Chitting potatoes gives your spuds a head start, and is as easy as...well, as easy as putting some potatoes in an egg box in a cool light room.
I get an average of about 80 minutes a week to grow fruit and vegetables on my allotment. If you've also got limited time to grow your own, then come and visit me regularly on the 80 Minute Allotment.
This week's job doesn't need 80 minutes. It takes less than one (once you've bought your potatoes), leaving plenty of time to tackle those weeds that have started to grow again now that spring is arriving (at least here in South Wales).
And if warm weather is still a long way off where you are, even more reason to give your potatoes a head start by chitting them indoors.
What is chitting?
Chitting is simply leaving seed potatoes in a cool light place to develop sprouts/new shoots prior to planting them later in the spring.
Why chit potatoes?
Chitting encourages early growth and gets potatoes growing before you've planted them. It's a good idea if the soil is too cold or wet to plant outside. It means you can get started indoors.
Just as you might sow certain seeds indoors or under cover before it is warm enough for them to develop outside, you can do the same with potatoes. They'll alread have some shoots started before you plant them out. Plant them outside too early in the year and it would take them much longer to get started.
It's especially useful for early varieties which are intended to be harvested in early summer, but less important for main crops since they can be planted later anyway after the soil has warmed up and dried out a bit.
Just as you might sow certain seeds indoors or under cover before it is warm enough for them to develop outside, you can do the same with potatoes. They'll alread have some shoots started before you plant them out. Plant them outside too early in the year and it would take them much longer to get started.
It's especially useful for early varieties which are intended to be harvested in early summer, but less important for main crops since they can be planted later anyway after the soil has warmed up and dried out a bit.
You don't need a large garden or allotment to grow potatoes - I'm growing mine in containers:
Related: Planting potatoes in a bag
Is chitting potatoes essential?
How to start growing potatoes indoors
Buy some seed potatoes from you local garden centre or other supplier. I'm growing the same varieties as I did last year, because they were super tasty. They are an early variety called "Sharpe's Express" and a main crop variety called "International Kidney".
All you need to do is stand them in an egg box somewhere nice and light and cool but frost free, out of direct sunlight. A temperature of about 10C (50F) is ideal.
Look carefully and you should see a small button like feature (see picture below). This should be placed downwards.
 |
| The button at the bottom of the seed potato. |
The opposite end to the "button" should have several knobbly bits on which are the beginnings of new shoots. Place these facing upwards.
 |
| The shoots at the top |
Stand them upright like this in an egg box or a tray, with the shoots facing upwards.
 |
| An egg box is perfect for storing chitting potatoes |
The potatoes are best planted when the shoots have grown to an inch (2.5cm) long, which should take about six weeks, but they can be planted at any length.
Plant them outside in the ground or in containers, and keep well watered.
Plant them outside in the ground or in containers, and keep well watered.
The aim is to get healthy green sprouts rather than pale and weak ones. Storing somewhere too warm and dark leads to pale weak shoots.
GREEN FINGERS TIP: Leave a maximum three shoots on each potato if you want larger potatoes - just rub off the others. For more potatoes but smaller ones, leave all the shoots on when planting.
GREEN FINGERS TIP: Leave a maximum three shoots on each potato if you want larger potatoes - just rub off the others. For more potatoes but smaller ones, leave all the shoots on when planting.When should I start chitting potatoes?
In most of the UK, usual planting time for the first potatoes is early/mid April - around Easter time so the end of February or early March is the time to start chitting them in readiness.
If your climate means you can't plant potatoes until later, work back six weeks from when the ground will be suitable for planting - when temperatures will have increased and the ground is easy to dig.
GREEN FINGERS TIP: Most varieties of potato need 3 to 4 months of frost free conditions and grow best at temperatures of 15C to 19C (60-65F) Click here to Subscribe by Email and you'll get regular updates on how I use my time, in short sessions of two hours or less. I'll show you how growing your own can fit into a busy lifestyle and still produce regular harvests of fresh fruit and vegetables all year round.
Pin for reference:
Follow on Instagram
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.