Chitting Potatoes

[Colin Miles]

The latest newsletter from Alan Romans has the following:

“Chitting” is no longer regarded as essential. It is a hangover from mid Victorian times when all varieties were late maincrops requiring a long growing season. Modern varieties have a shorter “biological clock” and if they are started early they finish early with loss of potential yield. Better to keep them cool with the smallest possible bud and plant into warm soil.

[oldherbaceous]

Following on from Colin, regarding Alan Romans newsletter, he also states that orders of seed potatoes are going to be held back until this hard freezing spell is over.

My point being, i think people need to be really careful when buying seed potatoes this year, to make sure that they haven't been frosted before you purchase them.

[Geoff]

Does he differentiate between Earlies and Maincrop? Surely "if they are started early they finish early" is exactly what you want in an Early rather than maximum yield.

[Cider Boys]

It always makes me chuckle when I read about the angst that potato chitting causes amongst some modern gardeners.

In an ideal world a little sprouting in light would give a slight start to the tuber and if I were growing early potatoes in a garden I may try to do this but what real advantage this gives is very debatable.

Personally I have not chitted (more correctly sprouted) potatoes before planting for years now. I appreciate that gardening allows you to be more careful in growing techniques than commercial growers but other that the Jersey boys who used to always chit their Royals I don't know of any other growers who bother with it nowadays. Potato growth is far more dependant on time of planting, soil and weather conditions rather than if you plant them with sprouts on or not.

Years of being perched on a potato planter grabbing tubers from a hopper after they had been poured in and dropping them down a shute convinced me that whatever sprouts may have been on them certainly weren't when they hit the bottom of the furrows.

Barney

[realfood]

For many varieties with a short dormancy period, you are forced to chit them as soon as they start to sprout in storage, even in an unheated outhouse. This winter is the worst that I can remember for sprouting, as it was so mild up to mid December.
I am looking to grow more long dormancy potatoes to get over this problem.

[Geoff]

Thanks Barney, I haven't been called modern for a while (if ever).
I buy my seed potatoes at the end of the January sale at the garden centre I use so I get 10% off. As I don't plant until March for Earlies or April for Maincrop I think the best storage method is on egg trays on a windowsill in an unheated bedroom, i.e. chitting them. If there are no negatives to this approach I'll probably continue. If it doesn't help with Earlies why did it start? Bit like the dig / no dig argument.

[Cider Boys]

Hello Geoff

I was not referring to anyone in particular on this forum when I mentioned the angst that many modern gardeners suffer where chitting is concerned. It was just an observation since I have grown and sold potatoes locally for years (now carried on by one of my sons), I used to get asked about it by young people interested in gardening. I have also noticed much discussion on gardening forums on the subject.

I am no expert, any views I give are out of some experience and a little learning only.

It is just that people have said to me things like "I hope my potatoes are OK because I didn't chit them like they say you should" or "I've had to throw my tubers out now because they have got long spindly sprouts and they say you mustn't let them get like this". Whoever are they anyway?

My point is that I have often planted potatoes in the above conditions with excellent results and since the sprouts long and spindly or as they say they should be get knocked off in the planting process it should not worry a gardener.

In Jersey potatoes were planted by hand so maybe it was worthwhile to sprout them but in my view the most important factor is soil temperature when planting.

I would be interested to learn what the experts now think about the benefits or not of sprouting.

However anyone reading this site's information could be forgiven if they thought that they were committing a sin if they did not chit.
http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/growing_show_ve ... tatoes.php

My experience tells me the benefits if any are very overated, but I would be interested in what others think.

All the best

Barney

[glallotments]

Does he differentiate between Earlies and Maincrop? Surely "if they are started early they finish early" is exactly what you want in an Early rather than maximum yield.

Alan Roman does go on to say

"It is always possible to bring on a small number of earlies for earliest possible crop by chitting in a warm room".

[Elle's Garden]

Stupid question of the day here.

I am still not quite clear from this thread if I should be bothering about chitting, but I took delivery of Anya seed potatoes from DT Brown this week. In the paperwork the instructions are to lay the potatoes out, blunt side up in a cool, light place away from direct sunlight to chit. As the Anyas are long, thin and nobbly, which would be the 'blunt' side? And do I even bother - should I just keep them cool and dark until I am ready to plant? So far I have laid them on their long sides in a seed tray on the bottom shelf of my unheated small greenhouse.

[glallotments]

I wouldn't agonise too much about it Elle. If many of us have continued chitting and aquired a good crop and many have not bothered and had a good crop - maybe it doesn't really matter one way or another.

Sometimes having received seed potatoes well before they are due to be planted means that chitting is inevitable.

[Johnboy]

I only grow early potatoes on my plot and have used Maris Bard for more years than I care to remember and I never chit them and have not chitted any potatoes for around 30 years.
Having said this I was watching 'Countryfile' last evening and the chitting of Jersey Royals (International Kidney Potato) came up.
As many people have tried in recent years to grow International Kidney and have been disappointed with the yield. It now appears that the IK sends out only one sprout which would account for the low yield.
In Jersey they overcome this by removing the single sprout and then placing them out to chit. By removing the single sprout it induces the plant to go into survival mode and it then sends up as many as four sprouts in response. These are graded according to size and the amount of sprouts they have produced. The more sprouts you have the larger of the yield. They are still planted by hand to protect the sprouts.
The other problem that has been mentioned over the years is the taste.
Nobody seems to manage to get the taste of Jersey Royals. It would appear that they are composted with seaweed which probably accounts for their unique flavour. Sadly, unless you live by the sea, there is very little most gardeners can do about this. My advice is not to leave them to grow any larger than a hens egg before lifting.
JB.

[Geoff]

I found that interesting as well. Did you notice they save their own seed and to do it they save 20%. Does that suggest a low yield of 5 tubers per root.

[Johnboy]

Hi Geoff,
They certainly do not get that many to the plant do they. When you consider it they would have to save their own seed and they also sell seed potatoes to the rest of us. I suspect most of the International Kidney seed is grown on Jersey.
I grow Maris Bard and get appreciably more to the plant. I find that Maris Bard have the flavour that many of the newer early varieties seem to lack.
JB.

[Geoff]

I went to buy my seed potatoes today, with all my fertilisers and the like while they were still 10% off in the January sale, but was disappointed to find they had sold out of Maris Bard (at least the display was empty).
There is a limited test of 15 varieties of Earlies in Gardeners World magazine (MB not included) where they grew two tubers of each variety in a bag. The 1,2,3 for yield were Vales Emerald, Premiere, Puritan but the 1,2,3,4 for flavour were Lady Christl, Mimi, Red Duke of York, Vales Emerald so they declared VE the winner.
So based on my past results and this I bought Rocket (35 tubers for £2.40), Red Duke of York (45 tubers for £2.30) and Vales Emerald (10 tubers for £1.60) with Maris Piper for maincrop (45 tubers for £1.80). They had no Charlotte either so when I find those (I will never go without those) I might get some Maris Bard as well and persuade the neighbour he really needs to try some Earlies!

[Johnboy]

Hi Geoff,
Somehow I find the more modern earlies rather tasteless and being that I am growing to please myself taste is foremost in my mind and yield doesn't really come into the equation.
Some years back I was slated on this forum for even suggesting Maris Bard because it was said that they were too attractive to slugs. I can assure people that I have at least more than my fair share of slugs and that whereas I do get the odd amount of slug damaged potatoes it is nothing out of the ordinary. I suspect that if a slug resistant variety was produced the first thing to suffer would be the taste. I have yet to dig a potato when it was not usable in some shape or form. I think that over watering could also attract slugs to the area. I am not saying don't water but simply keep it in within the bounds of keeping the plants healthy and not as farmers do to increase the weight of their yield. To my mind this practice should be stopped because it is really quite dishonest.
As I have said previously I do not water but probably my annual rainfall is considerably more than say Peter's in Hertfordshire. Certainly if I thought that my crop needed a drink they would surely get it.
JB.