earthing up

[piskieinboots]

As some of you know I'm working a new lottie which involves me de-turfing the whole plot.

What I've done with a tattie bed is remove one third of the turf, then turned over the rest into a sort of 'earthed up' hump. I then used a bulb planter and went down as far as I can and drop the spuds into the holes.

We shall see if I was peeing in the wind with this idea - but I'm pretty sure it will work.

[Aberdeenplotter]

remember guys that although earthing up may not affect the yield, just moving the soil about helps keep the ground free of weeds. It's why spuds are such a good crop for cleaning up a messy bit of the veg plot.

[Alison]

Personally I find that by spacing my spuds fairly close together the halms cut out the light to the ground which tends to do for most weeds without the effort of having to bother earthing up. The ground gets a good move around when I dig them all up though.

[binley100]

I experimented with 'earthing down' last year instead of earthing up!

I formed a few ridges like normal tatty planters do but I planted the spuds 6" deep in the hollow section!

As the tops came up I gradually shifted soil from the ridges over them until eventually soil was level. It worked a treat for me, and very few 'green' tatties!

I'm trying this method this year........already I've been asked by two people what am I going to grow in the trenches .....also trying some of the no dig method

[Newton]

So don't potatoes grow in the earthed up soil? I must confess to being confused.....it's my first time trying to grow potatoes other than in bags.?

[binley100]

Well if they didn't then you wouldn't have to bother earthing up ........

[veggiechicken]

I experimented with 'earthing down' last year instead of earthing up!
I formed a few ridges like normal tatty planters do but I planted the spuds 6" deep in the hollow section!
As the tops came up I gradually shifted soil from the ridges over them until eventually soil was level. It worked a treat for me, and very few 'green' tatties!

I hadn't realised that wasn't the normal method! Its what I've always done!! Apart from the straw mulching when I had a spare bale from the chooks.

[Newton]

Well if they didn't then you wouldn't have to bother earthing up ........

But TS said you don't need to earth up? Still confused

[veggiechicken]

I'm no expert but the way I look at it is - the longer the stem, the more tubers will be produced on it. And any tubers that break the surface of the soil will turn green and be inedible. So covering over the plants with something, whether its soil, grass cuttings, straw, cardboard or anything else that helps to make the stem grow longer and excludes light increases productivity. This can be done bit by bit too, doesn't need to be all in one big cover-up.
You don't have to do this but you will have less edible spuds if you don't!
I'm sure someone will be along to say that this is a load of all tubers but meanwhile, I'm sticking to it!!

[Alison]

In theory they'll produce more in the earthed up soil but if you plant them deeper then that's not a problem (and it protects them from frost a bit longer). I don't really earth up at all but do a bit of mulching when I remember but not much and get loads of spuds (get your soil in good nick first, you'll reap the benefits) and only tend to throw away 2 or 3 green ones in total. There are many ways of growing spuds and if you find a way that works for you then that is fine but I'm all for avoiding work that I've not found to be necessary as my time at the lottie is limited and there are other much more important jobs to do

[Farmer_Gyles]

I experimented with 'earthing down' last year instead of earthing up!

I formed a few ridges like normal tatty planters do but I planted the spuds 6" deep in the hollow section!

As the tops came up I gradually shifted soil from the ridges over them until eventually soil was level. It worked a treat for me, and very few 'green' tatties!

that's what i've always been told is the "normal" way of starting .... make your ridges and troughs, plant into the troughs (3 or 4 inches below the bottom of the trough) .... first "earthing up" is actually raking the ridges into the troughs to level the ground .... next earthing up will form ridges where the troughs were ...

[Two_Sheds]

remember guys that ... moving the soil about helps keep the ground free of weeds.

I beg to differ, kind Sir.

There are million of ungerminated weed seeds in the soil. If you move the soil around, you bring those seeds closer to the surface and the light, where they germinate.

My neighbour on the left is forever hoeing: he still has 1000s of weeds
My neighbour on the right is forever rotavating: he still has 1000s of weeds

[Dynamo]

The main thing to remember is to actually put the potatoes in before earthing up!

I knew that it was all going to well last weekend!

I did a similar thing when I was planting one of the rows yesterday. Thankfully I realised that the taties weren't in the ground after about three shovel fulls.

I didn't bother earthing up last year and I wish I had. There were loads of tubers growing above ground that just ended up in the compost bin because the slugs etc had got to them, and they were green. The majority of the tubers that grew completely underground were fine though.

[Two_Sheds]

I didn't bother earthing up last year and I wish I had. There were loads of tubers growing above ground that just ended up in the compost bin because the slugs etc had got to them, and they were green.

Oh, for a mulch of newspaper/grass clippings, and you would've had the finest, whitest (purplest?) cleanest spuds ...