Potato haulms

[terrier]

Hi all, I've just checked on my potatoes in buckets that I put in for a Christmassy crop. The plants are looking good so far but the greenery is about twice the height of the buckets. Should I cut off the tops of the haulms incase they break off or would this compromise the potato crop. Same goes for the maincrop I have in the veg plot, they should be ready next month I think. The greenery is very top heavy, is it OK to trim off to, say, half way down the stems?

[Cutecumber]

Not a good idea. The plants need their leaves to turn sunlight into energy so they can grow. If the potatoes tubers are not ready, they will not grow any more if you remove the leaves.

It's only ok to take off the haulms when you think the potatoes have reached the right size for harvesting. If you leave some foliage, you may get some more growth but you will be looking at a reduced crop.

I would do everything I could to support the foliage, not remove it.

[SueA]

Hi Terrier, as Cutecumber says you shouldn't cut off the haulms while your potatoes are still growing, the only time when you should do this is if they are infected with blight & cutting the tops off would stop it spreading down into the tubers. Your potatoes in containers especially will need the foliage for a while yet, earth them up to almost the top of the container if you haven't already. You could also try earthing up your maincrops in the ground a bit more to add a bit of support to the tops for now.