Earthing Up Potatoes

[Urban Ayisha]

been doing it and it is a time consuming and aggravating job!! the soil doesnt seem to 'stick' and cover the stems and certainly and the plants just keep getting bigger and bigger!! how much longer will i have to do this for?! is it really terrible if i don't?!

[Ratty]

Of course its not terrible if you don't Ayisha, don't worry! You'll just get less spuds! Last year I grew them in a raised bed and as I was heavily pregnant when I planted, then caring for a young baby I didn't spend too much time or effort earthing up very much. This year they're in old tyres so its much much easier to put another tyre on, stuff the rim with straw & newspaper, then tip more compost over the top. You know you can fully cover the tops of the plants, not just the stems?

I'm sure there are better advice-givers than me out there too

Ratty

[JR]

Im no expert but as long as you get lots of earth between the tuber and daylight you will get lots of spuds (or should). Last couple of years I have put them a spade down and created a mound about another spade high. Once they come up I have ended up knocking some of the earth back down while weeding so have just pulled as much earth back up as possible, seems to work ok. The original tuber is a good couple of spades down by the time I dig them up.

[Clara]

Spuds are formed from side shoots from the plants, hence earthing them up encourages more spud growth. What you don´t want is spuds exposed to the light as they will turn green (which is some cyanide-type compound, as found in the leaves).

This year OH has made his traditional hilled-up potatoes (he likes the way they look), I have experimented with the container method, which is a LOT less work......we shall see who has better results.

[MrsD'ville]

I must confess I've largely left our spuds to it this year. In previous years we grew in tyres and it was so simple to earth them up, it's a really good method if you have, as we had, a big farm dump of tyres down the road!

[andyt]

Hi Ayisha,
Don't take spud advice too seriously,just go (grow) from experience. Last year,we did as told & crops were fairly crap!This year we've chucked loads of discards (chitted) from the compost heap & the signs are excellent. I don't think that buying seed spuds @ £illions per bag are worth it.Good luck & teach yourself!!

[andyt]

Oh,forgot to say.....i've read recent publications(there's a word),that modern day seedlings/tubars are so much stronger,that they don't need to be earthed up,unless they are in a unsheltered position.

[tim&fatima]

We had an old plastic dust bin, put about a foot of earth in the bottom, and chucked three old spuds in.
Then every time the shoots came above the soil we would stick another 6 inches of dirt on top of them. we kept doing that till we filled the bin.
The plants are now about 3ft tall from the top of the bin, and just about to flower.
I'll let you know if it works.

[Urban Ayisha]

wow thanks for all the advice! its encouraging to know i was maybe trying too hard! i heard about the poison thing, clara, and got a bit worried, cos new allotment = lots of other things to do, and the potatoes are mainly there to 'clear up the weeds' i didnt want to b spending too much time on them. ive used the hill method too. (what does OH stand for? notice a lot of you say it.) the tyre method sounds quite good too... do the tyres not deposit any nastiness into the soil though?

[Clara]

wow thanks for all the advice! its encouraging to know i was maybe trying too hard! i heard about the poison thing, clara, and got a bit worried, cos new allotment = lots of other things to do, and the potatoes are mainly there to 'clear up the weeds' i didnt want to b spending too much time on them. ive used the hill method too. (what does OH stand for? notice a lot of you say it.) the tyre method sounds quite good too... do the tyres not deposit any nastiness into the soil though?

OH = Other half, I bet he´f be glad to know that he´s always on my mind and in my posts! Don´t really like the phrase, but its just internet quickery!

We recently had a discussion about the tyre thing and the conclusion was NO there is no problem with residue (there was cited research but hopefully you can take my word for it!)

[MINESAPINT]

I do earth my spuds up and there comes a time when they will earth up no more, about now.

I have grown quite a few varieties over the years & find they all have different characteristics both when growing and when cooking. Some tend to want to grow up out of the soil and a large percentage of the crop is green. King Edward is the worse for this. Blight is the big issue. There is a blight league table available on the internet, varieties are rated on a scale 1 to 9. I try to grow the ones less likely to get blight. This year I am growing 5 varieties including Orla and Lady Balfour which are not likely to get blight.

I would be interested if anyone knows the truth about green potatoes being poisonous. My brother in law is a doctor and when I mentioned this to him he laughed at me! No doubt that green potatoes taste awful but how poisonous are they?

MINESAPINT

[Jandra]

Here's an URL about toxicity of green potatoes with some figures in it.

http://www.promolux.com/english/retail_ ... #poisoning

This is the quote:

Solanine Poisoning from Supermarket Potatoes

While death from potato poisoning is rare, eight ounces of a green potato can contain high enough levels of solanine to affect a 50 pound person, and 16 ounces could impact a 100 pound person. Symptoms of glycoalkaloid poisoning include gastrointestinal upset, headache, fever, convulsions, drowsiness, rapid breathing, delirium, and coma. Three to six milligrams of solanine per kilogram of body mass can be fatal.

Green potatoes often taste bitter, which is caused by the presence of solanine. However, toxic potatoes may not taste bitter, and bitter potatoes may not be toxic.

Boiling or steaming toxic potatoes prevents more solanine from forming but it only removes 30-40% of the toxin that has already formed. Solanine poisoning can be avoided by cutting off all green sections of the potato before cooking it. For people who tend to have allergic reactions, the entire potato should be discarded.

Perhaps that's interesting for people in doubt. I don't know the source of these pages, but it echo's what I thought I knew.

Hope this helps, Jandra

[Urban Ayisha]

what is potato blight?

[JR]

Blight is an airbourne disease that will kill off the plants, stunt the growth and usually infect the tubers. Same thing that happens to tomatoes.

Last year was bad due to the wet summer (so experts say), hopefully this year we will get a better one and less blight.

See link

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles07 ... blight.asp

[Annpan]

I was just earthing up my potatoes, I am not sure if I was perhaps a little rough, throwing sods of dirt at them

I guess time will tell.