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Chit and seed potatoes

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  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Thanks for the thought, Dove, but, in this remote corner, the only 'someone' is my OH.  Only the two of us know where the key is to the solid concrete structure so it's back to Ratty.
  • Yup … sounds like he’s the obvious suspect then. 

    When we took on a smallholding years ago we found that under the seemingly sound concrete floor of the poultry shed there was a network of tunnels … stuffed with scores of eggs!!! 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109
    Not something I ever grow @nick615, as we don't eat many,  but I thought you weren't meant to use spuds out the supermarket for chitting/growing? Isn't it to do with potential viruses?
    I'm sure @Dovefromabove will be able to confirm or refute that. 

    Or have I got it wrong and you mean seed pots from the supermarket for growing? 

    Bit of a pain having the others eaten though. Always some b*gger looking for a free meal eh ?  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 23,996
    @Fairygirl is right, advice is only to use seed potatoes certified as free from disease. Though, I would have thought eatable potatoes would be disease free as they have grown to a size and quality suitable for sale?
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,128
    edited February 2023
    There is a risk from using non-certified seed potatoes … but if they are commercially grown by reputable growers such as those who supply the major supermarkets the risk isn’t huge, as the growers don’t grow potatoes repeatedly in the same fields, to guard against virus build up. 

    The real risk comes when a small grower or gardener saves some of their own crop each year to plant the following year as was once commonly done  … this can result in a virus  build up in the stock … and in the soil if the area isn’t large enough to practice effective crop rotation. 

    So while using certified virus-free seed potatoes is best practice, using supermarket potatoes once in a while isn’t usually disastrous… and sometimes ‘needs must’. 
    😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109
    Thanks @Dovefromabove - I knew you'd know  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,128
    edited February 2023
    @Fairygirl I was once standing looking at potatoes in Tesco’s when a shopper came up to me and asked several questions about different sorts of potatoes. After I’d answered her questions she said … ‘You look like the sort of person who’d know about potatoes.’
    i know my brother’s a potato farmer … but I’d not realised that it showed 🤪

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,109
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • I'd not mind so much, but I'd got my best 'social work going to court' outfit on ...  :p

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    The ones I now have are seed Maris Piper and Supermarket Wilsons = Belt @ Braces, but thanks for the advice all.
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