chooklady Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I bought a couple of bags of seed potatoes last weekend. When should I start to prepare them for planting and what should I do for best results? I have only had one previous attempt at growing potatoes which wasn't that successful! I bought i bag of first earlies and one main crop. Looking forward to your replies. Thanks Nicola Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I would start chitting them early feb. Not doing spuds myself as for the last 4 years I have harvested less than I planted. Good luck. Sage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 You need to lay them out somewhere light and frost free but cool, so that the eyes can grow into small sturdy green shoots. There is a fair amount of debate about how important this is, we didn't bother last year, our spuds sat in paper bags from the end of January until mid April ( which is quite late) when we planted them all both earlies and mains at the same time. We had the best crop ever You do get long stringy shoots this way which will easily break off and the potatoes can go mouldy like this. The most important thing to do is give them manure, chicken pellets or other fertiliser in the hole when you plant them and keep them well watered especially when the flower buds are forming because this is when the tubors start to swell. We lined our trenches last year with old bark chipping which we had taken out of the chicken run the previous autumn, they seemed to like those, but it did make them more inclined towards a scaley skin condition called scab, which is unsighly but doesn't affect the flavour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I don't chit mine there is an argument for doing earlies but not mains Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowcloud Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I experimented last year - I chitted half of the seed potatoes and left the others alone. I planted them in Feb and they all came up exactly the same . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 All very interesting, thanks for your replies so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiltshiremum Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I usually use egg boxes to chit them in. Pop one in each hole and leave on a window sill for a couple of weeks. We usually do 3 potato planting bags on the patio. I like to try different varieties - usually waxy salad ones as those are the more expensive ones in the supermarket! hth Becky x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've just put mine out to chit on a sunny bedroom windowsill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
