Potatoes under cardboard?

[1Bee]

I've seen plenty of references to people planting tatties through a cardboard mulch when ground is too difficult to cultivate. I've got a bunch of questions, but can't find the answers, and with the pics going awol I can't see how people managed...

Will it work with perennial weeds? Our main culprits are creeping buttercup, horsetails, couch grass, docks etc.

How do you 'plant through'? Do you cut a hole in the cardboard? Use something to poke through?

Is it essential to cover the cardboard with something? The only muck I have is far too fresh to get near anything edible, I don't have much compost or easy access to straw. I could put some grass clippings on it as I go along, but there won't be much until later in the year.

Do the haulms miss the hole and get stuck under the cardboard...?

Does anyone have any pics to share of potatoes romping away with this method? Or of harvest?

Thank you! :-)

[bario1]

I grew spuds through a cardboard mulch last year and they were terrible.
If the ground is full of perennials, they'll need to be dug out before you start - even a potato plant can't compete with the tangled mess of roots that must be underneath - plus docks and couch will soon grow through a bit of cardboard once it's gone soggy. I added a layer of straw on top of the cardboard and then some soil from elsewhere on the plot to weigh it down, but the potato haulms struggled to break through it all, and that set them back - then the slug population exploded in the damp straw and all the tubers were wrecked!

[1Bee]

Thank you, Bario - I suspected it wouldn't work for us. My default setting is dig allllllll the roots out, or as much as possible, so I guess I just need to keep on at it!

[bario1]

Once it's dug, the cardboard method might work fine as a weed suppressant with thin layers of grass cuttings applied periodically?

[Penellype]

I grew spuds through a cardboard mulch last year and they were terrible.
If the ground is full of perennials, they'll need to be dug out before you start - even a potato plant can't compete with the tangled mess of roots that must be underneath - plus docks and couch will soon grow through a bit of cardboard once it's gone soggy. I added a layer of straw on top of the cardboard and then some soil from elsewhere on the plot to weigh it down, but the potato haulms struggled to break through it all, and that set them back - then the slug population exploded in the damp straw and all the tubers were wrecked!

Slugs are always going to be a problem with this sort of method as I discovered years ago when trying to grow potatoes through black polythene in an attempt to conserve moisture on a very sandy soil. Couch grass in particular will make short work of cardboard, weed suppressant fabric etc and really the only way to control it is to get as much of it out as possible.

[1Bee]

That's certainly my experience elsewhere on the plot. I just wondered if I was missing a trick.

[Muddy_Boots]

I'm presently digging plot 2 and putting tatties in, got the plot last year and it was a jungle with 6ft high weeds, couch grass(we call it twitch), Docks with roots the size of a Rhubarb, Dandelions the same, Mares Tail, Nettles, Brambles and anything else you can think of.

Covered it in black plastic after using a brush cutter and strimmer to take it down to the soil. Then slowly dug it just turning the soil and only taking out an obvious large root, left the grass to die under the soil after recovering it with the black plastic. I'm now slowly digging it again with a fork to remove all the grass, dock, nettle, dandelion, mares tail roots and planting my spud rows as I go, done eight rows so far and got about another 5 to do. Its hard work but worth it in the end and when you harvest the spuds that more spade work to remove even more of the stragglers. Next year should be a breeze but for now it seems daunting but I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I know as my plot 1 takes 30 mins to dig it all from one end to the other.