To start root growth on seed potatoes, encourage sprouting by ‘chitting’ them.
What exactly is chitting?
Chitting is the process by which you put the seed potatoes in shallow trays or in an egg box, ‘eye-end’ up, in a light, cool place – near a window at around 4°C.
Usually there are eyes on both ends but the end you want uppermost has the most eyes. As long as they are frost-free, a spare bedroom, attic, cold greenhouse or garage make suitable places to keep your potatoes while they begin sprouting.potatoes
Crumple newspaper to put under the potatoes to keep them standing upright. Green shoots should start to appear after a week or two. The shoots should be sturdy and about 25mm (1 inch) long when they are ready for planting.
On some early potatoes, shoots can grow too long before you are ready to plant them so keep the potatoes in cool darkness instead to slow their development. As planting time comes closer bring them into the light.
There is an ongoing debate about whether or not chitting is really necessary but most people agree that it does give early potatoes a head start. An added advantage is that you’ll see which are inferior or diseased so they can be discarded rather than being planted, as they are likely to rot during the chitting process.