On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 07:23:59 GMT, Gary wrote:

~On 1/27/05 9:09 AM, in article , "jane"
wrote:
~
~ On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 07:18:32 GMT, Gary wrote:
~
~ ~On 1/24/05 7:54 AM, in article ,
~ ~"jane" wrote:
~ ~
~ ~ On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:14:00 GMT, Janet Baraclough
~ ~ wrote:
~ ~
~ ~ ~The message
~ ~ ~from jakalad contains these words:
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ I was interested in Janes comments on the question of International
~ Royal
~ ~ ~ kidneys and in particular the advise that the new potatoe must be picked
~ at
~ ~ ~ an early stage. I grew Arran pilots last year and suffered from very
~ ~ ~ floury potatoes. Their boiling properties appeared to improve slightly
~ ~ ~ with peeeling but in general they were a flop as a new potatoe
~ particularly
~ ~ ~ if left with the skin on. I put the problem down to a bad choice of seed
~ ~ ~ but I am now wondering if I simply lifted them too late. Jak
~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ I grew Arran Pilot the year before last, just because we'd moved to
~ ~ ~Arran where they were bred, and found them very disappointing at every
~ ~ ~stage. Now I've reverted to my all-time favourite Estima which I can
~ ~ ~recommend as a delicious baby new potato and also as a whopping old
~ ~ ~potato (we're still eating last years crop).
~ ~
snip
~ ~
~ ~ Chitting starts this weekend...
~ ~
~ ~Chitting?????? Vell vot dos this mean? Dis verd chitting?
~ ~
~
~ I get ze feeling somevon is taking ze Michael.
~'Taking ze Michael'? Vot doz dat mean? Dis 'taking ze Michael'?
~
~ :-)
~
~ (seriously, don't you let spuds grow shoots before you plant them out?
~ Or are techniques rather different in the freezing wastes of .ca?)
~
~Is that what 'chitting' means-to let spuds develop shoots before planting?
~And by the 'vay...zee koldt ees ont the East koast nut ont zee Vest koast in
~.ca

ah - vas not aware of *vot* location you had in .ca Zorry

~To answer your question...potatoes when in the sun will turn green and there
~will be an awakening of the seed...the buds will start. Should they not get
~enough sun they will 'reach' for it and develop long shoots. I was told a
~long time ago (last weekg) to break them (long sprouts) off before
~planting and I think the person who told me had an English accent.
~I have my spud seeds set up in a window that has the most direct sunlight. I
~want them to awaken but not develop long shoots. They were in the fridge and
~were sprouting there and I took them out and put in the sunniest spot I
~have. I want short stubby shoots not long spindly ones.
~Comments welcome on this theory.
~

Almost. Your friend was a bit out...
General chitting theory goes that you can bring forward cropping by a
couple of weeks if you start the tubers into growth before the outside
conditions are warm enough to plant out. This is best done by keeping
them in a cool but light place, which has the effect as you say of
producing short, stubby and above all *green* shoots. Often these are
a bulbous knob with tiny leaves at the top. To this end you put the
tubers into eggboxes or modules, rose end up. This is the end of the
spud opposite the tiny scar where it was joined onto the mother plant,
and is where there is the greatest number of eyes. They should be
about an inch long when you plant out, and experts seem to recommend
keeping three shoots in general.

Some folk say it doesn't matter if you don't chit. But the one thing
they do agree on is that if you snap off already-growing shoots, you
take away energy from the seed and the secondary shoots which will
eventually grow will not be as strong and growth is delayed, defeating
the object of chitting! So don't snap off long sprouts if you get them
- try to keep them on while planting (though this won't be as easy as
for short ones).

I learned a few new tips at the potato day today too. If you have a
variety eg Ratte that grows loads of tiny tubers rather than decent
large ones, you are best using the plant's own tendency to have
'apical dominance', that is, to put most energy into one stem. Rub off
all shoots apart from the strongest one and plant it exactly upright
in the trench. For ones that tend to grow too large eg Kestrel, do the
opposite (lay on side, keep as many shoots on as possible).

I'll need to hunt out my notebook for the others... but I've never
seen so many folk scrabbling for spuds in my life! It was a scrum!

(And I now have 67 tubers of 11(!) varieties laid out to chit...
wooops. Though only 7 were impulse buys...)


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!