Potatoes need light to chit - my guess is that your pantry is dark - most are - pop them on your kitchen windowsill in egg trays - they'll soon start to chit.
By the way, chitting produces little stalks, not roots. The roots will grow after planting.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi, im no expert as this is my first attempt at potatoes - but i started chitting mine 15/02. they are maincrop Maris Piper, as you will read above and as youve said yourself they dont need to be chitted at all but i wasnt too sure about that at the time so set them in egg boxes anyway. hopefully they can be planted early april.
Potatoes need light to chit - my guess is that your pantry is dark - most are - pop them on your kitchen windowsill in egg trays - they'll soon start to chit.
By the way, chitting produces little stalks, not roots. The roots will grow after planting.
Dove, I've a window in the pantry so they've been sat by that. I'll take a photograph in the morning (working v. late tonight) and see what you think regarding their development.
I guess I'm just used to the ones I buy to eat going crazy that this lack of life worries me!
Not that big alas (my future mother in laws is a pantry to envy! Space for a chest freezer, shelves and you can around walk in it - or by accident shut the dog in it) especially as its full of fridge / freezer right now. I think the people who owned the house before us worked in the double glazing industry!
I hope you are all getting on well. Thanks again for your replies.Dove your photo came at just the right time. I was starting to wonder about mine The potatoes all look good. I did chit the maincrop in the end as it can only benefit them. I'll have to look in my diary to see when I started chitting. They look just like the photo so does that mean they are ready to plant out?
I had an allotment for a couple of years and one of the other plot holders always planted his potatoes on the 17th March. I don't know why, he just said he always planted them on that date no matter what the weather was like. Luck of the irish and all that!
If it's of any help, maybe you'd be interested to know that the commercial potato producer round here has just finished planting potatoes in the field at the back of my house. They don't chit them - any shoots would be knocked off during the mechanical planting process - so I guess they think now's the time to plant spuds for maximum yield. As far as I know they've planted a variety of maincrop potatoes, because I've been told that what they grow usually ends up as frozen chips!
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Hi Clari
Potatoes need light to chit - my guess is that your pantry is dark - most are - pop them on your kitchen windowsill in egg trays - they'll soon start to chit.
By the way, chitting produces little stalks, not roots. The roots will grow after planting.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi, im no expert as this is my first attempt at potatoes - but i started chitting mine 15/02. they are maincrop Maris Piper, as you will read above and as youve said yourself they dont need to be chitted at all but i wasnt too sure about that at the time so set them in egg boxes anyway. hopefully they can be planted early april.
Dove, I've a window in the pantry so they've been sat by that. I'll take a photograph in the morning (working v. late tonight) and see what you think regarding their development.
I guess I'm just used to the ones I buy to eat going crazy that this lack of life worries me!
Oooh, obviously a big pantry - deep envy here!
These from the T&M website http://www.thompson-morgan.com/expert-tips look perfect to me
and they're the right way up for planting
You want short fat sprouts, not long straggly ones.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Not that big alas (my future mother in laws is a pantry to envy! Space for a chest freezer, shelves and you can around walk in it - or by accident shut the dog in it) especially as its full of fridge / freezer right now. I think the people who owned the house before us worked in the double glazing industry!
Pipstrelle
My local Greasy Spoon cafe saved me loads of egg boxes as they do All Day Breakfasts and I am now providing lots to my neighbours on the A
Good luck
Hello again everyone
I hope you are all getting on well. Thanks again for your replies.Dove your photo came at just the right time. I was starting to wonder about mine
The potatoes all look good. I did chit the maincrop in the end as it can only benefit them. I'll have to look in my diary to see when I started chitting. They look just like the photo so does that mean they are ready to plant out?
I had an allotment for a couple of years and one of the other plot holders always planted his potatoes on the 17th March. I don't know why, he just said he always planted them on that date no matter what the weather was like. Luck of the irish and all that!
Lol! Well maybe I should try that, thanks taveren
If it's of any help, maybe you'd be interested to know that the commercial potato producer round here has just finished planting potatoes in the field at the back of my house. They don't chit them - any shoots would be knocked off during the mechanical planting process - so I guess they think now's the time to plant spuds for maximum yield. As far as I know they've planted a variety of maincrop potatoes, because I've been told that what they grow usually ends up as frozen chips!