Chitting Potatoes: What's your approach?

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Moderator
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,347
Reaction score
2,836
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
@Oliver Buckle mentioned in another thread that he had started chitting potatoes.

I've asked him to share with us here how he goes about doing that in UK....and hoping others will also share their approach to getting their seed potatoes ready for planting.

Tell us your approach to chitting potatoes, please.
 

Oliver Buckle

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2021
Messages
4,202
Reaction score
2,705
Country
United Kingdom
I have a collection of trays that held stuff like fancy biscuits in compartments and I put them one to a compartment with the eyes upwards as far as I can see . I check as they sprout. Then they stand on the window sill in the sun room.
 

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Moderator
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,347
Reaction score
2,836
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
Same here for me in Texas.

I try to start chitting about 4 weeks before time to plant. You don't want to start too early, or plants may be exposed to temp damage or start too late with plants getting off to a slow start.

Chitting, in my experience, can lead to an earlier crop, stronger plants, and more uniform sprouting.

Once chitted and a couple of days prior to planting, I cut the seed potatoes into chunks making sure to have multiple eyes in each one. I like to coat the cuts with Sulphur to prevent rot and let them dry out good. Some use wood ash to coat the cut but that can raise ph which needs to be in the 5-6 range.

It's getting that time of year in many places....any more tips to help beginners with planting potatoes?
 

gary350

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
484
Reaction score
373
Location
Middle Tennessee
Country
United States
It typically takes 1 month at about 74° F for seed potatoes in cold storage to break dormancy, that can vary from 2 weeks to 6 weeks depending when commercial growers get potatoes in bags then shipped them to stores for sale.

I buy grocery store potatoes Jan 1st because our local garden supply stores sometimes have no seed potatoes for sale until several weeks past the date seed potatoes should have been planted in my garden.

I place seed potatoes on a large table in a sunny window on the north side of the house. Potatoes need to be in bright shade for eyes to sprout. If dormancy has already been broken potatoes might start sprouting in 2 weeks. If dormancy is not broken it takes 6 weeks for potatoes to start sprouting.

I set potatoes in cardboard tray with eyes pointed at the sunny window. Sprouts will be short stubby things with many root nubs looking for wet soil to grow in.

March 1st is potato planting day in TN but if garden is mud I can not plant, seed potatoes rot in cold mud. Fall I need to remember to till 3" of sawdust into the soil then hill soil up 3" high so there is no mud. If rain is in the forecast I need to wait until soil is dryer. I like to plant seed potatoes sooner than March 15 if possible.

======================================================================

New potatoes are like tiny jacks that have to lift heavy soil up so seed potatoes can grow larger. 1 new potato does not have much lifting power but 20 new potatoes has a lot of lifting power. Do not be afraid to over crowd seed potatoes.

I do not cut seed potatoes. I plant seed potatoes with a minimum of 5 eyes or more per seed potato. Each eye grows 1 plant and each white color potato will grow 1 lb. of new potatoes. Red potatoes will grow 2 to 4 lbs. of new potatoes for each plant. A white seed potato with 5 plants will grow 5 lbs. of new potatoes. Red seed potato with 5 eyes will grow 10 or more lbs. of new potatoes.

I plant 5, 6, 7, 8 eye seed potatoes 6 inches apart. If I have 2 eye and 3 eye seed potatoes I plant them about 3" apart.

My rows are 30 ft long 32" apart. Till the soil then rake it flat and level. I sprinkle 1 lb. of 15-15-15 fertilizer on each 30 ft row then set seed potatoes on the soil surface in a straight line push seed potato down 1" so half of the potatoes stay above the soil. Rake 3" to 4" of soil over the tops of the seed potatoes. Your soil seldom freezes more than 1" deep 3" of soil protection works good for us.

When green plants are 6" tall sprinkle 1 lb. of 5-20-20 fertilizer on each 30' row, rake soil hill up 3" higher. Every time plants are 6" rake soil up another 3". TN spring weather we have rain 6 days a week March to last week of May. Rain every day will not hurt green plants or new potatoes. If we have odd weather with NOT much rain I use 2 potatoes hills side by side like an irrigation ditch put garden hose in the center and turn it on. Shovel some soil at the ends of the 2 rows to make a dam so irrigation water does not escape.

Rake soil hills up to about 10" high. We often have too much rain it washes my 10" hills down to about 8" or less. Feed each row of plants 1 lb. of 5-20-20 fertilizer every 2 weeks.
When green plants turn yellow stop all water and let plants die.

====================================================================

If you sprout seed potatoes in the dark you get 100s of spindly stems, this is not the best way to grow seed potatoes but it will work. This year we has crazy hot 85° weather until mid December I had NO place cold to make my seed potatoes go dormant. 74° inside the house was better than 80+ outside in the shed. Soon as we had cold weather my seed potatoes were moved outside but too late now they are trying to grow plants. OH well not much of a big deal seed potatoes will still grow. There is nothing wrong with breaking off all those tall skinny sprouts and forcing the potato to grow new eyes with roots. Eyes with roots gives you a fast start growing green plants.


p1.JPG
101_0630.jpg
101_0629.jpg
 
Last edited:

Oliver Buckle

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2021
Messages
4,202
Reaction score
2,705
Country
United Kingdom
I was going through looking at random potato stuff on YouTube, and there were a couple of guys doing 'Potato reveals' where they had grown in pots and were turning them out. There was one growing Pentland javelin who had about a dozen potatoes, the largest wouldn't have covered the palm of my hand, and I have small hands, and the smallest were around an inch diameter, I think he got about a pound off the plant. The plant was green, growing and healthy looking and he said it was ten weeks, and should be ready. I wouldn't touch it until 12-13 weeks, maybe as long as 15, even for a first early. He said 'We shall be enjoying these tonight, I think my missus would have quietly got rid of most of them in the bottom of the compost bin.
Saw one video with someone comparing ways of growing, except he wasn't growing all the same variety. Trenching seems like extra work nowadays, the soil is okay, why not just make a hole? however, he was doing much better with potatoes in a 19" hole than ones in a 5" hole, and yes, he earthed both up, might try planting a bit deeper this year.
 

Oliver Buckle

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2021
Messages
4,202
Reaction score
2,705
Country
United Kingdom
My sun room is separate from the rest of the house on three sides, so it won't get too warm, and they are on the North end of a window that takes all one wall facing slightly North of West, so a bit of evening sun, but not much this time of year. Summer potatoes, planted August for Oct. - Nov. don't get chitted. I am going to try quite a few in bags this year, might start some early in the greenhouse, and try moving a few summer ones in there late in the hope they will take me through to Christmas.
 

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Moderator
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,347
Reaction score
2,836
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
... he said it was ten weeks, and should be ready. I wouldn't touch it until 12-13 weeks, maybe as long as 15, even for a first early.
There is all kind of misinformation out there. I don't start to rob generally until about 12 weeks and harvest at 15 weeks subject to weather.

Ten weeks would be literally robbing your harvest for peanuts.
 

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Moderator
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,347
Reaction score
2,836
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
... Summer potatoes, planted August for Oct. - Nov. don't get chitted.
I have to chit, chit, chit my spring harvested potatoes to get them ready for late Aug. planting. I can't buy seed potatoes around here for fall and must depend on my own which I actually prefer anyway.

Harvested late May/early June, it takes some light to get them ready for planting by late Aug. and I can't wait any later than that to plant. I start end of July trying to wake them out of dormancy and it is usually touch and go.

Potatoes harvested in late December then serve as the seed for the next generation. Continuous supply...and it has taken me a few years to get the routine down pat for this location...but how wonderful it is to have your own home-grown potatoes year around.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2021
Messages
26
Reaction score
18
Location
Mansfield Woodhouse UK
Country
United Kingdom
I agree with some of the above comments. I always chit my seed potatoes. I put a thick plastic sheet on the floor in one of my spare bedrooms which has several windows hence a lot of necessary light turn the radiator off and put the potatoes in mushroom trays facing the windows. I chit about a month no longer before I set them. You need green or coloured chits not white ones. I appreciate it takes over a bedroom ( junk room ) for a month but the results are well worthwhile.
 

gary350

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
484
Reaction score
373
Location
Middle Tennessee
Country
United States
Most potatoes are 3 month crops. March=31. April=30. May=31. 31+30+31= 13 weeks 1 day.

If I sprout seed potatoes inside our house 74° for 2 months eyes with roots will be ready to plant March 1st. I can shorten a 13 week crop to 12 weeks I will have green plants coming up in 5 days. This might not be important to some people. Here in TN we have a very short spring our last frost is April 20 and we often have 95° weather May 20 and 100° June 1st. When our rain stops soil is dry as desert in 5 days in hot 100° temperatures. I would like to leave new potatoes in the soil for 2 more weeks but if soil becomes too hard that causes me a lot of extra hard work digging in harder soil. Last year when green plants were about 16" tall I covered my rows with 4" of dry dead pine tree needles for sun shade. I have 13 pine trees along the east side of the yard, I have lots of free pine needles. Sun shade keeps the soil moist = larger potatoes.
 
Last edited:

Meadowlark

No N-P-K Required
Moderator
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
3,347
Reaction score
2,836
Location
East Texas
Hardiness Zone
old zone 8b/new zone 9a
Country
United States
Looking back through the archives, I found this post from old friend @Durgan advocating chitting in potting soil,

"This year I placed some in a small pot filled with my seedling soil. The soil was just slightly damp. The potatoes grew green sprouts in about two to three weeks. Far greater growth than simply chitting without the soil. The soil in some cases was too wet and the potatoes rotted in the pots, so just damp is the criteria."

If running late, this might be a way to speed things up a bit.
 

gary350

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
484
Reaction score
373
Location
Middle Tennessee
Country
United States
Looking back through the archives, I found this post from old friend @Durgan advocating chitting in potting soil,

"This year I placed some in a small pot filled with my seedling soil. The soil was just slightly damp. The potatoes grew green sprouts in about two to three weeks. Far greater growth than simply chitting without the soil. The soil in some cases was too wet and the potatoes rotted in the pots, so just damp is the criteria."

If running late, this might be a way to speed things up a bit.

I tried sprouting seed potatoes in pots once. I bought 16 oz plastic drink cups then made 8 drain holes in the bottom of all the cups. I mixed garden soil with compost material to make a good soil. I filled cups 1/2 full of soil then the seed potato then fill cut to top with soil. Pack soil down 1/2 so I can water cups and no water flows over the tops. I had a few plants growing tops in 1 week. Little by little more plants grew. Soon I had plants that are 10" tall that are not getting enough sunlight. I had a variety of different size plants. I pulled some of the 10" plants from the cup and noticed many white color roots growing against the cup that were unable to spread out 6" in all direction. As it turned out10" plants had there growing cycle screwed up by not being allowed to grow roots. I planted all the 10" plants in the garden we had not had last frost yet. I covered plants with 5 gallon buckets every night to protect them from freezing. April 20 can no more frost plants were allowed to grow. Time came to dig new potatoes the 10" ones had grown 30" tall and had none or few new potatoes. Some how I screwed up the life cycle of the plants.

I think new potatoes under the soil are protected from freezing and as cold slowly becomes a few degrees warmer that regulates the growth of all the seed potatoes planted in the garden.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Staff online

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
28,180
Messages
268,162
Members
14,952
Latest member
CuriousPenguin

Latest Threads

Top