[herbiegrowsbananas]

Hiya

I think we may have planted our potatoes too deep, so my question is, how deep is too deep? I think they are about 10" deep...

Thanks 

Herbie

[Paul Plots]

Too deep is when they still haven't shown at the surface and everyone else has flowers on theirs 

Is that 10" down after earthing-up or 10" below the normal ground level   

I'm not sure but with warmth and moisture they should manage an appearance from 10" down.... I stuck mine into the bottom of a trench filled in and then, as they appeared, earthed up so the tubers are now around 10" below ground level..

But... someone on here may have had a different experience..

[DD.]

10" is very deep. They need to be 3" down an then earth up as the leaves appear. I know we're covering up rapidly as the leave appear due to frost, but the plant needs to see sunlight in order to make it's food.

Fingers crossed they will make it, after all the pro growers plant and then mound up at the same time, which puts them pretty deep.

[Paul Plots]

If your spuds have been in for quite sometime I don't think I would attempt to lift them and replant.

Perhaps having a delve to see how just one of them is doing might help put your mnd at rest? 

[B_and_D]

From experience they should appear from 10 inches down.  Our spuds this year were close to that I think (we trenched, planted, and then earthed up over them before they broke ground) - has taken several weeks for them to show, but the vast majority now have foliage above ground and are looking very happy.

[HugglescoteGrower]

For my earlies I dug trenches six inches deep, then dug the spud into the bottom of the trench and backfilled about half way. Once they started breaking ground I finished backfilling, then once they broke through again I earthed up.

For my mains i planted each into a planting hole about six inches deep - to the top of the tuber, with the plan of earthing up once there was a reasonable amount of top growth.

Problem with the second plan is this cold weather, I doubt that we are finished with frosts here just yet, so have switched to earthing each row up as they start to break through to guard against frost, then will earth up again when the top growth is sufficiently strong.

[chili]

been a newbie to the allotment scene i too have planted mine too deep i put the spud in maybe 5-6" then earthed up....now i realise that was my mistake. i have 1 spud showing at the moment out of 4 long rows, so today i had a scrape round a bit of earth and found 1 making its way to the surface maybe had 3" to go................so hopefully they will pop up soon

[herbiegrowsbananas]

Hiya

10" total, we dug the trench, put in a level of 5 year old manure, popped in the spud, more manure, then backfilled. Hubby kept saying 'farmers don't earth up'. It's only been three weeks today since we put them in, it's just that I now keep reading to do them 4" deep, so 10" sounded way too deep, lol.

What also concerns me is that the ground is rather clayish, and we didn't dig manure into it and it seems quite heavy, it's not light and fluffy at all  . We'd only had the plot for a week before we got them in, it was our first job there after weeding like crazy for the week before.

Will I still get OK tatties with heavy clay soil?

Thanks 

Herbie

[herbiegrowsbananas]

been a newbie to the allotment scene i too have planted mine too deep i put the spud in maybe 5-6" then earthed up....now i realise that was my mistake. i have 1 spud showing at the moment out of 4 long rows, so today i had a scrape round a bit of earth and found 1 making its way to the surface maybe had 3" to go................so hopefully they will pop up soon

Hiya, how long have yours been in the ground?

Herbie

[chili]

since april 14th also my soil has gone kind of crusty like where its rained so am thinking of maybe lightly breaking with a hand fork

[herbiegrowsbananas]

Yup, my soil was the same. I added manure and sieved soil in between the ridges and it does look better now, mine went in on the 22nd April.

Will you keep us updated...?

Cheers 

Herbie

[greenockian]

I think they should be alright. When potatoes are grown commersially they are laid on top of the ground and then the furrows are created on top about 10-12 inches high. This saves them being earthed up later.

[azubah]

10" should not be a problem. If you leave spuds in a sack for a long time the chits can get a lot longer than that.

[Dan78]

all mine are around 10 inches deep.. dug a trench then used a bulb planter to get them deeper!

most of my first earlies are up and have been earthed up twice.. didnt stop the frost getting the tops of them this week though! 

2nd earlies and mains were showing today. perfect timing!

[Paul Plots]

It looks like a "wait and see" job.

Let's hope the moisture / rain gets down to them in plenty