Grow Your Own Magazine

Ok, my question is why do we earth up potatoes grown in the ground - if it is to make sure the tubers and well covered, why not just plant them deeper?

And, why, when growing potatoes in containers is it suggested that we earth them up in stages - why not just fill up the container once you've planted the tubers? Does covering the stem repeatedly after it has reached the light make it produce more stolons (the bits with the potatoes on the end)?

Any explanations? I am thirsty for knowledge

to tease them?

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

yeah, probably.

it's only fair

I think its to encourage more stolon thingies

I'm not an advocate of earthing tatties...........too much like hard work.

Sometimes think the farmers only earth them up to make them easier to lift with a machine!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

One reason for earthing up is that keeping the developing potato's covered from light stops them going green.

So.... does that mean if I'm planting some in my mulch and cardboard I can just leave them to it???
Sue

Yep, but keep an eye on them to check they're covered or they will, as crichmond says, go green.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

I was puzzled that this earthing up is also suggested for growing potatoes in the ground, not just container. In fact only learned this morning when I read the growing instruction that came with my DT Brown's freebie seed potatoes. I never knew this approach until I joined the Vine. Many years ago, I planted my kitchen potatoes in the garden as they were sprouting wildly and boy they grew despite burying the potatoes (cut up with sprouts on) in the soil, except the slugs ate most of the potatoes. Oh yes, didn't do any fertilising either.

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Food for Free

Have you never been 'Tattie picking' when you were a bairn then veg4681?
50p a day and free bucket of spuds is what used to be the going rate.
Forgot to mention you got a free mug of sweet milky tea at noon, made with milk directly from the coo's teet, none of your pasteurised stuff!
Rows and rows of ridges from what I recall!
No ridges for me though, no dig and mulch, mulch, mulch equals clean spuds with no greenies!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I'd much rather dig spuds from a loose mound of earth above the soil level than have to dig them out of a hole in the ground where the soil is semi compacted. Try growing them in a compost heap, it works great!

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http://www.weltaf.co.uk/
Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

Earthing up does all sorts of jobs. It makes the plants form more tubers (stolons eh? - ya learn something every day!), it stops the spuds going green in the sun (as Chris said), it kills young weed seedlings (as would any kind of soil movement) but most importantly at this time of year it protects the young leaves from frost. Potatoes will sulk very badly if they get frosted, and may refuse to give you any kind of crop at all (though some varieties are tougher than others).

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Resistance is fertile

Yeah Snadger, that brings back some memories We used to go potato picking every year at a farm near Morpeth. A bloke my dad knew called George. Dunno if I ever knew his last name? We used to get paid a sack of spuds, and a barbeque afterwards with the other families who were there. Seemed like great fun to me, but me Mam always complained about her back afterwards!

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Sarah

http://wixypixies.blogspot.com/

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Have you never been 'Tattie picking' when you were a bairn then veg4681?
50p a day and free bucket of spuds is what used to be the going rate.
Forgot to mention you got a free mug of sweet milky tea at noon, made with milk directly from the coo's teet, none of your pasteurised stuff!
Rows and rows of ridges from what I recall!
No ridges for me though, no dig and mulch, mulch, mulch equals clean spuds with no greenies!

somones showing there age me thinks

I don't earth up at all, but I do mulch instead ... with grass clippings, which help to prevent scab. Works a treat: see my pic here: potato grass mulch on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Potatoes, like tomatoes (same family) root easily from the stem. Earthing up potatoes encourages more roots from the stem - more roots means more potatoes.

Yep.......I'm an old fart and proud of it

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Would planting the tattie deeper not give the same effect then?

Farmers seem to ridge and plant at the same time!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

But jings that takes me back!! The October school holidays were specifically the Tattie Holidays, the whole point in the schools being off was so that us bairns could go tattie howking! No idea why they have the break nowadays, since they're barely back to school and have the Christmas holidays to come too.

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“The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.”

i know bout those holiday's my son cant wait to go back to school, i'm an evil mom i make him work

hi
i grew spuds in a plastic dustbin last year,but i filled the dustbin to high up,but still got alot of potatoes,this year i have only put a small amount of earth in then the tubers on top cover with a thin layer of earth,then when the tops show cover again and so on the tops were 3 ft out of the dustbin last year before they flowered and then left about two weeks before i started to lift them,i gently removed them with a trowel for me to eat i got potatoes for 3 months

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joanne culyer

I found spuds growing in my compost heap today!! must have sprouted from peelings, i was gonna rip the stem out thinking they should be rotting down, will they be ok and why havent they composted?
i think earthing stems, whether toms or spuds aids root production which wont happen ordinarily.