More on "chitting" Potatoes

 (To read a compilation of all our potato blogs, go to:
Can I plant potatoes from the grocery store? and

Sprouting Potatoes, What to Do?)

 If the potatoes you are "chitting" (exposing to sunlight before planting) already have extensive sprouts, and the sturdy central sprout has many small root-hairs coming off the sides, it's important that you remove those, otherwise you'll get many tiny potatoes instead of large ones. These smaller side-sprouts also hasten the dehydration of the potato and weaken its ability to thrive.

You can rub off the rootlets with your bare hands, they snap off easily. Ideally you will end up with a potato at least the size of a hen's egg with one or more strong sprouts growing out of it.
 

Potatoes on left have too many "sproutlets." On right they have been properly stripped of all but the central sprout.

If you missed the previous post on chitting potatoes, or would like to refer back to it, it was posted on our site on Tuesday March 9. To access our site, click here.