Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Sparky on April 30, 2004, 13:08:11
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Just been to the lottie and spotted my potatoes (1st early) first leaves showing at the surface. What do i do now, is it time to earth them up? Does that mean i just cover the leaves over with soil completely or do i leave it until they get taller? :-\ ??? :-\
Sparky
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i think most wait until plants are 6-9 inches tall, then earth up but not completely covering plant- leave a couple of inches clear
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Oh that is good news, looks like I accidentally did the right thing with my second earlies (Charlottes) ;D
They grew so fast in that warm weather (in containers) that I didn't get a chance to cover them up. :-\
They have now grown even more, and are 6-8 inches over the top of the containers. :D
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I agree with Ross, however if a frost warning is given out it might be best to cover them to save the growing tip getting frost damaged.
Play the weather!
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Mine are in one of those red containers on my patio (the ones in all the catalogues), they have shot up recently due to the warmth and keep needing to be recovered with soil. As it is on the patio I just pop out on a night and cover with thick bubble wrap. Off on a morning on on a night, quick and easy. Esp last night as it was well chilly.
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Completely cover them until:
all danger of frost has passed
or
you've run out of soil
which ever comes first, then go for the leaving some leaf showing (if you have any soil left)
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Phew, thanks for that Phil. I have been covering mine completely, only just, but so nothing is showing, cos if a frost is forecast, with the kids etc, would be tricky for me to nip to the plot. As I was reading the replies, I started to worry, but as usual Phil, you made me smile! ;D
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We have ours fleeced.
The one way to conjure up a wind is to try to lay 50' lengths of fleece single-handed! But I mould as well - belt & braces. = Tim
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Cover completely as soon as the leaves show. Keep doing it until you run out of soil.
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Ideally you should protect the tops without earthing them up, which is why tim and I (and many others) use fleece. The tops (protected) should be allowed to grow for at least 6 inches or so to produce leaf joints. If they are covered as soon as they break surface the stems will simply etiolate in an attempt to reach daylight again, cell differentiation will not take place, and leaf axils will not form until the growing tip again gets above the surface. The buds which form in these leaf axils can form either further top growth (if left exposed to light) or potato forming runners (rhyzomes) if earthed over, but they must be allowed to form first. This is one of the two basic reasons for earthing up potatoes - the other being to exclude light from the growing tubers - and to use up your soil covering the tips up at this stage when no (or few) leaf axils have formed is simply defeating the object of the exercise.
I would add that my own first earlies - planted at the end of February and remaining under double fleece throughout, have already been earthed up at 6 inches, now have a further 6 - 8 inches of growth showing, and are ready for a second earthing up, and have no frost damage whatever.
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Oh Hugh! Just when I thought it was safe! Now I will be down there at the crack of dawn tomorrow uncovering them! Nuts!!
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Bit confused here (what's new?) Been growing potatoes for years but don't earth up in the ways mentioned here and elsewhere and have never ever covered with fleece or anything. We start earlies end March, digging deepish trenches putting in potatoes filling up and building up a furrow on top of that then no more covering or building up. Seconds and maincrops follow within a few weeks same way. Touch wood, never seem to have frost damage as they are buried deeply in their little mountain ranges!
Others on site just dig holes, put in potato and probably building up as leaves show in the way you say but most people here do it same way as us.
Guess we'll keep to it, as they say why mend it if it ain't broke ....
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Yes, indeed! Your safety factor, it seems, is the depth you plant & the time? - ours go in a month earlier & we probably get nastier frosts than you do. Although '46/'47 up there wasn't exactly a Carribean holiday!!
We used to get them burnt if we forgot to earth up, until we used fleece. OK, it didn't kill them, but it set them back so much that no advantage had been gained by early planting. = Tim
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We seem to always lift our first shaws of earlies during Edinburgh Trades = the first week in July, sort of tradition with us. And you're right Edinburgh can be pretty sheltered and protected compared with other coastal places.
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Mine went in mid April, and no leaves as yet - could it be slugs scoffing them before they've had a chance to get going?
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I'm sure not Mystic. Did you plant them really deep? Mine took a good few weeks before I spotted them, and even then it was a couple of weeks later before there was a nice bushy row of top growth. Have a gentle root around maybe, but be careful, you don't wanna break any of the emerging shoots.
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EJ,
I wouldn't dash in (or out) to do what any one of us suggests.
Listening to any 2 gardeners talking will always produce at least 3 ways of doing something.
The object of the exercise is to find out what works for you. If you have enough of anything to try out more than one bit of advice (and provided you can remember which plants were grown in which way) you can compare results - always bear in mind that no 2 years are the same and therefore what works this year may not work next year !?! :'(
Mysticmog,
2 weeks isn't all that long - they could take another 2 weeeks depending on how cold it is where you are and how deep you planted them.
Phil
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Well Phil, thanks to the weather and family commitments I never did get back to uncover what I had covered, however, Ava was up in the rain on Saturday and he said the spuds were through and a good 6 to 8 inches tall already, so, weather permitting I will be back up there tomorrow to check them out, and to try and resist the urge to earth up for a few days.......mental note to self, keep an eye on the local weather reports for frost threats, altho with all this rain, flooding is more likely! :-\
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Phil - I'm glad you said that as I was rather confused about which method to use.
I had been earthing mine up whenever the top growth was more than an inch or so, just in case of frost. (I was using fleece, but due to the now wildly different heights of my grow bags, I used it on the carrots instead!)
Using this method, I seem to have to earth up every two or three days. The spuds I planted earliest have now nearly got to the tops of their bags.
Now - this frost business... Does it only frost when the temperature falls below zero? How does it work?
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I guess I did plant them pretty deep - will hang on and hope they're ok in there...no sign of any flowers either though (gladiolis, lillies, anemones, poppies) so maybe it's just not been right weather/temp for them yet...
...at least my chillis, sunflowers and toms are happily growing at home :)
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Aquilegia,
It's frost where the leaves are which is where the ground is (give or take 6"). It is possible to have ground frost when the air temp is 3 degrees higher. The vital words to listen for in the weather forecast are ground frost.
The good news is that as the plants get more and more top (under or over the ground) the more resistant they are to just a little frost. A slight blackening of the leaf edges although technically a frosting will probably not upset them too much.
If you go to the allotment and see all the top black then the little darlings will have had quite a set back - literally that they will come again but will (for earlies) be ready a week or more later.
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Thanks Phil. I shall stop worrying about them then!
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I didn't say stop worrying, I was helping you know what to worry about!!! ;D
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Mystic, my anemones have flowered and are near finishing! You do mean the bulby type and not the shrubby one huh? Could just be the temperature I guess, some things for me are way ahead and other things which I expected to be marching along are taking the scenic route! :-\
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Yes EJ, the bulby type...nothing occuring anywhere that I didnt grow at home...nothing left that I grew at home cos bludy slugs got it all - maybe I planted them too late...
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Help!!! My potatoes have been growing a treat and I have earthed them up but tonight I noticed some of the leaves are yellow. Is this a lack of nitrogen? Not yellow as in wilting, yellow though. A bit like a pretty ivy leaf, yellow and green. The leaves are quite healthy looking, well at the mo that is.