My potatoes (in compost sacks) are about 8 or 9 inches tall now, with lots of healthy looking leaves. Do I just pile in more compost until I can only see the top bit of the plant?
I've never done this before, so any advice would be much appreciated :)
Hello :) My spuds are in compost sacks and I've put a few in an old washbasket. Mine are growing in manure but I've got some old grow bag compost and put it over them just to make sure they have plenty of depth to grow in.
Thanks for that, wardy :)
I'll get that done this weekend ;D
Sorry, I've been away for a couple of days BC.
Keep topping up to within about 6" of the top - you need plenty of cover to get lots of tubers but the plant needs leaves (in the sunlight) to feed the plant so it's a bit of a balancing act.
Phil
When there's lots of stalk on mine, I've been earthing them up and leave the leaves out the top. I gently hold the leaves in one hand so they are all gathered together (without breaking them) and carefully scoop in the soil/compost around the edges. Seems to be working. Last year I just poured in the soil and ended up with a few broken stems. oops.
Thanks everyone :)
Breaking the stems is something I'm a bit worried about, so I'll be as careful as possible :(
bc - just a thought - our foliage grew to 3' - but it was well staked & strung & so no prob about damage.
Shouldn't be a problem to pop a few canes in with my plants if they get as big as that, tim :)
Apart from excluding light from developing tubers the main purpose of earthing up is to excourage the formation of rhyzomes (runners) from the leaf axyls. Earthing up before the leaf axyls are developed simply results in etiolation of the stem - so much wasted time and effort from the plant`s point of view. However, earthing up over a developed leaf axyl will result in the production of a rhyzome. If the plant is nearing the stage when tuber initiation is provoked the rhyzome will start to form a tuber; if the plant has not reached this stage the rhyzome will develop into another shoot which will produce hair-like roots of its own (these roots are not the same as the ones which initially form at the start of the plant`s growth - a potato plant makes 7 different types of roots in its development), but when the plant reaches the stage of tuber initiation these shoots will themselves produce more tubers. The more leaf axyls that can be earthed over, and the more rhyzomes that develop the greater will be the crop.
The ideal is to allow each leaf to develop on the main stem and then to earth over the joint - it doesn`t matter if the leaf also gets covered because there should be at least 5 or 6 inches of growth above and the plant will continue to make more top growth until it is mature. This will result in the greatest crop from a small space.
However, holding the leaves up against the stem (as Aquilegia suggests) simply defeats the object of the exercise - as the leaf axyl is not in contact with the soil the shoot which develops will simple be another side shoot which, although it increases the `top hamper`of the plant, will not be a rhyzome.