[needssomehelp]

hi, ive just finished my first season on me lottie and it went really well 
i was down there at the weekend and got talking to the fella that runs the site and was asking him for advice, he said he doesnt earth up potatoes, he does it all at the planting stage, i dont really know what he ment by that, does it mean plant them deeper ? how do you all plant your spuds ? do you earth up or not.

[prakash_mib]

Some earth up as they grow and some earth up when planting. Earthing up when planting is:
plant at regular depth and pull the soil from the sides to create a mound (as if you are earthing up the grown haulms)
leave it and hope that haulms will shoot through the top of the ridge. otherwise you move the ridge where the haulm is.

I earthed up this year as they grew. And my gut feeling is farmers wont do that in the large scale growing.

[Kleftiwallah]

The spuds are formed on small side roots that grow from the underground stem between the old spud to the first leaves.   Earthing up gives the plant more chance of more rootlets and hence more (or bigger) spuds as they are deeper after earthing up. 

I earth up as the leaves appear above ground so there are always leaves there to produce the sugars needed for growth from the sun.  This also protects the majority of leaves from frosts. 

I believe that If they are earthed up too much or too early the food store in the spud may run out before it emerges from the earth to catch the suns rays.   That's my sixpenneth anyway.     Cheers,   Tony.

[Salmo]

If you plant the seed potatoes shallow they come through quickly and their green leaves start getting energy from the sun. The spaces between the leaf nodes are shorter so that there is a potential for more side roots and tubers. Potatoes planted deep to start with grow straight up to the surface with fewer internodes.

Each time you earth up you kill a crop of weeds and disturb the ground to encourage more to germinate. By doing this the potato crop cleans your ground. If you only earth up once you then have to hoe or tolerate weeds.

Many farmers go not earthup at all these days but they apply a residual weedkiller to the soil surface when they plant so that weeds will not grow. Many crops are planted in 36 inch wide rows with a double row of potatoes which suits mechanical harvesting.

[JayG]

I've always used the traditional method of planting about 4-5" deep and earthing up in stages as they grow. Nearly came unstuck this year as I couldn't earth up any further but we were still getting late frosts (in late May.) 

Seem to remember some folk on here who'd planted theirs a foot or more deep and were wondering whether they would ever see them again!

Think I might try a compromise next year and plant them about 8" deep to give me more options (cue warmest spring on record!) 

[mumofstig]

I suppose my method is a bit of a compromise
I dig a trench about 4 in deep and dig holes in the bottom of that to plant the spuds in. AS the spuds grow through I gradually backfill the trench over the leaves, untill eventually there is a good mound over where the trench used to be

[JayG]

I suppose my method is a bit of a compromise
I dig a trench about 4 in deep and dig holes in the bottom of that to plant the spuds in. AS the spuds grow through I gradually backfill the trench over the leaves, untill eventually there is a good mound over where the trench used to be

That's my kind of compromise Mum (not too much work!) 

[TheSpartacat]

I do the very same thing Mumofstig, only with deeper trenches- about 6 to 9 inches deep, with the tuber then planted in a hole at the bottom of the trench.
So i start off with nice satisfyingly neat ridges of dirt with the spuds planted in between- and i use the soil in the ridges for earthing up... and then i can still take even more earth from between the rows once the ridges have been used.
I never ran out of earth for earthing up like my plot neighbours did.

Actually I wonder is there any other benefit to planting deeper.
I avoided wireworm damage completely... could tuber depth play a part?
It was a newly dug plot, I dug it over 4 times before planting the spuds, picking the little blighters out... but still surprised that i'd no damage.... (very little slug damage too)

[robbodaveuk]

I suppose my method is a bit of a compromise
I dig a trench about 4 in deep and dig holes in the bottom of that to plant the spuds in. AS the spuds grow through I gradually backfill the trench over the leaves, until eventually there is a good mound over where the trench used to be

Never heard or thought of that way before, but that sounds like a much easier way than earthing up and that's the way I will be doing mine next year. Thanks Mum.

  Robbo.

[bigben]

I suppose my method is a bit of a compromise
I dig a trench about 4 in deep and dig holes in the bottom of that to plant the spuds in. AS the spuds grow through I gradually backfill the trench over the leaves, untill eventually there is a good mound over where the trench used to be

I did the same last year - dug a trench then used a bulb planter and planted the spuds in the bottom of the hole. As the come up back fill the trench and then eventually start to create a mound. Last years late frosts meant I only just had enough soil for most of them and actually lost a few to frost.

[JamPan]

Another vote for the trench and backfill to earth up here.

[harry]

I do the very same thing Mumofstig, only with deeper trenches- about 6 to 9 inches deep, with the tuber then planted in a hole at the bottom of the trench.
So i start off with nice satisfyingly neat ridges of dirt with the spuds planted in between- and i use the soil in the ridges for earthing up... and then i can still take even more earth from between the rows once the ridges have been used.
I never ran out of earth for earthing up like my plot neighbours did.

Actually I wonder is there any other benefit to planting deeper.
I avoided wireworm damage completely... could tuber depth play a part?
It was a newly dug plot, I dug it over 4 times before planting the spuds, picking the little blighters out... but still surprised that i'd no damage.... (very little slug damage too)

i will try this method next year because i ran out earth after earthing up first time:wacko:

[needssomehelp]

this is making very interesting reading, im gonna try the trench method next year, sounds like it could be a winner.