Another Potato Question: Planting F.Earlies

[WiZeR]

I want to plant out my early potatoes soon and I'm a bit confused as to the method. I have dug a trench 10cm deep in preparation and have been reading up on the subject. Do I plant the tubers 5cms below them bottom of the trench? and then is the point in the trench that you earth up while the plant grows? Or do you fill in the trench as soon as they are planted?

Any other tips apprecieated

[sewer rat]

WiZeR
Put your seed tatties at the bottom of the trench and cover them over to the depth of your trench. The earthing up process starts when the haulm gets to between 6" to 9" high.
On another matter, can you look at Huxley's thread in Feelin' Fruity - I think you may be able to help given your recent fruit tree exploits.

[Lesley Jay]

Wizer this is the way I plant my potatoes. (Everyone will have their own way.) Dig a trench half a spade deep and break up the soil that you dig up. I am on clay and mine tends to be in big lumps. Lay the seed potatoes in the trench 12 inches apart for earlies. Then cover the trench and I earth up now to roughly 9 inches above the ground level. Flatten the sides of the earthing up with the back of the spade to make it look neat and make sure that there are no holes where the daylight can get through. Job done. No need to do anything else before you dig up lovely new potatoes apart from watering. 24 inches between rows.

[sewer rat]

Hi LJ
So you earth up immediately after planting your seed tatties ? I suppose thinking about it, that's what commercial growers do too. If there is no difference in yield (either real or imaginary) why do some people do it your way and others earth up a bit at a time

[WiZeR]

great, so dont go below the bottom of the trench? I think I will try that pre-earthing up method as I wont be up the alotment every day, maybe not every week (except to water).

thanks

[Lesley Jay]

Rat it is just the way I plant the potatoes. I always get a great yield and like I said the job is done and finished with. No need to mess about earthing up a bit at a time. I have plenty of other things to do when I go down to the allotments and I wonder (just thought of this) do you think that the earthing up might protect the young shoots as they are coming up if there is a light frost?

[JennieAtkinson]

Pre-earthing - sounds a great idea, will also do it that way this year. As you say Lesley - job done and finished.

[sewer rat]

I like the sound of this pre-earthing too, but think I will try both methods to compare results as my maincrops will consist of two rows of Rooster and two rows of PFA - the earlies are going in bags / buckets.

[Geordie]

Like Lesley I pre earth two rows of earlies that I planted in mid feb as it protects the tubers from frost.....gets an early early crop as well!

[sewer rat]

Geordie
Just to say - cool avatars !

[Nicos]

Mind your coccyx geordie!!!
Glad your head is better (or not???!!!)

[Amanda1]

Sorry, another related potato question. I have ordered 10litre bags intending to plant one tuber in each for my first earlies. Is this going to be big enough? If so, should I follow the same principle and just fill the bag to the top now and not just top up when the haulms show? Also, would maincrops be okay with the planting method? Finally (I hope!) how much light do they need? I have a dead space down the alley way running along side my flat. My garden is south west facing but not much light down the alley due to the proximty of next door. Would it be okay to place the bags here or will they need more light?

[sandersj89]

Indeed many commercial growers do pre earth as it saves labour and machinery cost. But some still earth up, normally just once, after the foliage is proud of the soil. But earthing up as the plants grow does increase the yield to some extent and for the person with enough time earthing up might be the option.

10 litre bags will be fine for a single tuber but I would try and get them into more light once the foliage is growing as they do not like too much shade.

HTH

Jerry

[SueA]

Sorry, another related potato question. I have ordered 10litre bags intending to plant one tuber in each for my first earlies. Is this going to be big enough? If so, should I follow the same principle and just fill the bag to the top now and not just top up when the haulms show? Also, would maincrops be okay with the planting method? Finally (I hope!) how much light do they need? I have a dead space down the alley way running along side my flat. My garden is south west facing but not much light down the alley due to the proximty of next door. Would it be okay to place the bags here or will they need more light?

I would think the back wall of your flat would be a better place to grow the potatoes as they won't get enough light in the alley. 10 litres sound a bit small but just mean your yield will be fairly small & you will have to keep an eye on watering as they could dry out very quickly. I grew some first earlies in an old compost bag ( I think it was about 40L with about 4 tubers) for my mum-in-law last year and just rolled the bag down with the tubers planted about 3 ins below the surface, then rolled it up & topped up the compost each time the haulms showed through about 4 or 5ins high until they reached the top of the bag. I've never tried it with maincrops but would imagine it should work but your potatoes & yield might be a bit smaller than usual.

[Sheepie]

Amanda, (et al)
I too have gone for the 10 litre bags and rather unfortunately have a north facing garden (drat).
I was thinking of trying some bags with water retaining gel crystals to stop drying out too fast. Anyone else have any views on this?
I have a full range of first earlies through to late maincrop to try this year so have plenty to run experimets with...
Good luck with your tatties.
(ditto on the avatar Geordie - fantastic)