http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IBXNL 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.