[billathome65]

How high should you mound up spuds in the ground?

cheers

[flitwickone]

Thats a real hard question i personaly from the level go about a foot to 16 inches others dont bother    i think this will be a good debate 

[arugula]

Start earthing up when the stems (haulms) first get to 6-8 inches above the ground then keep them earthed up so that only a couple of inches of haulm are showing above the soil.

[Swing Swang]

I'm in the 'only earth up once' camp. Height depends on exactly when I do it, which is usually determined by weatherforecast/frosts.

[Weston grower]

I've read and seen lots of different ways of approaching this. The one I'm trying this year is based on what a local farmer did with a field of potatoes last year.

The potatoes were planted and the earth mounded up about 15" over them and then left. Then he harvested them.

Subsequently I've found out thats what my Brother in law does on his plot. Says it works well. I assume that it will take the shoots longer to start showing but hey, the frosts will be over by then, fingers crossed.

Regards, WG

[JayG]

I agree with Argyllie and Swing Swang; it's the top growth which feeds the tubers to so it needs to be in the light, but it is also frost-tender so must be covered up if frost threatens.

The other purpose of earthing up is to partly bury the stems and also cover the developing tubers which improves the yield and stops tubers going green by making sure no light gets to them.

Bit of a balancing act really, with one eye firmly fixed on the local weather forecasts! 

Just read Weston grower's post; never tried that but would imagine farmers don't have time to earth up more than once. Don't fancy the idea of burying mine 15" deep or more; surely it must slow them down (possibly used for main crops rather than earlies?) 

[mumofstig]

My spuds have about 3 inches of top growth at the mo and I won't cover it for a while .....unless a frost is forecast.
Then later, as Jay says, they will get mounded up a bit to stop the tubers greening as they form.

[Salmo]

Earthing up used to be the way farmers controlled weeds but now a residual weedkiller is applied to the soil surface which means that the soil must not be disturbed. It also means that the initail mounds have to be to full height when they are planted.

Earthing up several times is still a good way to control weeds on a garden scale. Each time the soil is disturbed it encourages more weeds to germinate which are then killed by the next earthing up. Potatoes are a great way to reduce the number of weed seeds in the soil.

How high do you earth up? Earth up until you run out of soil.

Many potatoes are emerging early due to the warm weather. Where it is usually possible to protect the tops by earthing up until all frosts have passed this year is going to be difficult. I hope you have plenty of fleece.

[JohnB47]

Start earthing up when the stems (haulms) first get to 6-8 inches above the ground then keep them earthed up so that only a couple of inches of haulm are showing above the soil.

Er.. really? The stems on my spuds grow to about 30" tall (or more - I've never actually measured them).

There isn't enough soil on my plot to earth them up as you say. I earth mine up until the mound is around 10" high, then leave it. I get a few spuds with green patches but not many.

[Salmo]

If you want more soil for earthing up plant in wider rows to start with.

[JayG]

If you want more soil for earthing up plant in wider rows to start with.

.......or do it the way MoS does (and me too this year!) and plant the spuds in a trench so you've got a ready-made pile of earthing up soil already alongside! 

[mumofstig]

and another advantage of doing it this way is that the soil is still damp that far down

[potatogrower]

think it would depend on how much space you want to give up to the spuds to grow. piling more soil would mean the mound would be wide. best thing to do is dig up the soil at ground level making it soft and uncompressed then mound up the soil then plant your chitted spud 2 or 3 inches below into the  mound. spuds would grow in the mound and into the soil below ground level. others plant the spud into the level ground and mound soil on top as it grows up. both ways are acceptable.

[fatcat1955]

Read somewhere that if you cover by more than 6ins the growth is checked, they will recover but harvest will be later.

[billathome65]

I was told that as soon as you see the leaves poking through to cover them and keep doing that but wasn't told how high to mound. Is it wrong covering the leaves as they are still pushing through the soil I put on top?

Cheers Bill