potato problems!

hey guys quick question, i know the thing to do with taters is to keep topping them up with soil as they grow out to push more potato growth out of them, but ive encountered an issue.

ive had to work a lot recently so ive not been able to keep on top of them and my plants have grown really far out of the soil. Ive run out of compost (i dont drive so i cant get any for a couple of days til i can grab a lift to the garden centre)

my question is: would it be fine to bury them like i otherwise would, or does the fact that i let them grow for a while mean that my yield will be bad and i might aswell start again (theyre using my big grow bags at the mo)


check out their growth and let me know what you think please - not so experienced so im a bit concerned

 

You can still top them up Yacobian. They should be fine.

 

Plenty of time. I only top mine up once, and that is when they are well clear of the top of teh container. I figure that leaving leaf on, rather than burying it, enables the plant to make energy to grow faster. SO mine get topped up once, when the tops are 4" to 6" (or more if I forget!) out of the bags.

However, if I have a failed seedling in a 3" pot, or similar, I tip the contents of the pot into the bag to start filling it - so I need a little less compost to actually top them up. I have 400+ seedlings in 3" pots in the conservatory at the moment, and quite a number of Melons, Cucumbers and some others I found lying around from last year that snuffed it - which all helped. Avoid anything diseased though.

 

As Kristen does, I use the extra compost from failed seedlings or from seed trays after pricking out or the remains after sieving compost to top up potatoes, I also use hanging basket and tub compost from last years annuals along with the waste from the household paper shredder and any grass clippings I can get my hands on, which is quite a lot as the church next doors compost heap is just over the wall from my garden.

I'm not sure the idea is to get more growth, I've always understood that you earth up to ensure you exclude light from developing tubers to stop them turning green and therefore making them poisonous.

Last year my seed potato was around 12-15 inches underground with around 2 foot (+/- 6 inches) of growth above ground. All potatoes that I harvested where at least 6 inches below soil level.

Steve...

 

Good point. So why are we earthing up so much? DO the haulms grow upwards at all / much?

I don't think I find spuds below the original Seed Tuber, so only above. I was thinking that earthing up provided more "head room" for the haulms to produce tuber-bearing haulms, but maybe that's not the case? (although I'm fairly sure I get tubers near the surface of my bags, and that's after I've earthed them up a foot or so ...)

If they aren't going to make spuds higher than the original planting soil I could earth up the bags with something more cost effective ...