[DD.]

Leave them alone. They know what they're doing!

[sunshineband]

I'm chitting my first ever potatoes this year, and they all seem to be sprouting nicely.  The other day my mother asked if i was misting them with water.  Is this something i should be doing, or is it better to leave them?

Leave them 

never done this and never needed to, so..... one job less to worry about 

[Aunt Sally]

If you mist them with water they'll probaly go mouldy 

[Benandbill]

Well blow me down with a feather!!  I've been palnting mine with the chits facing down as someone told me it's best to do it that way as you don't get too many spuds growing close to the surface and going green.  I'm going to do them upwards from now onand make sure spacing allows me to earth them over well 

[casper]

 After examining my potato seeds the colour I thought was white is actually green. The colour on the site I was on was green too. I should go to specsavers. The site is http://themoderngardener.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/chitting-pretty-and-other-puns/

I hope these are ok specimens because mine look like this!!!!!   

[mattwragg94]

yeh they are fine!

[casper]

Yay thanks 

[stompy]

I have never chitted my spuds and have always had a good crop.

Am i right in thinking it just speeds up harvesting time from planting?

[Ice]

I have never chitted my spuds and have always had a good crop.

Am i right in thinking it just speeds up harvesting time from planting?

Yes, that's really all it does.  Sometimes don't bother myself but this year I am surprisingly organised and they are on the windowsill.

[mumofstig]

Once the seed potato has started growing chits it's on a countdown to harvest.

However, I've found whether I want to chit them or not, they will start to chit. So you may as well set them up so that the chits they make are short and strong, rather than long and weak which is what you get if you just leave them in a bag or box  

[stompy]

I am never organised, nor do i have enough time to be with a young family   

Thats why i never chit, i usually end up getting my spuds when it's planting time 

[Fisherman]

No need to mist, I never have nor do I rub any of the sprouts off and have always had good crops. Unless planting under glass or in a polytunnel I don't plant first earlies until around the 1st April as we are prone to late frosts in my area. Don't forget that spuds thrive on well rotted manure and compost. Better to prepare you're ground well rather than to faf about rubbing chits off and misting in my opinion.

I'm not sure chitting makes that much difference but I always do it. I feel an experiment coming on

[Kim50]

Always chit, 2 early and one main happily chitting away.  I dig holes rather than a trench, seems to work for me..

[Gandan57]

Because seed spuds are rarely spherical, and chits are young roots and shoots I lay them on their sides on a layer of compost and gently cover up - some chits will be up, some sideways, and some down, but they soon sort themselves out! 

If I were using a dibber rather than a trench I'd drop them in chits up, as DD says, and for the same reason.

   

Sorry I disagree with you there JayG. A chit is just the shoot not roots. Once the tuber is planted in moisture the roots develop downwards from the chits as they grow upwards.

[mattwragg94]

are you sure gandan, i always thought the little bumps under the chitt where the roots starting to form?