Chitting Potatoes

[Durgan]

26 April 2011 Chitting Potatoes 26 April 2011 Chitting Potatoes

Required are about 96 potato plants in the home garden. This year the chosen are All Red, Purple Viking, Green Mountain, and Pacific Russet. I expect about four pounds plus from each plant. The seed potatoes were chitted for about a month, and today were cut to give me around 24 of each type. They will be allowed to grow more in bright light and this also heals the cut surface prior to planting.

Chitting and cutting serves several purposes. Cutting reveals any poor quality potatoes, which may be discarded, and chitting indicates the viability of the tuber, and givers the tuber a good start when planted. The shoots are green when started in bright light, this is quite different from the shoots that form when the potato is kept in darkness. The desire is for the green shoots.

[monkeywrangler71]

Do I just cut them and set them out in the sun? Is that what chitting means?

[Durgan]

Do I just cut them and set them out in the sun? Is that what chitting means?

Cutting has nothing to do with chitting. Simply put a seed potato out in the Sun and they will grow green shoots.

Cutting the potato is simply trying to get more seed tubers from one potato, and then the potato is chitted.

Conversely one can simply plant the whole potato without chitting or cutting. The produce output is the same.

Durgan.

[mzpepper]

I've been chitting my potatoes (red potatoes and fingerlings) for about a week now. They are looking almost ready to plant I planted the Yellow Finns around St. Patty's Day and they are coming up now.