Weeds coming through my potato 'mounds'

[Cosmo and Dibs]

My potatoes have started to get weeds growing in the soil that I have earthed up. I can't hoe them out as it will ruin the mounds.

Any tips?

[bubblewrap]

My potatoes have started to get weeds growing in the soil that I have earthed up. I can't hoe them out as it will ruin the mounds.

Any tips?

Pull them out by hand or use a hand fork.

[jacob marley]

Are the spuds through if not just rake from one end to the other gently if the are through be even more gentle and that should shift the weeds .
There is realy no need to earth them up when planting if you start to earth them when they start to come through that is usually sufficient....jacob

[zazen999]

What sort of weeds? Couch grass or bindweed - do as Bubblewrap says - if they are growing on the surface [from seeds in the soil], then just rake them, pull soil over them or take them out by hand. You can't earth them up too much, the soil will just tumble back down if they are too steep.

[Cosmo and Dibs]

They are tiny, tiny little weed seedlings. Nothing too major, yet.

I'm amazed they have come through the mounds, though, as I earthed them up about 6".

I was told by someone on the allotment that I should just leave them, as by the time the seedlings will be developing into 'real' weeds, the potato plants will be big enough to starve them of light, therefore killing them off.....?

[Alison]

Just pull them out by hand if they're little seedlings before they get the chance to get going.

[PAULW]

Mulch mulch and more mulch keeps the weeds down holds in the moisture and feeds the ground

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I have mulched the whole bed, except for the mounds that I have built up.
Here is a picture:

[Eden]

Hi there,
last year I used my grass cuttings to spread over the mounds - worked a treat at keeping weeds at bay!
good luck
Eden

[HayleyB]

I'm sorry Cosmo but really - you don't have to 'do' everything with a hoe - hands are pretty good tools... Sorry, sorry sorry but I had to ' you know well

[Two_Sheds]

Cosmo, there will be 1000s of annual seeds in your soil, just waiting for a bit of sunlight to germinate them.

What I do, is let the weeds grow to a decent size, then pull them. And compost them.

If you try to pull out every tiny weedling, you'll be there forever.

[matthew2riches]

I normally leave them and the potato plants smother them eventually.

But them I am a lazy individual when it comes to weeding :-)

[lynda66]

i have suddenly developed millions of weeds after rotavating the soil, and most of them i've never had growing in the garden ... some weed seeds can live for donkeys years in the soil, then pop up after they have been disturbed ... don't worry about it, most of them will die off when the spuds smother em ... just pull out the bigger ones

[Alison]

It depends on what your weeds are, if they're simply wind blown self seeded types then don't worry too much as you can either hoe them off if you really want or wait for the tatties to shade them out. However, if like me you have a bind weed / couch grass problem then you're best to pick as much out as you can as soon as you see it otherwise it will soon over run the spuds.