Earthing up potatoes?
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
A newbie learning here so beware! What exactly does earthing up mean?
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oldherbaceous
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Hello Catbud, i'm not a newbie to gardening but i still learn something new nearly every day.
Earthing up means to draw soil up to and around a stem or stems to form a mound or ridge.
In the case of a row potatoes it would be a continuous ridge.
Help this helps a little bit.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
Earthing up means to draw soil up to and around a stem or stems to form a mound or ridge.
In the case of a row potatoes it would be a continuous ridge.
Help this helps a little bit.
Kind regards Old Herbaceous.
Theres no fool like an old fool.
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peter
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Catbud, hi.
Earthing up is the practice of drawing loose earth up around the plant.
With potatoes there are various ways of planting, using bulb planters or trenches, but the most basic description is as follows.
Make a shallow trench in well cultivated soil.
Lay your potatoes at appropriate spacing along the trench.In rows: Early varieties: 20cm x 75cm (8in x 30in). Main crop: 30cm x 75cm (12in x 30in).
On beds: Evenly spaced at 30cm (12in) for earlies; 35cm (14in) for main crops. Alternatively, plant 2 rows along the length of the bed, with tubers 20cm - 30cm (8-12in) apart in the row.
Use a dutch hoe to pull the soil back into the trench over the potatoes, ideally leaving a low ridge to mark where the trench was.
Lightly re-cultivate the soil between your rows, poke it a bit with a fork.
Once the potato foliage emerges you use a dutch hoe to pull more of the loose soil from between the rows onto the ridge and between the shoots.
Imagine it as one of those cut-away diagrams of a volcano. ^v^v^ across your plot / rows with the plant being the lava and the soil the volcano mountain.
This site http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg ... potato.asp has a better description than mine plus a diagram.
Potatoes can be 'earthed up' as they grow, bringing soil up around the shoots. This helps control weeds, prevents the tubers turning green and gives some protection against tuber blight. Do it first when plants are around 15cm (6in) tall, leaving a couple of inches of foliage showing. Earth up again just before the foliage meets across the rows. On a closer spacing, earthing up will not be possible, but the plants will shade themselves anyway.
Alternatively, the plants can be mulched with a thick layer of hay, straw, leaf-mould or grass mowings. This will have the added benefit of conserving moisture.
Regards, Peter.
Earthing up is the practice of drawing loose earth up around the plant.
With potatoes there are various ways of planting, using bulb planters or trenches, but the most basic description is as follows.
Make a shallow trench in well cultivated soil.
Lay your potatoes at appropriate spacing along the trench.In rows: Early varieties: 20cm x 75cm (8in x 30in). Main crop: 30cm x 75cm (12in x 30in).
On beds: Evenly spaced at 30cm (12in) for earlies; 35cm (14in) for main crops. Alternatively, plant 2 rows along the length of the bed, with tubers 20cm - 30cm (8-12in) apart in the row.
Use a dutch hoe to pull the soil back into the trench over the potatoes, ideally leaving a low ridge to mark where the trench was.
Lightly re-cultivate the soil between your rows, poke it a bit with a fork.
Once the potato foliage emerges you use a dutch hoe to pull more of the loose soil from between the rows onto the ridge and between the shoots.
Imagine it as one of those cut-away diagrams of a volcano. ^v^v^ across your plot / rows with the plant being the lava and the soil the volcano mountain.
This site http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg ... potato.asp has a better description than mine plus a diagram.
Potatoes can be 'earthed up' as they grow, bringing soil up around the shoots. This helps control weeds, prevents the tubers turning green and gives some protection against tuber blight. Do it first when plants are around 15cm (6in) tall, leaving a couple of inches of foliage showing. Earth up again just before the foliage meets across the rows. On a closer spacing, earthing up will not be possible, but the plants will shade themselves anyway.
Alternatively, the plants can be mulched with a thick layer of hay, straw, leaf-mould or grass mowings. This will have the added benefit of conserving moisture.
Regards, Peter.
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Thanks for the advice you two, the volcano and lava analogy was very helpful 