[Charlie's Chickens]

Hi,

I am a newbie to potatoe planting and indeed veg growing in general, so I apologise in advance as I shall be visitng here with loads of questions over the coming months  :ohmy

Q - How many times do I 'earth up' potatoes.  I am looking to grow some in the ground and some in 3 new dustbins I have.

Thanks

Emma

[azubah]

I only earth up my potatoes if I feel like the excercise. It is supposed to stop the tubers from going green, but I have not noticed any difference between earthed up or not earthed up. Earthing up also gets rid of weeds between the rows.
I have never done it more than once. Do what you want and don't worry about it too much. enjoy your spuds.

[woodburner]

I've seen some really horribly green potatoes lying on the surface of the ground, where the plants had not been earthed up.
Some of  my own, no-dig potatoes got a bit green where the covering had got disturbed by roaming chooks, and I hadn't noticed til it was too late.

Maybe azubah got away with not earthing up by planting deeply?

[Ice]

I plant and make a small mound.  When the leaves show I earth up again. 

[Charlie's Chickens]

Thank you for your replies.

I am still not sure I really undertsand why 

Is it because the tubers grow close to the leaves and need dark to stop them going green, therefore building up the earth forces the stem/leaves to grow upwards leaving the tubers in the dark??

Sorry if I am being a bit dense, but as I said I am really new to this and hopefully understanding why will help me get it right  :happy:

One last questions how do you know when to stop earthing up?

[nicchick]

You do need to earth up to stop the green ones, I always stop when I can't be bothered anymore or have better things to do. A more definitive answer would probably to do with flowers, possibly.  In years I haven't earthed up I just haven't had as many edible spuds, which is what you want. Nic.

[Ice]

A potato is not a root vegetable it is an underground stem, a tuber.  Therefore if it comes into contact with light it will go green and not be edible.  That's why potatoes are earthed up.

[MoreWhisky]

Someone told me when the plant first comes through earth up over it as well. is this correct?

[Ice]

That's what I do.

[Lady Lottie]

Hello 

Does this help?  Its from BBC Gardener's World website.  

Potatoes will grow very quickly under warm and moist conditions. When they are 10cm tall, the leafy shoots can be mounded around with soil to their full height. This will increase the length of underground stems that will bear potatoes. This mounding can be repeated once or twice more at 2 - 3 week intervals to ensure the best crop, with the added benefit of smothering any competing weeds.

Do it:late-May - late-June
Takes just:20 minutes
How to do itLoosen soil between the rows using a garden fork. Use a rake to draw the soil into a ridge along the length of the row around the emerging stems of the potatoes. Leave a shallow trough along the row at the top of the ridge to channel any water down to the developing tubers.
When growing potatoes in large pots or sacks, the tubers will have been planted into 10cm of compost at the base of the container. As the shoots emerge, add more compost at regular intervals, 5cm at a time, until the container is almost full.

 
"On light soil, mix in well-rotted garden or bagged compost to earth up the potato plants. This helps conserve moisture which swells the tubers."

I grew spuds in the garden last year in a stone trough that goes around my patio.  Spent loads of extra cash on topsoil to earth them up (cos the trough was so narrow there wasn't any "earth" to "earth up" with! derrrrrrrrrrr...... )  but hat LOTS of lovely spuds and no greenies.    And I didn't measure, I didn't do it neatly and I don't know about timing......I just chucked soil around the stems when I thought they looked like they needed it.  I think spuds must be a very laid back veggie in terms of TLC requirements if I grew them successfully! :o)

[MoreWhisky]

good Job my plots next to the cemetry with all this 'earth'ing up 

[sclarke624]

Lady lottie said what I was thinking that the tats grow from the stem therefore the more stem produced by earthing up the more tats to come from that stem.  I only container grow my tats.  I start of with six inches of soil lay the tats on top of that and cover with a bit of compost/soil THEREFORE  if I didn't bother earthing up there would only be six inches to eight inches of soil to grow the tats in, which wouldn't give many tats.  My containers are about 2ft deep I earth up gradually and have containers full of tats.  I do eventually get fed up with earthing up and stop about 6 inches from the top.

[sclarke624]

Its not only about green tats also about tats growing from buried stem, as these pics might show:

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_november_1_potato.asp

Useful explanatory sketches http://www.potatoesforschools.org.uk/media/files/ks1and2_factsheet_2-2a.pdf

Had a google and As said  potatoes grow above the original potato, from sprouts grown along the buried stem.  You are supposed to leave a bit of green leave showing each time you earth up, then it grows a bit and so on.  Keep well watered, obviously don't forget your drainage holes, a bit of chicken pellet manure would help them along.  Don't know anything about growing in the ground.

[Charlie's Chickens]

Thank you all for your really helpful replies. 

The diagrams on your link sclarke624 were really great in helping me understand 'why'.

Right now for some patience as I want to get stuck in now 

[Paul Plots]

Nobody seems to have mentioned it (unless I have read too quickly again! ) but one reason for earthing up can be (I believe) to help protect the new growth from late frosts.

Frost can damage the top growth and set potatoes back - at worst it can cause the developing tubers to be "sweet" - as far as I can remember it makes them taste odd and change consistency 

Green potatoes should not be eaten at all - they are poisonous. Light on the tubers = green spuds as everyone has said.

Earthing-up helps increase the area into which new tubers can grow so can result in an increased crop size (again as someone has already said).

Number of times to earth-up??? Once maybe but if the top growth shows above the earth and frost threatens then earth-up again to protect new growth or cover with some type of frost protection so the leaves/stem is protected from the cold. I've used grass-mowings before now as they were to hand and this worked well - was quick and easy.

All of the above information passed on to me by my dad - now 93 but had a plot for years and years and years..... I nearly always do what my dad says (until he isn't looking that is! )