Topic: Earting up potatoes.

[tim]

Even if the tops get frosted, all is not lost!

[JRP]

;D Hi ALL,please join me in my latest experiment to see if you do get more potatoes if you keep earthing up your potato plant stems and leaves.
Simply done by using a container,for example a flower pot will do,simply do what you would normally do,but when the green leaves start to come through your compost add another bigger flower pot on top with the bottom cut out to fit inside the rim of the lower one to form a sleeve extension,earthing up each time and adding a sleeve again until you decide to stop or the plant stops growing any higher.
The reason I'm asking you to join me is I'm already doing it my way with 4 pint waste milk containers for the first time this year, and it's looking ok, I just simply cut off the lower cap part at the widest part and slide it down inside another, and earth up with my compost.
If I do get more potatoes doing it this way I can see a lot of people with not a lot of space growing potatoes this way in the future,done by simply adding a extension sleeve system like I've done to my containers on my allotment plot. It's just another outside the box idea of mine I would like to share with you, which you might find of interest to try out to see what your end result will be on a small or large scale,please let me know how you get on. May you and yours and what you grow live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

[keef]

Does'nt really matter too much, just cover as much as i can to begin with as this helps protect against sudden frosts. It does'nt harm them at all.

Keef,

They are plants, they need sunlight on their leaves to create the enrgy to grow. Without this they draw on the reserves in the tuber, which does harm them.

Unfortunately, frost harms them even more, so the compromise is to let up to 4" of leaf show before earthing up such that the top of the leaves is just showing and use fleece if there is a threat of frost - fleece will give protection against ~ 4 degrees of frost.

If the forecast is for a harder frost or you don't have any fleece then JUST cover with soil.

Phil

Surely thats what the tuber is for ? Of course i dont mean covering them completely when earthing up at the end - just to begin with - when there small. Within 24 hours they've poked out no problems. Its impossible to cover them completey after a week or so anyway.

[antipodes]

As I don't have the patience or the know-how for this earthing up, I am going to weed and mulch mine with straw. They are already a few inches high!
This said, I have already grown spuds just in the ground with not special treatment and they were lovely anyway.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine are planted on the flat and covered in six inches of grass cuttings. Not much chance of frost affecting those! I find a really late frost usually does monthing more than trim off the tips of the shoots, and the plant very quickly recovers.

[emmy1978]

Sorry to be utterly dense but have been reading this thread in horror!
 Doesn't really matter for me this year as all my spuds planted on old lottie but I'd be very grateful if someone could define earthing up. I'm getting the covering them and the frost, makes sense but I don't fully understand the principle. I've never done anything to my spuds once in the ground, they've always been fine. Could they be better if i do the earthing up and how do you do it?  ??? ??? ??? :)

[Marymary]

bob flowerdew reckons put a newspaper 'collar' round them with some grass clippings on to hold it down, it helps stop the tubers going green  :)

How does that work MS - sounds like it could be what I'm after.

[Trixiebelle]

I'd be very grateful if someone could define earthing up. I'm getting the covering them and the frost, makes sense but I don't fully understand the principle. I've never done anything to my spuds once in the ground, they've always been fine. Could they be better if i do the earthing up and how do you do it?  ??? ??? ??? :)

Emm. I think the principle is basically to stop the frost getting to them and stopping the tatties going green as they grow. All you have to do to earth them up is chuck some soil onto the sides of the plant. I do it every year out of habit ... but ya know what! The 'rogue' tatties that I missed harvesting last year have all come up no problem, and I'll probably get a crop off them before the ones I've planted this year  ;D

[Trixiebelle]

The reason I'm asking you to join me is I'm already doing it my way with 4 pint waste milk containers for the first time this year, and it's looking ok, I just simply cut off the lower cap part at the widest part and slide it down inside another, and earth up with my compost.

May you and yours and what you grow live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

JRP! You always remind me of Frank Sinatra, whose signature tune was 'I did It My Way'

Frank wasn't in fact UNIQUE in everything he did. He just did what millions of other people were doing but chose to write a song about it.

May you and yours and what you grow never have to be restricted inside a 4 pint, plastic milk carton.

Trixie X

[manicscousers]

How does that work MS - sounds like it could be what I'm after.

he just earths up 'til they're about 6" high, covers around the plant  with old newspaper sheets, covers this with grass clippings, I suppose you could do straw, a la supersprout, it holds down the paper which keeps the spuds from going green and keeps the soil damp  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

but ya know what! The 'rogue' tatties that I missed harvesting last year have all come up no problem, and I'll probably get a crop off them before the ones I've planted this year  ;D

You could also get blight off them. This is how it overwinters, in accidentals.

[MattD]

I've been using well-rotted manure as a kind of mulch to earth mine up.  I did a load today.  I probably planted the rows a bit close to use earth from between the rows anyway.

I got some spuds in very early and covered with manure when there was warning of a heavy frost in early March, before there was any top growth showing.  What has really amazed me is how under the manure when I've pulled it back to check for growth, the soil is still damp whereas everywhere else it's starting to crack.  It delayed the soil warming so the first ones I planted are the least developed, but the moisture will be higher.  It will be interesting to see which do better.

Last year was my first, I planted very late and didn't earth them up.  Yield was rubbish but perhaps that was just the year...they still tasted good, just left us wanting more.

Matt

[Trixiebelle]

You could also get blight off them. This is how it overwinters, in accidentals.

You are pessimistic Robert  ;D I delight in chucking stuff into the ground and give them a 'little talk' about saying 'NO!' to blight etc. They usually listen to me - far better than the teenage daughter I taught to say 'no' to Alcopops!

[carolinej]

  What has really amazed me is how under the manure when I've pulled it back to check for growth, the soil is still damp whereas everywhere else it's starting to crack.

I noticed the difference when I was planting today. It made me realise how important adding manure is!

cj :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

You are pessimistic Robert  ;D I delight in chucking stuff into the ground and give them a 'little talk' about saying 'NO!' to blight etc. They usually listen to me - far better than the teenage daughter I taught to say 'no' to Alcopops!

You're right; I've been getting blight every year, and it's made me pessimistic!

[Barnowl]

 Last year I earthed up just once and found I'd lost some potatoes because they'd gone green.

This year I'm throwing the soil from last years pots (tomatoes and chillies) in between the rows then hoeing it upwards  to either side.

A little worried about toms/potatoes but nothing ventured and the soil has got to go somewhere.

[mr plasma]

I'm sure farmers don't go around their fields of potatoes earthing up so why should we bother?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I never earth up, just chuck six inches of mulch on top.

[JRP]

The reason I'm asking you to join me is I'm already doing it my way with 4 pint waste milk containers for the first time this year, and it's looking ok, I just simply cut off the lower cap part at the widest part and slide it down inside another, and earth up with my compost.

May you and yours and what you grow live long and happy. John. J.R.P.

JRP! You always remind me of Frank Sinatra, whose signature tune was 'I did It My Way'

Frank wasn't in fact UNIQUE in everything he did. He just did what millions of other people were doing but chose to write a song about it.

May you and yours and what you grow never have to be restricted inside a 4 pint, plastic milk carton.

Trixie X
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Trixiebelle,May you and yours and what you grow always have a water supply laid on,or you could end up growing things in containers to eat doing it my way,whether you like my idea or not. John. J.R.P.

[Cat]

I've given up earthing up ... no choice in containers!