Chitting Potatoes: What, Why, and How?

What does “chitting” potatoes mean?

Chitting potatoes is just a fancy way of saying your spud is growing sprouts before it is even in the soil. It is sometimes referred to as greensprouting.

Ever forget about a potato in your pantry and find it growing several alien-looking tentacles? Then you’ve already had practice with chitting potatoes!

Why chit potatoes?

Now that we know chitting is simply the process of sprouting your seed potatoes before planting, you might be wondering why you should bother doing it. Commercial potato farmers certainly don’t, as it wouldn’t be practical for them.

While chitting is not an essential step in growing potatoes, it does give them a head start and can decrease the time from planting to harvest by up to 2 weeks! In a family garden, space is at a premium, so knowing that I can harvest those potatoes sooner and get something else growing in that space is beneficial. Not to mention it is fun and exciting to have an indoor gardening project while we’re waiting for spring!

How to Chit Potatoes:

Alright, so you know the “what” and “why” of chitting potatoes, now onto the “how!”

Step 1: Choose your seed potatoes.

I used both certified seed potatoes from a local nursery and some leftover potatoes that I saved from the previous year’s harvest. You may be able to use organic potatoes from the grocery store, but you risk not knowing that they are certified disease free. Inorganic grocery store spuds are usually treated with something that inhibits them from sprouting, so they are not ideal candidates for chitting.

These are the potatoes I’m trying to grow this year:

• Red Norland
• Yukon Gold
• Russet
• Purple Majesty
• Kennebec

Step 2: Begin chitting your potatoes about 3-4 weeks before planting out in the garden.

I plant potatoes mid-to-late March in my growing zone, so I allow about three to four weeks before then to chit the potatoes. I go by the old adage of planting potatoes and peas around St. Patrick’s Day. Additionally, when dandelions are up and flowering in the yard, I take that as another sign it’s time to get the taters in the ground!

Step 3: Using a box, tray, egg carton, or cookie sheet, arrange your seed potatoes into an even layer and place indoors in an area with some sunlight.

I put the cookie sheet near a window in our living room where the potatoes received bright, indirect light and enjoyed 68℉ room temps.

However, I also had seed potatoes sprout in our dark and chilly garage, so don’t worry if you don’t have a super sunny area for this. They can sprout in the dark (as we’ve all seen from the forgotten potato-in-the-pantry situation), they just tend to do better in a sunny area. You want short and stocky sprouts rather than long and spindly because they could break off during planting.

The picture below shows one of the potatoes that grew in the dark garage. I still planted it, but this is an example of a potato that went long and spindly!

Step 4: Plant the whole potato OR cut the seed potato, cure it, and then plant.

Once the spuds have several sprouts emerging, you can either plant out the entire potato or cut your seed potatoes into smaller pieces (about 2″). Any seed potato the size of a hen’s egg or smaller should be planted out whole.

If you cut your seed potato, make sure each piece has at least 2 sprouted “eyes.” Allow your cut potatoes to form a “scab” over the cut side to avoid rotting in the soil. This takes about 1-2 days, and you can feel the area where you cut turn dry and become a bit wrinkly. Now your chitted potatoes are ready to plant!

Chitting, or pre-sprouting, your seed potatoes is a fun and easy indoor gardening activity that can hasten the potato harvest time and give your spuds a head start. Let me know if you are a potato chitter or not in the comments below! Happy planting!