Temperature for planting potatoes

[rary]

What is the lowest soil temperature that potatoes will start growing at, as it has been a relatively mild winter I am thinking about planting potatoes a bit earlier I have my soil covered with black weed suppressant fabric to build up some heat, I will plant through this once the soil is warmed up.

[WendyC]

I thought it was 10 degrees for seeds, so similar for potatoes?

[MarkHackwell]

Reading the back of my potato bag I got earlier it says 8 Degrees celsius but not sure if that is right or not

[Bigmallly]

You could put them in Rary and as long as the soil isn't waterlogged they will come up when they are ready, just keep any eye out for late frosts up your neck of the woods.

[sparrow100]

I thought it was soil temp 5C for spuds to start growing. Mine's still way too cold.

[spamvindaloo]

I'd be wary of any cold snaps. The weather seems very confused these days with temperatures in December consistently higher than we were getting in May.

[bramble]

Rary if you can afford to plant them early why not give them a try. The earliest I did them was early February but they were in a half barrel which I wrapped in bubblewrap and covered at night.

[4390evans]

Dunno bout in the ground I always wait till good friday, but watching christine walkden last night and she said to pop them in the green house or polly tunnel and by the time your gh is full of seedlings they will be ready to go out side anyways.

[Snadger]

Its not the soil temperature that's crucial it's the air temperature once they show above ground. Any sniff of frost and the tops are blackened. I 'clamped' mine in straw one year and they started growing in the clamp late February to early March.

PS My earlies are in the greenhouse chitting, but with a frost forecast for tonight I've covered them with newspaper.

[vixylix]

rary I don't know what the forecast is your way but we're forecast heavy snow over the weekend!

[Aberdeenplotter]

You could put them in Rary and as long as the soil isn't waterlogged they will come up when they are ready, just keep any eye out for late frosts up your neck of the woods.

Yups. It's the frosts that you need to time your planting for. Spuds will stay frost free underground 4" down but the top growth will be slaughtered by a light frost if you plant too esrly

[rary]

I usualy cover my potatoes with fleecewhich in the past has protected them, and this year I have bought some enviromesh which I hope will help keep the frost of things