Spuds and frost

[Yasai]

Hi all,

the last frost in London is somewhere around the end of April, does this mean that I can now plant my spuds? If I keep covering them over with soil as the leaves come though,will that be enough to protect them from the frost or do I still need fleece?

The RHS site says "Newly emerging foliage is susceptible to frost damage. You can prevent this by earthing up the soil around the shoots or by covering them with fleece." I know that this answers my question but it seems unlikely that without fleece they'll be okay. What do you think??

[WendyC]

I think you'd be safe to plant as by the time the shoots appear you should be past the last frost date, if end of April is right for your area.

[Potstubsdustbins]

And yes earthing up will protect them, frosts where you are tend not to be very cold or long lasting at this time of year.

[Knight of Albion]

A chilly April night is always a possibility. But, if you want an early crop ...

You can cover with fleece, though in the past I've improvised with newspaper (if it's dry) or earthenware flower pots. Any of these will do the job if you get caught out.

[solway cropper]

We often get frosts in May up here and I usually plant some of my spuds in March. Easy enough to cover with a double layer of fleece which keeps them safe but you must remember to remove the fleece early in the morning otherwise it can trap cold underneath and set them back.

[polc1410]

I've planted my first earliest today. I'm not expecting to see them till early May and will earth up and add fleece if needed to get me through any early/mid May frost we may get... I'm 350miles above you...

[Kristen]

I plant a few early and the rest a bit later so if we get a late frost I have fewer to try to cover. My aim is to plant enough early to provide New Potatoes for the 2 - 3 weeks that the later-planted ones will take to get ready.

[snakeshack]

I'm in london and mine went in on st patricks day,I will continue to earth up with mulch (woodchip + manure mix )when the tops show until the rows are about a foot high,If frost threatens after this I will fleece or use old net curtains overnight.
If the tips do get frosted It will knock your spuds back a bit but they do recover although your crop may be reduced

[Penellype]

As others have said, covering them if frost is forecast is the answer. You may still get a little damage where the leaves touch the covers.

My potatoes have all been planted except for a few Sarpo Mira which are waiting for the PSB to vacate the water butt. This is my solution to buckets of potatoes:



There are 3 buckets of Rocket under the plastic cloche which were put outside on 4th April having been in the garage since February. One of the buckets has a few shoots showing now. Under the fleece are a bucket of Charlotte and one of Sarpo Mira, which were both planted on 4th April. I've also got Charlotte in bags and a dustbin, and another bucket of Rocket which is also showing shoots, to the right of this photo, which is covered with bubble wrap tied round with string at night. I will have to change this to fleece soon as the foliage will be getting too big.

All these buckets will eventually be moved to their permanent places (currently occupied by other things), but at the moment I've put them where there are gaps for sun loving plants so that they get a decent start.

[Yasai]

Thanks very much for all the replies You've all been very helpful. Needless to say, my spuds are going in...

[rana]

In my experience while a late frost can hit your spuds and burn the new leaves, they do recover. Afterall how many of us end up removing rogue spud plants produced by tubers from last years crop, that have spent the entire winter in the ground.

[Kristen]

My view is it is better to keep the frost off the plant ... I plant early for an early crop, if the tops are killed off by a frost the plant has to remake all that growth and I might as well have planted them later.

The tubers underground survive as the frost doesn't penetrate that deep (usually!) so its only the above-ground foliage that is at risk.

Not much one can do about a seriously late frost - I remember we had something like -6C in May half a dozen years ago ... hopefully never again in several lifetimes!

For me the solution is to only plant as many 1st Early tubers as we can eat in, say, a month and then plant all the rest of my spuds a month later so they come up after the last frost - by "after" actually they will be ahead of the last frost in some years, but the plants will still be short enough that I can earth-up to cover the foliage with soil.

For anything taller (i.e. planted early), or a very late frost, I use fleece, but its only going to save me from a short frost of only a degree or two, for anything forecast to be colder than that I keep all the lawn mower clippings near the beds to spread them on / between the foliage. (Don't use grass clippings if the lawn has been treated with weedkiller)