Potatoes under plastic?

[Alan Farmer]

Tried the black plastic method a few years ago. It keeps the weeds down well, but I found that a lot of the tubers were green from light coming in the holes made for the haulm to develop. basically its the lazy persons method and does little to 'work' your ground, one of the greatest advantages of growing spuds

[Alan Farmer]

Damp proof membrane?

[snohare]

Bang on, Mr Farmer, damp proof membrane it is. And I am delighted to say that it lasts for years out of doors - mine has been outside continuously for more than two years now, and shows absolutely no signs of ageing. As soon as it does, away it goes - I hate to see small crumbs of plastic lying about, not least because I know the plasticisers are often endocrine disruptors and they are the last thing I want in my food or my soil !
Carrot King, where does your soot come from ? You do realise that this is an old method that the Victorians gave up on in horror when they realised that soot is usually filled with lots of nasties like benzene (the first carcinogen ever detected ) ?
I am definitely going to be using my seep hoses this year, looks like...hadn't even thought of them.
Slugs.....get toads ! They ain't perfect, but they work long hours and never ask for a pay rise or time off.

[Paulottie]

Paulottie, did you just grow them under the weed block membrane and not earth them up? Did you plant them in the ground or just lay them on the ground?

Also what's dpm? And I'm guessing seep hoses are somehow set into the ground?

Sorry if all this sounds thick!

DPM....damp proof membrane....is builders plastic. The problem is in the name...damp proof!...no rain gets through...it degrades after a couple years in the sun too. you can use it - normal method is to plant your spuds a trowel or two down (sprung bulb planter better) then stretch out plastic digging in/ weighing down the edges. in a few weeks where you see bulges cut plastic and tease out the haulm...nightmare job I thought...make sure you have accurately marked rows.

If your idle you can just lay the spuds on the ground...more of the crop will be on the surface ...but It is better deeper and to give it a good dig whilst searching.(less green ones too.)

The seep hoses can be used along the rows to aid accurate watering


I much prefer (slightly more expensive but long lasting) agricultural permeable membrane.(Mypex)..normally comes with grid on it; lay out first, cut small crosses at required intersection with scissors/craft knife-definitely need bulb planter for this method -trowel awkward- plant spuds! put soil back.

To 'multi quote' just click multi on the ones you want and then select quote as well on the last one.

All clear as mud?

[Paulottie]

Okay...here's a few pics

1. my little helpers on plastic
2. growing nicely
3. just to prove i can do it traditionally..on my other plot
4. a triangle of headland that I planted BEFORE Joe Swift(received some p*ss taking on here for it!..a couple of years back now)

[snohare]

Hmm, yes I can see just where you are coming from, Paulottie !
I should have mentioned, that in my uncle's case he laid the plastic in strips, cut in such a way that the tatties came through without problems and the water had a chance to drain. I was thinking I would cut slits in the edges of strips and overlap them around the plants, weighted down with stones - I think that was how he did it, but I can't remember.
Right enough, the dpm is great for collecting pools of water, so I need to do something about drainage, but quite apart from not being able to afford Myplex, I've used it before and I hate the stringy bits you get at the edges !
Once my ageing dpm starts to crumble, it's back to cardboard for me I think....

[maytreefrannie]

DPM....damp proof membrane....is builders plastic. The problem is in the name...damp proof!...no rain gets through...it degrades after a couple years in the sun too. you can use it - normal method is to plant your spuds a trowel or two down (sprung bulb planter better) then stretch out plastic digging in/ weighing down the edges. in a few weeks where you see bulges cut plastic and tease out the haulm...nightmare job I thought...make sure you have accurately marked rows.

If your idle you can just lay the spuds on the ground...more of the crop will be on the surface ...but It is better deeper and to give it a good dig whilst searching.(less green ones too.)

The seep hoses can be used along the rows to aid accurate watering


I much prefer (slightly more expensive but long lasting) agricultural permeable membrane.(Mypex)..normally comes with grid on it; lay out first, cut small crosses at required intersection with scissors/craft knife-definitely need bulb planter for this method -trowel awkward- plant spuds! put soil back.

To 'multi quote' just click multi on the ones you want and then select quote as well on the last one.

All clear as mud?

Thanks a million, Paulottie - all very clear. Clever you, you've taught the Irish how to grow spuds!

Thanks again.

[Paulottie]

Must agree that the fraying bits are particularly irritating feature....on some of the smaller newer pieces I ran them through Mrs P's sowing machine and have also tried melting with soldering Iron and hot glue gun.

I still think its a better investment in the long run as it lasts years...I've cleared a couple of plots with it and lend it/sell it to newcomers etc....I brought a couple of rolls in the end with proper pegs. after selling some I've got enough myself for an allotment at a loss of about £75 quid...there are quite a few crops that can be grown through it...I've saved many hours of weeding and gallons of water. It helped me get over the
difficult early years.

[Comfreyfan]

I've always grown my spuds under black plastic, nothing fancy just the cheapest I can get. Never had any problems. I plant each spud about a trowel depth down and make a mound over the top of each one, cover the bed in plastic, cut a cross in the plastic over the top of each mound and let them get on with it. I always put down some sort of slug barrier - crushed shell or egg shell type stuff under the plastic. But I've found that the frogs and toads like living under the plastic too - they're very fat toads!