Topic: potato help, earthing up

[littlebabybird]

there are tiny little shoots poking through my potato rows,
i understand i need to earth them up but the groung is mud right now soooo can i cover with manure/straw
or something else?

[tim]

Best keepoff it for a bit, then. No urgent need to earth up or cover unless frost is forecast.

[saddad]

 >:( Can't argue with that Tim...

[littlebabybird]

ok, so dont do anything untill my mud dries out then

[Fork]

Walking on your soil while its wet will compact it and when it dries it will be rock hard.......it will then be very difficult to earth up.

[littlebabybird]

ok, thank you,
i was just worried i have it in my head that they shouldnt poke out at all

[ceres]

The weather forecast for the weekend is awful.  I'm in London and snow is forecast for Sunday.  My potatoes aren't showng above ground yet, but if they were, I'd draw a little soil over them with a rake or cover with fleece, bubblewrap etc to keep the frost off.

[littlebabybird]

ugggh, yeah i just looked, sooo
i need to cover them even though its to muddy        and shouldnt be walked on?

so do i go for straw or  fleece, bubblewrap.

[manicscousers]

we've put newspaper on ours, then fleece over the top..ours were showing 6" today  :)

[Tee Gee]

tiny little shoots poking through

How tiny is tiny?

I tend to let my haulms grow to about 6"-8" high before I earth up as seen here in pics 8,9,& 10 http://tinyurl.com/22xzs7

But then again I plant out a lot later than some to avoid the frosts.

The other reason is if say a potato fails to sprout I stick another seed in its place.

[cornykev]

Hi LBB mine have been poking through now for a week or so, I have put dry manure on them but also have large cloche bottles over them to keep the frost off.  ;D ;D ;D

[littlebabybird]

tiny little shoots poking through

How tiny is tiny?

tiny is about 2 or 3 mm,  we are going to have sleet snow and hail with temps of 0 C on sun

lbb

[Fork]

I would not be worried.frost has caught my potatoes before now and it made no difference to my yield.

if you are worried then you better earth up despite the muddy ground