when to stop earthing up?

[queen of the cobs]

Hi my potatoes are growing like crazy - I've earthed them up already, but they've broken through - should I keep doing this? when should I stop?

thanks.

[shirlthegirl43]

About how deep under the earth would you say the spud you planted is? The reason for earthing up is to stop the light getting to the tubers that are forming and prevent them going green and poisonous. If the seed spud was planted deep then there is no real need to earth up once the frost risk has passed.

[dajehle]

Oh. My spud leaves are peeking out of Snowdonia sized mounds..... Oops.

[kernowyon]

My grandad used to say to keep earthing up until you can't do it any more, he always used to get big crops so i guess it works, not sure why though, someone will no doubt enlighten me (please)

[Does the Cooking]

I've put some desiree spuds in a balck bin bag - about a quarter full now. Green sprouts are about six inches tall. Should I keep 'earthing up'?

[Does the Cooking]

I've put some Desiree spuds in a black bin bag - about a quarter full now. Green sprouts are about six inches tall. Should I keep 'earthing up'?

[rustylady]

In the open ground keep earthing up till the ridges are at about a 45 degree angle. in pots I would think about six inches of compost on top of your original planting, assuming the spuds were planted about five or six inches deep.

[JO,JO]

i keep earthing up til i cant get any more in the spud bag,as then they grow out of the topof the bag anyway and then flower and they produce more haulms if they are buried under earth. thats the advice i was given.did this in an old dustbin last year and got loads and loads.

[sallym]

Same as JoJo.

[terrier]

Last year there was so much haulm overflowing the buckets I wished I'd used deeper buckets, just seemed a shame to waste all that greenery. On the other hand, the more greenery to collect sunlight, the stronger the plant and there's no sun under the soil!

[Garden_girlie21]

I may be wrong, but isn't earthing up used to encourage stems to root and produce more tubers as well as protecting from frost and from the tubers going green??

Jennifer