Potatoes - huge amount of vegetation

[GeorgieP]

Hi

I'm new to this forum and need some help please! We're growing potatoes for the first time this year (earlies and main crop). The seed tats were planted out in April and sprouted as expected. Then we had the two weeks of very warm sunny weather (South London) and the potato vegetation went mental! At about 9" high we earthed up, as per advice. However they kept growing very rampantly (around 2ft at the last measure) meaning that we cant really earth up much more as the soil will just fall away. Also the stems have fallen over with the weight of their leaves although they continue to grow (now have L-shaped stems).

Is this normal? I know potatoes are very big plants but I wasn't quite expecting this....

[rustylady]

Completely normal, in fact potatoes are recommended for planting on new weed infested plots because the amount of leaves (vegetation) shades out the weeds. If they're planted at the recommended distances they will completely cover the area with leaves.

[GeorgieP]

thanks. I'v got some pics on a blog so you can see just how rampant they are How does our garden grow?: Potatoes 3

I had a quick check today and some of the stems look broken - it might be foxes (they love to run through the veg beds) or just the high wind we've had today

[Norm]

What ever you're doing to them, it must be right 'cos they look great. Well done!

[GeorgieP]

Thanks - I'm feel better about them now (especially as not everything we tried worked last year!) . We didnt really appreciate just how quickly they would grow in a matter of a few weeks... Am looking forward to eating them now.

[vegman]

You may already know this but the earlies will be ready when the flowers appear. Dont wait until the foliage dies back like maincrop.

[Duronal]

what happens if you do wait vegman?

Will an early continue to grow?

[marigold007]

Does that include second earlies, vegman? Here's a link to my second earlies, the ones on the left:
Marigold Memoirs: Earthing Up Potatoes

That was six days ago. After the rain, some started falling down and I have now tied string around the bunch to prop them up to keep them off my onions. They are about to open their flowers any day now! By my calculations, there should be three weeks left as I planted them in mid-march?!

[GeorgieP]

Thanks vegman - did not know that. That helps because I planted some out and had a thought that I had no idea when they'd be ready!

[Two_Sheds]

Not all potatoes will flower, so don't sit there waiting for them!
Have a furtle under the soil and if you uncover half a dozen that are proper size, dig up the plant. If they are still marble-size, leave it a bit.

BTW. The earthing-up is to cover the developing tubers, not all the leaves.