I checked my seed potatoes month ago - they were just fine. Today I took them out of the fridge to start cheating process and they look absolutely terrible.
What can I do now? There are still at least 45 days before I can plant them in the ground. I was planning to put them in slightly ventilated clear boxes with grow media, to encourage root grows, but now I am lost what to do… Some eyes are not growing long yet, may be I should just break long shoots, and hope the ones that didn’t grow yet will do it right way?
You could plant early and see if that works for you, then still have time to replant if it does not work out. If the aboveground parts get frosted it should be no big deal.
Plant them in pots now keep them in a sunny area of your house and transplant them later. I have done this with great success many times plus if you have a very wet Spring they won’t rot in the ground as they are already growing.
The shoots will green up fine. They are dehydrated some, so what I would do, to buy some time, is to spritz them with some water periodically and leave them in a lighted area (not full sun). When planting, cover the shoots up to the tip and put fleece over them. If weather really turns cold after they have broken the surface, tarp them. You may have to tarp them a few times but they should be fine.
I agree with Anne, and the others, that these will be fine. Some years my early potatoes have way longer sprouts than yours. Setting them out to chit seems to stop them growing more. I usually break off the longest sprouts when planting since i’d rather have a few rather than a lot of sprouts. But i’m not sure it matters a lot. Potatoes are such hardy souls, and they do like to grow.
When i toss my smallest, wrinkliest, longest sprouted culls into the compost pile with no care or nice treatment they always grow enthusiastically! Sue
and more to come next week.
Gonna put them in some fabric containers next week and hope for the best.