Ridging up potatoes

I have seen a lot of items about ridging up potatoes.
I would like to hear your opions about the subject, you see I used to grow hundreds of acres of spuds for a living and I think spuds were ridged to allow the farmers to use machines to harvest them, it is in fact detrimental to ridge potatoes as it dries out the soil and allows light to green the tubers when a bumper crop outgrows the ridge.
With the development of de-stoning and larger machines farmers now grow spuds in beds, or if you like, they plant 3 rows in a 2mtr wide ridge with a flat top..

I have just planted my earlys in a raised bed and I ridged up the soil and planted the seed in between the ridges and will level the soil as the spuds grow and will end up with a level bed. As I am digging the crop by hand there is no need for a ridge.

 

Good point Blacksmith. I've found if I don't earth them up then I loose a fair few to turning green. I grow similar to you although I do earth them up a bit after the trenches are filled, wouldn't go so far as to call them ridges though.

I know what you mean as we are in the middle of potato country here and the ridges do look like they are meant for machines rather than helping the spuds.

 

I plant my seed potatoes extra deep (blame Carol Klein), and rarely "earth up"

Reason being: plant deeper, more moisture, more frost protection = higher yield?

Simples! :D

 

And there was me asking if I should dig up the potatoes I had planted earlier in the morning, as I had burried them three inches below the surface
I suddenly thought oh oh they need light to chit, so would need light to grow and I had burried them, So had best dig them up and start again
I was just about to unbury them when I was advised on here it was OK to leave them as they were


FEW

Jack McH

 

I have a feeling that the farmer's reason for doing it is different to the small scale grower. I don't know how tatie farms work. I used to know a tatie farmer and once a twice helped him with his harvest (ie I helped my dad, who was hired at the time as a labourer by his farmer friend). I always thought the yield was fairly poor, but figured 30+ acres made for a massive crop, even if the yield per plant was a bit lower than I'd have been happy with. I remember his tractor had an attachment that sort of churned up the soil and all the spuds would just flick up to the surface, and we'd collect them all, bag them up and stick them on the trailer. And that's where my understanding of commercial tatie farming ends.

For growing on the smaller scale, earthing up has a number of purposes. Firstly, it helps the plant to not fall over under its own weight. The top growth gets quite bushy towards maturity, earthing up helps to support the central stems to keep the whole plant upright. Some say that new roots grow along the stems and so you get more yield. I can't say I've ever seen that happen, but you do get a better yield for other reasons. You're elimating competition from weeds, by regularly disturbing the ground so they don't get a chance to grow, and you're keep the cold off the roots too. You're also keeping the soil nice and loose around the roots, so the plant doesn't have to fight to grow tubers. It also helps regulate soil moisture. It will drain quicker, but on the small scale that wont be an issue because you can water a few square yards with a watering can. It would take something a bit more serious to water 30+ acres.

I did once read an article about a new experimental way that proved very successful. A small-holder decided to use one of those deep subsoil breaking things to cut loose grooves in the subsoil. They then plant just a few inches above these grooves, figuring the roots would now be able to easily search much deeper for water, while they had the full depth of the top soil for growing tubers. They claimed it was very successful, but on the small scale without beefy machines, it sounds like a lot of hard work compared to the traditional earthing up method.

 

That made me laugh Jack!

 

I chit first and second earlies, sod the maincrop, they don't need it and in my opinion, through experience, do better without chitting! :(

This is just the way I do it, it works for me but maybe NOT for everyone. I've learned for me on my soil and in my conditions, took me a couple of years or so to get to where I am now and I'm still learning through experience......... You never STOP learning!

 

All chtting does is to bring forward the harvest date. So typically chitting Earlies helps with geting an ... ermmm ... "Early" crop.

But if your seed potatoes are delivered in January you might as well chit them, otherwise if you store them in the dark, or the bag they came in, they will have very long, fragile, white shoots that will break off when you plant them ...

Not sure what you do with yours between buying them and planting them? Assuming you buy them at the same time as the Earlies that you chit?

You could put them in the fridge I suppose ...

 

Your not far from the truth there Kristen, some farmers who are located near the coast heat and chit their seed in November to plant in January to crop first earlys, as they have no frost. if you have a frost problem and cannot plant until March/April you need to keep your seed cool otherwise the will shrivel and shrink and or develope dry rots. I,m not sure you need a fridge though, might be a bit extreme.

 

Noo, fridge is good, slows em right down.

 

Easier just to buy the seed potatoes later surely? Then its someone else's problem to run the Chiller" for them !!

 

No chillers in a certain DIY/Gardening store chain - some of the 'chits' on their spuds (on sale since the new year) are now over 150mm long, growing through the mesh bags. I wonder how tall their courgette plants will be that they started selling a week or so ago will be before it's safe to plant them out.

EDIT: Was there again this morning and some sprouts are over 200mm long. They have now reduced them to half price, but they're still more expensive than where I get mine from.

 

Hahaha ... yes, good point. My garden centre has spuds loose (bag them yourself, get whatever varieties you want, etc.) and no chits so I presume they are restocking from chilled store ...

I get mine from JBA, and I don't get to choose arrival time (and if I delay ordering they run out of popular varieties ...) so I have to do something with them when they arrive.

Worth putting some in the Fridge for planting on 1st August (preferably in bags/tubs) for Xmas - much cheaper than buying "prepared" seed tubers at that time