[elroy]

hi been away for two weeks and returned to find my early potatoes had 6 inch sprouts on them . r they ok to plant or should i snip them down .

[DD.]

You can rub them off and let them chit again.

Mind you, it'll soon be time to plant anyway. Whereabouts do you have them chitting?

[Yorkie]

They are likely to break off on planting so I would break them off with your hands now.

You don't have to wait for new chits to grow if you want to plant them soon.

Out of interest, where did you have them chitting?

Edit: Snap!

[elroy]

i had them in the garage covered with newspaper. possibly been to warm ? thanks for the advice.

[Yorkie]

No.  Too dark.  They need a cool light place.  That's why the chits were 6" long - they were desperately trying to find light!

[elroy]

ah right, thanks for the tip, i'll cut back the shoots to about an inch

[JayG]

ah right, thanks for the tip, i'll cut back the shoots to about an inch

Don't trim them, just leave them (or rub them off - doesn't make much difference at this stage) and plant when you are ready - the seed spuds haven't got time to produce new ones before planting but the existing weak, white chits won't turn into good ones now whatever you do with them.

[Taistealaiche]

hi been away for two weeks and returned to find my early potatoes had 6 inch sprouts on them . r they ok to plant or should i snip them down .

According to research done by the Henry Doubleday Association some years ago, you tend to get a much larger crop if the sprouts are around 20cm (7 - 8 inches) long when planting! I haven't a clue how accurate this is.

[mumofstig]

According to research done by the Henry Doubleday Association some years ago, you tend to get a much larger crop if the sprouts are around 20cm (7 - 8 inches) long when planting! I haven't a clue how accurate this is.

have you got a link for that research?

[Taistealaiche]

have you got a link for that research?
[/quote]

Regretfully not. I read it in a book written by a well known organic gardener/writer here in NZ. I have to say that she also sounded a bit surprised, judging by the string of exclamation marks after that paragraph

[mumofstig]

I couldn't find anything on the web - Garden Organic (H D A's new name) agrees with short green chits

[Taistealaiche]

I couldn't find anything on the web - Garden Organic (H D A's new name) agrees with short green chits

Yes, I saw that too a few minutes ago. I might write to the author and ask her if she can point me to the research she quoted.

[A Reyt Tayty]

Last year, I was given some British Queen that had very long sprouts. It was a bit late (July) to plant them really, but I had a bit of space so I banged them in. I got quite a nice crop in September. Not a lot, but enough to make it worthwhile.