Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes
Gardeners Can Learn A Lot About How Farmers Go About Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes. the Principles Are Similar.
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Accepted the scale is different, but the potatoes don’t know if they are being grown in an allotment, garden or large farm. In this case it is a large farm with large equipment. And they are growing early Jersey Royals. But the first scenes shows a nearly emerged crop of organic potatoes being grown in polytunnels. The principle is exactly the same as what I do in my greenhouse. It’s still all about Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes.
Dispersing Potato Myths
So often gardeners tell me that farmer never chit potatoes. I’m told it id because the machinery can’t handle chit potatoes and that farmers can’t be faffed. It’s a total myth.
Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes
In this video the opening scenes shows organic Jersey Royals being ridged with a crawler. An earlier video shows the chatted tubers being planted by hand, several ton were planted by hand. In later videos the steep sided cotils are shown being planted with chitted seed potatoes. Again the planting is by hand to prevent damage to the crop. In this case the chitting stage is quite advanced, the chits are quite “big”. Later in the video below chitted potatoes are being planted by machines. One is belt driven and one cup driven. In both cases the chitting stage is less advanced. The chits are very small, almost microscopic in some cases. But they have been chitted.
Many gardeners think chitting means getting large sprouts on potatoes. It doesn’t. In means bringing the dormant tuber out of dormant into growth. In the early stages, when dormancy breaks, there are no obvious visible signs. But they have been chit! Later the tuber goes through various stages from small chit to larger chit. Elsewhere I have written a summary of the research into potato chitting research .. just in case there are gardeners who still think farmers don’t do it!
🥔 Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes: Video Summary
🌱 Organic Potatoes in Tunnels: The crops in the organic tunnels have grown well over the last few weeks, though slight unevenness is observed due to overhead irrigation differences. The tubers were chatted before planting and hand planted to ensure the chits survived. Machine planting would have caused too much damage.
🚜 Weed Management: The crop is being ridged to eliminate small weeds, which is essential in organic farming.
🌿 Wind Damage Repair: Some tunnels had to be re-covered after slight wind damage.
🏗 Planting Operations: In the fields English salad varieties are being planted under favourable conditions using the Miedima Structural 2000 and Grimme GL 32f planters.
🔄 Spacing & Uniformity: Proper spacing is crucial for uniform growth and harvesting; challenges arise due to variations in seed sizes.
🌾 Cover Crops & Grazing: Italian Ryegrass was planted after the barley harvest to improve soil health and provide grazing for young livestock. This is a short term crop and will improve soil structure before ploughing for the next crop.
⛈ Weather Concerns: Precautionary steps were taken to cover fields before heavy rains, as strong winds can disrupt the plastic coverings. The plastic film used advances growth and hence harvest date. Early crops make more money than later crops so the plastic, though expensive, is an economic necessity (and UK shoppers want early new potatoes). The plastic is reused or recycled after first use.
Chitting, Planting, Growing & Managing Early Potatoes: The Video
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