powdery Scab, Black Scurf and Common Scab

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523572/SPCS-guide.pdf

I agree that volunteers are often healthy, but there is no way to know how many have rotted out of view.

I'd rather start afresh each year tbh