Earthing up spuds

[Mark_Riga]

I was thinking of using a product called Strulch with potatoes next year, a bit dear but if is deters slugs and saves work, may be worth it. Has anyone any experience of using this?

https://www.strulch.co.uk/

[Mr Bones]

I mulch spuds with wood chips. The main problem is with blackbirds looking for food and uncovering the taters (they make such a mess it's actually quite funny). I did try mulching with leaves but suffered too much slug damage.

[Jay-ell]

I did try mulching with leaves but suffered too much slug damage.

What you need is Blackbirds going through it to pick off the slugs

[Stan79]

I earth up, as the few times i've tried anything different i've ended up frustrated at the number of green spuds on the surface.

I've tried planting under weed suppressant matting but enough light got through to turn the exposed ones under the matting green.

I've tried not earthing up but sure enough, quite a few poke through and go green.

I've tried digging them in about a foot deep and earthing back over straight away and they just took a long time to reach the surface and then produced spuds near the top of the soil anyway so they went green.

Best 2 methods that have been successes have been:

1) in potato bags by the back door with daily watering and
2) digging a trench, filling with compost and bit of feed, planting and gradually earthing up in the traditional manner which helps with weeding and makes the plot look nice in my opinion! I swear by Charlottes after trying numerous different varieties! And i occasionally give them a mulch of grass cuttings once earthed up - in between the rows.

All the best with your plot.