HELP! Flooded potatoes!

[LadyV]

So I’m in the US and I just planted my potatoes about three days ago. so last night I came down to water and I left my water hose on which has a leak in it. that was about 12 hours ago now I have standing water in between two of my rows of potatoes I immediately grabbed a shovel and trenched the ground to drain off the standing water. My peas appear to be loving the extra water. When I prepared the ground for my potatoes I tilled the ground at least 2 ft deep and brought it to a nice hill that’s probably 6 in above ground and then covered with landscaping fabric to keep from having to hill again and again. Most of the water does appear to be at ground level but I’d say the dry ground in hot heat it would have soaked it right up. What can I do to save my potatoes?

[JoaoLeaftide]

They'll probably be fine honestly, potatoes can handle a good soaking as long as the water drains away and doesn't sit there for days. You did the right thing trenching it out. The bigger risk is if the soil stays waterlogged and the seed potatoes rot, but if you tilled that deep they should drain through. I'd just keep an eye on them over the next week and see if shoots come through as normal.

[LadyV]

They are covered with landscaping fabric, should I uncover them long enough for the ground to dry out some? We are supposed to have rain Friday and Saturday but not sure just how much

[Jungle Jane]

I would uncover them to help the air dry it out & don’t worry,think of it like a big rain storm that can happen.

[Snoop Puss]

I've grown potatoes that started off in similar conditions. Much to my surprise, they did really well. Hang on in there. I'd take the covers off just to stop your potatoes from cooking underneath them if it gets warm. A bit more water won't make much difference but sunshine could heat them up enough to do some damage.

[Vince G]

Spuds need plenty of water early on I find, so flooding them is by no means a disaster. It's been really dry in Sunny Suffolk this month so far, so I regularly overwater mine and go home leaving standing water between the ridges.

[Andraste]

Hi LadyV As others have already said, I imagine your spuds will be just fine especially as this is a one-off overwatering not a longer-term issue.

I'm wondering what sort of soil you have (clay, sandy etc.)? Only from the perspective that clay will hold the moisture for longer than more free-draining soil, so be mindful about when you next might need to water (depending on what type of soil you have) as the sun may dry the top but it might be wet enough lower down. Maybe stick a cane into the ground or use a trowel to check what it's like a little further down.

I learnt the hard way on our clay soil a few years back when we grew spuds in what we now know to be the wettest area of our plot. They weren't coming up as they normally would & the top of the bed looked really dry so I was watering. The bed was basically saturated lower down so I was making things worse

[rary]

So When I prepared the ground for my potatoes I tilled the ground at least 2 ft deep and brought it to a nice hill that’s probably 6 in above ground and then covered with landscaping fabric to keep from having to hill again and again. Most of the water does appear to be at ground level but I’d say the dry ground in hot heat it would have soaked it right up. What can I do to save my potatoes?

When you say you tilled the ground at least 2ft. am I correct in thinking you used a rotavator if so I would suggest that you go between the potato rows and plunge a garden fork into the ground along the row and wiggle it about to open up the lower soil, I have found that rotavators create a pan at the depth of there blades so spiking through that pan helps water drain away