Potato Mistake

I'm growing some maincrop potatoes in containers this year and filled to the top with compost. In my defence, we've been having a very stressful time recently and last year I grew earlies so it was something I did automatically without thinking. Would it be worth taking out some of the compost so I'll be able to earth them up as they should be done, or should I just leave them be and hope for the best?

Edit: I planted them on 21st April.

 

When did you plant them?

 

@Dovefromabove Sorry, I meant to add that to the original post Just had a quick look back on the "What are we doing in the garden?" thread and I planted them on 21st April.

 

My turn to apologise now I should’ve asked how deep is the compost on top of them?

 

Earthing up in pots doesn't seem to work for me, I tried grow in pots last year and did the covering of the shoots as suggested in stages.
When I tipped them out I still just had potatoes at the bottom.
I wonder if it works better with some varieties than others.

 

@Dovefromabove Good question! These are the bags I have Grow Bags with handles | Potato House | Free Uk Delivery The potatoes I would say were planted about a third of the way up and the compost is about an inch from the top.

 

@pete This is my first time growing maincrop so no experience in that field. I'm worried about potentially getting fewer potatoes if I don't.

 

I’ve seen a few people not bother with earthing up potatoes in pots and bags. I tried it last year with some first earlys and had some pretty good results despite me not really looking after them particularly. I tried it after watching this:



(Edit) and this one:

 

Yeah I realised that, last year was my first serious attempt, I've always grown them in the ground before, I must have done something wrong because I wasn't really impressed with the yield of pink fir apple.

 

You won’t do any harm if you do remove some of the compost carefully. The shoots won’t be near the surface yet … just don’t move the bags around because that could cause the shoots to detach from the potato.

 

@latimer I watch her videos too as she's in Nottingham. Being in Leicester, our weather isn't likely to be much different so it's handy. I didn't bother earthing up with earlies last year either.

@pete I've never grown them in the ground either, no space!

@Dovefromabove I was hoping you'd say that although I do need to move them. Not far, just a couple of feet so they'll be gently dragged rather than picked up. I had to use the space they need to be in to put bags of topsoil/compost/bark chippings because of its proximity to the garden gate. I don't really want to leave them where they are as they're next to the raised bed. I already found a couple of slugs under the straw this morning when checking for any shoots. No doubt sheltering until this evening when they can inflict more damage.

 

@JWK I did sprinkle some chicken manure pellets in the compost when I planted them. What would you say the best thing to feed them with is? In addition to the chicken manure pellets, I have Miracle-Gro general purpose diluted fertiliser, Miracle-Gro organic liquid plant food, tomato feed and strawberry feed.

 

@Februarysgirl
...maincrop potatoes in containers this year...

Hi, what size are your containers ? 30 litre is a good choice.