Potato, Albert Bartlett Rooster

February 4, 2014 by Elaine 2 Comments

This is a record the development of this set of seed potatoes, from chitting to planting out and beyond. I hope this will prove useful.

Variety: Rooster
Set to chit indoors: 29th January 2014
First sprouting: 3rd February 2014
Time taken: 5 days

I bought a 2kg sack of Albert Bartlett Rooster seed potatoes from a shop in town, gave half to a grower friend for her birthday and set the remainder to chit, using the bottom half of a large egg box, on the dining room window.

Sitting snugly in an egg box on the dining room windowsill

This is the same seed potato just 5 days later and the first signs of life can already be seen on it and many of the other tubers.

The first tiny shoots are starting to appear

15th March 2014

Slowly but surely, the shoots are growing:

8th April: These haven’t grown as much as the King Edwards but they are ready for planting into the potato sacks and a couple of empty compost bags (with drainage holes). I plan to put three tubers in each bag but as there is still a risk of frost, I will have to make sure these are in a sheltered spot and covered at night.

 

10th April: These have now been planted out with 4 in one of the normal vegetable beds and the rest planted in pairs in potato bags and old compost bags.

 

17th May: There is now around 10 to 12 inches of growth above ground.

22nd July: These plants didn’t flower at all – I believe something ate the flower buds because there was evidence of stalks but no flowers. One plant had died back quite early but as it was in the worst position, I didn’t hold out much hope for a good crop. In the event we had enough potatoes for roasties and some smaller ones left over for boiling.

12th August: We tipped out one of the bags and retrieved a respectable number of potatoes, although they were primarily salad to small roasting in size.