The potato that thinks its a tree. Apical Dominance at 6 week. Top chit suppresses all smaller chits

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:01]Hello. About six weeks ago, I uploaded a video about apical dominance.

[00:00:12]Apex dominant.

[00:00:15]Apical dominance.

[00:00:18]I'd never heard of it before.

[00:00:21]Someone brought it to my attention and I researched it on the internet.

[00:00:28]And now I'm going to try and prove if there is such a thing as apical dominance.

[00:00:36]At the time I had some potatoes that I showed you that I was planting up into small yogurt pots.

[00:00:50]Since then, I've moved those potatoes up into 10 in Xcode flour water buckets.

[00:00:59]So, this is an update of the video that I shot six or so weeks ago.

[00:01:07]I'll cut you some footage from that.

[00:01:11]I'll show you the explanation that I got from the internet that I put up at the time. then come back to me and I'm going to show you the progress that those two potatoes have made.

[00:01:29]If you're cheating up potatoes, they're likely to look like this.

[00:01:38]Lots of chits. Chits all over the place.

[00:01:41]Chits on the top, down the side, on the bottom. There's about nine chits on that seed potato. And if you plant that seed seed potato, you're likely to get potato plant like this.

[00:01:57]There's a fast start potatoes, but they will finish up uh growing on in a bucket, but I like to start them in these yogurt pots so I can start them early and then move them up as the weather gets warmer.

[00:02:13]So, if you're going to start with a potato like this, you're going to get a plant like this with lots of top growth. I don't know if you can see this. I'm going to do my best to show you this, but I think there are about six cheats that have made the surface on that potato plant.

[00:02:39]So, this particular potato plant is going to have lots of top growth and probably lots of potatoes.

[00:02:50]Hopefully lots of potatoes, but small potatoes.

[00:02:57]This potato on the other hand, well, there's a distinct shortage of chits, isn't there?

[00:03:06]There's this big guy right on the top. A couple of smaller ones. A small one there.

[00:03:13]How do I know that's the top?

[00:03:17]Because that's the bottom. How do I know that's the bottom?

[00:03:22]Because it's got a mark where it was attached to the parent plant. A belly button if you like. So belly button at the bottom.

[00:03:35]and this great big chit at the top. And I've just learned recently that chits like this are called apominant chits.

[00:03:48]So what sort of plant is that likely to produce with an apominant chit?

[00:03:54]Well, the potato planted in this yogurt pot had an apominant chit. Hey, look at that.

[00:04:06]It's like a small tree, just the one one stem as opposed to this one which is like a small bush.

[00:04:15]Lots of stems from a seed potato with lots of cheats.

[00:04:22]This is like a tree. One stem from a seed potato with an ap dominant cheat.

[00:04:32]I'm going to read you some an extract that I got from the internet.

[00:04:38]And the reason I've done this is because I've had it pointed out to me. You're never too old to learn.

[00:04:46]I am Meg.

[00:04:48]No, you're never too old to learn. And this is something I've learned. Uh I knew I knew it existed because I've seen the evidence.

[00:04:58]I've seen the evidence, but I didn't know why it existed. But I do now.

[00:05:04]Okay, let me get my uh reading glasses on.

[00:05:19]Okay, we've got Megan with us today, so she'll probably uh make a showing.

[00:05:26]Right.

[00:05:29]Ethical dominance in potatoes is the inhibition of lateral chip growth by the dominant terminal cheat at the potatoes apex regulated by oxin hormones.

[00:05:47]Initially this leads to a single dominant chit.

[00:05:53]Breaking this dominance through aging or removing the main chit promotes multiple chits increasing stem count and overall more uniform potato yield.

[00:06:09]Key aspects of apical dominance in potatoes mechanism.

[00:06:17]The apical or cheek end of the potato produces the hormone indole aciate acida stroke oxin.

[00:06:29]This hormone moves down the potato suppressing the growth of other eyes.

[00:06:36]lateral chits.

[00:06:40]Physiological aging.

[00:06:43]Younger seed potatoes show strong single chip dominance.

[00:06:50]As potatoes age, especially between 60 and 240 days of storage, they lose apical dominance that causes multiple chits to emerge.

[00:07:06]impact on yield.

[00:07:09]High edical dominance results in fewer larger stems often creating fewer larger potatoes.

[00:07:19]Low apical dominance.

[00:07:22]Multiple sprouting results in more thinner stems creating a higher total number of potatoes.

[00:07:33]Managing chitting.

[00:07:36]Dchitting. [clears throat] Removing the primary dominant apical cheat will force the lateral chits to grow, breaking the apical dominance and producing more smaller chits.

[00:07:55]Temperature control.

[00:07:58]Storing potatoes at lower temperatures.

[00:08:02]4° C raised to the composed with a power of 4° C for longer can help break apical dominance.

[00:08:15]While higher temperatures 15 to 20° C raised to the compost with a power 20° C can encourage it by enhancing the dominance of the tip.

[00:08:32]Light exposure.

[00:08:35]Exposing sprouting potatoes to light helps to keep cheats short and strengthens them which is ideal for planting.

[00:08:47]Why break apical dominance? Breaking apical dominance is selecting alter multi-cheted or decheted seed potatoes leads to a more uniform bushy plant with higher potato set. More be potential smaller potatoes compared to a single tall stem of a newly chitty potato.

[00:09:16]Well, there you have it.

[00:09:19]Okay.

[00:09:21]So, you're as wise as me. Now, basically what we're saying here is what I've already shown you in this video on previous videos that the fewer chits that break the surface in your bucket or in your bag or even in a raised bed, the bigger the potatoes that plant will produce.

[00:09:49]Now, you've seen that I've turned buckets out and I've already said that if there is only one chip breaking the surface, chances are we're going to get bigger potatoes, but fewer potatoes.

[00:10:09]Hey, how about that? There wasn't many potatoes, but they were big. Yeah, they were big.

[00:10:18]So a seed potato like this with few chits and an ap dominant chit is going to produce big potatoes.

[00:10:29]It did in that instance and it did on a number of occasions last year where only one top growth broke the soil. We just had a tree trunk. We didn't have a bush.

[00:10:45]And so I'm going to tell you now what AP dominance means. This is from the internet. Check that out. Then come back to me.

[00:10:56]I'm going to give you that secret right now.

[00:11:00]I'm going to read you some an extract that I got from the internet.

[00:11:06]And the reason I've done this is because I've had it pointed out to me. You're never too old to learn.

[00:11:14]I am Meg.

[00:11:16]No, you're never too old to learn. And this is something I've learned. Uh I knew I knew it existed because I've seen the evidence.

[00:11:26]I've seen the evidence, but I didn't know why it existed, but I do now.

[00:11:32]Okay, let me get my uh reading glasses on.

[00:11:47]Okay, we've got Megan with us today, so she'll probably uh make a showing.

[00:11:54]Right.

[00:11:57]Ethical dominance in potatoes is the inhibition of lateral cheat growth by the dominant terminal cheat at the potato's apex regulated by oxin hormones.

[00:12:15]Initially this leads to a single dominant chit.

[00:12:21]Breaking this dominance through aging or removing the main chit promotes multiple chits, increasing stem count and overall more uniform potato yield.

[00:12:37]Key aspects of apical dominance in potatoes mechanism.

[00:12:45]The apical or chit end of the potato produces the hormone indole aciate acida stroke oxin.

[00:12:57]This hormone moves down the potato suppressing the growth [clears throat] of other eyes. Lateral chits.

[00:13:08]Physiological aging.

[00:13:11]Younger seed potatoes show strong single chip dominance.

[00:13:18]As potatoes age, especially between 60 and 240 days of storage, they lose apical dominance that causes multiple chits to emerge.

[00:13:34]Impact on yield.

[00:13:37]High aical dominance results in fewer larger stems often creating fewer larger potatoes.

[00:13:48]Low apical dominance.

[00:13:50]Multiple sprouting results in more thinner stems creating a higher total number of potatoes.

[00:14:01]Managing chitting. [clears throat] Dchitting.

[00:14:07]Removing the primary dominant apical cheat will force the lateral cheats to grow, breaking the apical dominance and producing more smaller chits.

[00:14:23]Temperature control.

[00:14:26]Storing potatoes at lower temperatures.

[00:14:31]4° C raised to the composed with a power of 4° C for longer can help break apical dominance.

[00:14:43]While higher temperatures 15 to 20° C raised to the compost with a power 20° C can encourage it by enhancing the dominance of the tip.

[00:15:00]Light exposure.

[00:15:03]Exposing sprouting potatoes to light helps to keep cheats short and strengthens them which is ideal for planting.

[00:15:16]Why break apical dominance? Breaking apical dominance is selecting older multi-cheed or dechitted seed potatoes leads to a more uniform bushy plant with higher potato set. More be potential smaller potatoes compared to a single tall stem of a newly chitted potato.

[00:15:44]Well, there you have it.

[00:15:50]Okay. So, it it was just a little uh video to show you the difference between the two. Lots of chits, small bush, one big chit, one big tree trunk. That's what you get. You want big potatoes, you want something like this. You want lots of small potatoes, you want something like this. This is the potato that had several chits on it when it was first planted in that yogurt pot.

[00:16:22]It produced quite a bit of top growth.

[00:16:24]And as you can see, several of these chits have made it to the surface and broke through. And we've actually got some flowers here.

[00:16:36]So, it won't be long, but we're harvesting this potato.

[00:16:41]And what do we expect?

[00:16:44]Well, if all goes to plan, quite a few potatoes, but on the small side. On the small side. Let me move this to one side and bring in the other potato that only had the one abidomical chit growing on it. Remember that one looked like a tree. This one looked like a bush. and it still does except it's a bigger bush.

[00:17:12]Let's have a look at the one that only had the one chit.

[00:17:17]There it is. Hope you can see that.

[00:17:20]There is only the one chit growing on.

[00:17:28]That's the epidomical chit. And this potato plant has got flowers on it as well. So, this one is not far off delivering. These potatoes will probably deliver round about the same time, perhaps in a couple of weeks time. So, if you want to see how this turns out, remember, we're expecting from this one tree trunk of a potato. This is the potato that thinks it's a tree. We're expecting some big potatoes. Not many, but big from this one that thinks it's a bush.

[00:18:06]We're expecting more potatoes, but probably smaller.

[00:18:11]Okay, so I hope you've enjoyed the video and if you want to know how this turns out, yeah, keep an eye on my channel because in a couple of weeks there'll be a result being posted.

[00:18:22]Okay, so I hope you've enjoyed the video. If you have, a thumbs up would be nice.

[00:18:28]If you're a subscriber, thanks for being a subscriber. If you're not a subscriber, hey, why not hit the subscribe button, hit the bell notification icon. In a couple of weeks time, you will get a notification that the followup video has been posted and you'll see what these potatoes deliver.

[00:18:48]Okay, so this is Homegrown Veg signing out.