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Overly chitted potato advice

mneale_75mneale_75 Posts: 7
in Fruit & veg
Hi all

i received several bags of seed potatoes at the beginning of Feb, which I have kept in the dark somewhere cold. Just went to get them to start chitting aiming to plant next weekend or at Easter and it’s like day of the triffids. All the potatoes have 10” or longer shoots on them.

what’s the best thing to do? Plant them out now as they are, or do some pruning, or what?

Last year didn’t receive my seed potatoes until end of April and didn’t have this problem.

Thanks for any guidance.
Michael

Posts

  • ColinAColinA Posts: 392
    Pull the longest shoots off
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    The longest ones will break off as soon as you try to plant them anyway. Put them in the light, out of the sun, tidy up the longest ones and give the rest some time to green up a bit for a couple of weeks. It's too early to plant them out yet, unless you live somewhere very mild - early April is usually soon enough
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    I have the same issue,  I have set them in trays, in the light to green  up. I think the mild late January early February is to blame.  
    AB Still learning

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I got mine very early too (late January) but put them in good light in an unheated but frost-free room (ie I started chitting them immediately) and they are looking OK:




    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Sorry, I meant to add that it's better to keep them in light rather than dark, as long as they are kept cool.  If kept in the dark, they may think they're buried underground and hence the formation of long shoots.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • mneale_75mneale_75 Posts: 7
    Thanks for the replies. Longs shoots have been removed, and potatoes are now sitting in egg boxes to chit before planting 
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