[Sideways]

My local Wilkinsons have now got their seed potatoes in stock, 3kg bags for £3

They have Arran and Marie Piper, which do you think is the best buy?

Also, if I bought them now, where is the best place to store them? Is it too early to start them off?

(this is my first season as an allotment holder and the first time I will have bought/planted seed potatoes).

[Nogger]

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:48 pm    Post subject:    

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This post by Salmo is very useful.
Chitting seed is in essence advancing the potato lifecycle.

Buy the potatoes any time now and store them in a cool and frost free place. Many shops keep them too warm and they start to sprout. Do not buy them. A garage or shedis ok, they are fine in the dark at this stage. The important thing is to keep them cool so they do not start to sprout.

About 6 week before the expected planting date bring them into a warm and light place. After about a week the potatoes dormancy will break and sprouts, called chits, will appear in the eyes. They think it is Spring.

Once you can see the chits move the potatoes to a cool, light and frost free place. A cool geenhouse or shed window is fine but they may need covering or bringing inside if a frost is forecast.

They will hold like this until you are ready to plant. The chits will grow and become miniature potato plants. Around the base of each you will observe small baubles. These are the roots waiting to grow as soon as they go into the soil.

To get really early potatoes you will need to be prepared to protect tops against frost. I would aim to plant in early March which should give you the first taste in early June. To achieve this you will need to start off the chiting process at the start of February.

I needed the same imfo  

[Alex 98]

I use the blue mushroom trays that you can get at a greengrocers
Really good for chitting, in a airy light room
I'm holding off buying them for a few weeks, usually wait for the second delivery
Especially earlies.

But I'm getting excited about the prospect of it all......sad or what!

Alex 98

[noshed]

Arran Pilot are earlies and Maris Piper are maincrop I think so you could get a sucession if you planted both. You could buy them now if you have somewhere cool to keep them.

[Val H]

Are they the only varieties that they've got? If so I'd got for Arran Pilot.  Have a look at this Growing Potatoes

[compostqueen]

the Wilko ones absolutely fly off the shelves

You can buy them now if you have somewhere cool and airy to keep them. Must be frost free.  They need light to chit but til then you could keep them in a brown bag. Most of them in garden centres are sold in these brown, thick paper bags to keep the light out and premature sprouting.

Arran P is a first early and gets planted out late Feb (weather permitting of course). It's recommended that FE's get chitted and I put my to chit for about 3 weeks before planting out

Arran Pilot is a delicious spud. They have the advantage too that they can be grown on til they get big as they make fab jackets and mash  

[Sideways]

Thanks guys.

Question- Say you have bought an 'early', this crop will be ready first. What if you dont want to dig them up? Can you simply leave them in the ground to continue growing?

If yes, surely 'earlies' give you the best of both worlds, early and later crops?

[Sideways]

Arran Pilot is a delicious spud. They have the advantage too that they can be grown on til they get big as they make fab jackets and mash  

Ah, I think you just answered my second question! Cheers!

[compostqueen]

Prompted by your post I went to Wilko today and not a single spud.  I asked when they were getting them in but the staff didn't have a clue :roll:

Last year they had a huge choice and they did small bags of the salad potato varieties. Hoping to be able to get my hands on some Ratte. Just enough to plant up a tub.

[garddwr]

Prompted by your post I went to Wilko today and not a single spud.  I asked when they were getting them in but the staff didn't have a clue :roll:

Last year they had a huge choice and they did small bags of the salad potato varieties. Hoping to be able to get my hands on some Ratte. Just enough to plant up a tub.

Were all the other gardening things in ? Surley they can't be sold out by now ?

[woodburner]

Thanks guys.

Question- Say you have bought an 'early', this crop will be ready first. What if you dont want to dig them up? Can you simply leave them in the ground to continue growing?

If yes, surely 'earlies' give you the best of both worlds, early and later crops?

I'm prettty sure it depends on the variety. I had pentland Javelin (first early) and I definitely don't recommend leaving them til they mature. The surface was quick to disintegrate and was floury while the inside took a long time to cook.  :evil:

[DD.]

If you think about it, people wouldn't have bothered to classify spuds into these planting groups if there wasn't a good reason.

"Early" spuds will not neccessarily be of good culinary or storing quality if laft to grow large.

[Aidy]

I am going to disagree with everyone here, not for the first time, coz anarchy and chaos is my life    Depending on your soil type, you can leave them in the ground for the summer months, what you need to do is cut the hulm down to the top of the ridge once you are happy with the size of the tatie, this stops the tats getting bigger and spoiling, now there are few things to watch, weather, if its a wet summer then dig them up before they rot, more so on clay soils, the other problem is slug damage. Now I am blessed with a sandy soil so I clamp mine in the ground until I need them, slugs dont like sand and the rain just soaks straight through so I am a lucky person.

[pushrod]

do you know much about local soil pests? Apart from considering the merits of earlies against maincrop and taste you might need to consider which varieties are pest and disease resistant if you want to avoid disappointment. Whatever you do i would suggest planting several different types so that you don't put all your eggs (you know what i mean ) in one basket.

[matron]

Prompted by your post I went to Wilko today and not a single spud.  I asked when they were getting them in but the staff didn't have a clue :roll:

Last year they had a huge choice and they did small bags of the salad potato varieties. Hoping to be able to get my hands on some Ratte. Just enough to plant up a tub.

Were all the other gardening things in ? Surley they can't be sold out by now ?

At the weekend our Wilkos hadn't got the gardening stuff in yet. They were still trying to sell the Christmas trees etc. I am hoping they will be getting stuff in the next couple of weeks.
We don't usually plant our potatoes out until April and usually the latter half - too cold and wet before then.  :x