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

Bloom and Brilliance: The 2026 Harrogate Spring Flower Show

Royal Horticultural Society shares plants for birds as feeding advice changes

STIGA secures triple victory for Robotic Innovations and Digital Experience

Rhododendrons for non-acid soils

Gardening Projects for May

---

How to Maintain a container plant

How to grow a Blueberry in a Container

How to take Dahlia cuttings

How to: Lily Scaling

Latest Gardening Videos

---

Five Essential Tips for Growing Lemons

Training Sweet Peas

How to tie gooseberries and redcurrants

How can I get rid of mushrooms growing in my lawn?

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

How to Grow Perennial Scabius

All Videos

Explore Gardens from Around the World

The New York Botanical Garden
New York, United States

RHS Harlow Carr
Harrogate, United Kingdom

Lalbagh Botanical Garden
Bangalore, India

Missouri Botanical Garden
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
Tokyo, Japan

Villa d'Este Gardens
Tivoli, Italy