There is on-going debate about whether to chit seed potatoes or not. Most allotment owners I speak to on my site and on social media will be chitting their potatoes. Whilst the majority of commercial growers do not chit before planting.
After doing lots of research, my view is that if you can give them a head start and increase the chance of having a better crop, then why wouldn’t you try it.
My Dobies seed potatoes arrived just over a week ago so I wanted to get them out the box this week to ensure they didn’t start growing long, weak sprouts.
I went for two varieties, Charlotte as my first early and Sarpo Mira as my main crop.
An RHS Award of Garden Merit winner, Charlotte potatoes are a latish first early salad type, producing good crops of medium sized pale yellow oval tubers that are waxy when young. Great beginner variety, good blight and scab resistance.
Sarpo Mira variety are described as red, oval, unprecedented blight resistance, good slug resistance, vigorous weed suppressing foliage and grows well in a wide range of soils.
Along with both having positive reviews, I decided these were good varieties to try for my first time.
Charlotte seed potatoes when first put out to ‘chit’
They have only been out a couple of days and the sprouts are looking stronger (shown below). I am aiming to plant the Charlotte variety on Easter Monday then the main crop a few weeks later, so they still have plenty of time to develop beforehand.
Who else has their potatoes ‘chitting’ on the window sill or in another cool, light space? What varieties have you chosen? Would love to hear your views.
Have a lovely weekend, rain or shine.