Potatoes planted under black bags?

[scotindevon]

Hello everone my first post so be kind if its stupid!!
i have just had my seed pots arrive and i have 40 tubers. i only have 6 potato bins and not enough room in the back garden to do much earthing up if planted in the ground. i am sure i read somewhere that you can plant them under blackbags and then make a slit for the plant to grow through, thus no earthing up.i dont know if this is correct as i cant find out anything on this method. jock

[Two_Sheds]

Yes it's correct, but use proper black membrane, not those thin rippy binliners, and don't do it yet

I grow my spuds under a mulch of wet newspapers & grass clippings, so no earthing up for me either

[Alison]

Hello and welcome

To be honest I'd find it a bit of a pain watering as the black plastic bags would be impermeable, would be more inclined to use old card / newspaper instead.

However, if you're planting very close together you'll get a lower crop but the greenery will shade out the roots pretty well meaning that you wound't need to earth up much anyway. I'm rather lazy and tend to plant mine deep and don't earth up much and don't end up throwing many spuds, perhaps half a dozen in total from all the beds

[Kristen]

You could use old multi-purpose compost bags for additional "potato bins" if you have room for containers, but not for growing in the soil (make plenty of drainage holes in the "bottom" of the bag)

[Comfreyfan]

I usually grow under black plastic and watering hasn't been a problem. They take in a lot of moisture through the leaves and it channels down the leaves and stems into the hole in the plastic anyway, so it works quite well. Slugs can be a problem, but I'm fortunate that the toads/frogs/sloworms also like hiding under the plastic and take care of most of them for me.

[Snadger]

Under black plastic is an ideal enviroment for slugs to lurk and do their dastardly deeds!

[Two_Sheds]

To be honest I'd find it a bit of a pain watering

Watering is a consideration - I plant upturned pop bottles amongst my crops and water into them, so the water goes straight to the roots with no evaporation

[Aberdeenplotter]

Under black plastic is an ideal enviroment for slugs to lurk and do their dastardly deeds!

and rats

[Two_Sheds]

Under black plastic is an ideal enviroment for slugs to lurk

It is, but on the other hand you know where they are and can go along lifting the plastic and popping the slugs into a bucket for the chickens

I've never had rats under a mulch though

[gan heather]

The bed I plan to use for planting potatoes this year is undug and grass-covered. I wanted to plant potatoes there to help break up my heavy clay soil. If I used the method of covering the potatoes with newspaper, cardboard, or black plastic, would I still get the benefit of having the soil broken up a bit? Or does that only come from digging deep trenches and having the potatoes grow there?

[oldie]

When I started growing my own I had an area of grass 8x10 metres. Covered it with cardboard, planted potatoes through it using a bulb planter and covered it with black plastic (bought from ASDA) which was perforated. It had small pin prick holes every inch and let the water through. As I harvested the potatoes I did a good dig and covered the area with manure. Since then I have been a no-digger.

[Dottie]

[QUOTE=oldie;798568]planted potatoes using a bulb planter QUOTE]

Simple and effective, and yet I'd not thought of using a bulb planter. Great idea, for no-diggers and others. Thanks, I like it and will use it, as I'm I'll be growing spuds this year.