Home > Projects >

How to Chit Potatoes

You will need: Seed Potatoes, Seed Tray, Egg Box

Chitting is the practice of encouraging potatoes to start to shoot before you plant them. It makes it easier to pick good potatoes to plant and helps them get off to a rapid start. Buying seed potatoes each year is preferable to saving your own, as you always have fresh, clean stock.

Best time to do it:

Step 1

Use fresh, healthy tubers each year and discard any that show signs of rot or damage.

Step 2

Each of these 'eyes' will grow into a stem that will feed the root system and encourage lots of delicious potatoes.

Step 3

Put the potatoes in a seed tray or egg box to chit, with the end showing the most eyes uppermost.

Step 4

Place them in a cool, frost-free, well-lit spot to let the eyes develop. Once they are around 1cm long, the potatoes are ready to be planted out. Keep them the same way up as you plant and they will soon start to grow.

Related FAQs

Ask a gardening question:

Latest Gardening News

Hosepipe Bans Continue Across Southern England

Autumn Estate Tractor and Trailer Tours launched at Blenheim Palace

Give the Gift of Nourishment to Garden Birds This Christmas With Peckish and Gardman

Essential Gardening Jobs for Late Summer

Gardening Projects for November

---

How to Pot Amaryllis

How to Make a Bird Feeder

How to Make Leaf Mould

How to Protect a Climber

Latest Gardening Videos

---

How can I stop my roses suffering from wind-rock?

When and how should I prune a jostaberry?

Moving House and Taking the Garden with You | Garden Ideas | Val Bradley

How should I overwinter a potted Canna lily?

Digging Up Sweet Potatoes

How do I protect container plants from the cold?

All Videos

Explore Gardens from Around the World

Powerscourt Gardens
Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

RHS Garden, Wisley
Woking, United Kingdom

Pamplemousses Botanical Garden
Pamplemousses, Mauritius

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, United Kingdom

Lalbagh Botanical Garden
Bangalore, India

Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens
Tokyo, Japan