I have managed to get my potatoes to start growing and was thrilled to see their pretty shoots coming up out of the soil. I know I have to keep covering them up, but how big do I let them get before I cover them with more soil or compost? An inch? Sorry if this is a silly or previously discussed question. I am anxious to make this a success! Thank you.

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), June 01, 1999

Answers

citygirl,

I don't know the answer to your question, but I encourage you to ask the wonderful, witty and kind folks on the homesteading discussion forum at:

http://angelfire.com/tn/gaelio/frame.html

Join us there and you'll get lots of info on vegetables and tons of other topics. Very knowledgeable folks, as fun too. See you there.

-- jill d. (jdance@mindspring.com), June 01, 1999.

Citygirl, not a dumb question.... I always hill them after they get about 8 to 10 inches high. Do not cover them all the way up. Only about 2/3s the way up, leaving the top sticking up so they can keep on growing.

Now I have a question of my own... can anybody answer? Its about..(you guessed it) potatoes! We planted on Good Friday, as we do every year and the potatoes are doing great. My question is when do you stop hilling them. At what point of the flowering process does the potatoe plant stop sending out new roots that produce potatoes? We have hilled twice and they are starting to flower, I am wondering if it would do any good to hill again in a week or so?

Potatoes... potatoes... potatoes.... Thanks Bulldog

-- bulldog (sniffin@around.com), June 01, 1999.

Check out this site. http://www.taunton.com/kg/features/growing/9spuds.htm

-- treading litely (rs@marketwatch.com), June 01, 1999.

According to one of our books, keep hilling until a foot tall and the plants start to flower.

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), June 01, 1999.

Bulldog:

Keeping piling dirt around potatoes, But, as said before, Do not cover them up.

When they start flowering, that means that the potato is starting new little ones under ground, and they need lot of soft dirt to give them room to have lots of potatoes. Otherwise they will get sunburned and not have enough nutrients to survive.

Lon, raised and hoed potates from sunup to sundown. Good luck!

Then cook the small ones in fresh picked green beans,YUMA.

-- Lon (Lon1937@aol.com), June 01, 1999.

citygirl:

If you can't wait for the main harvest, then sacrifice a plant or two and carefully dig up the small tubers.

Potatoes seem to grow better in cool weather. My plants have a late start this year, so they'll have to battle the heat. I intend to mulch after hilling.

Look out for the bugs which will munch the leaves. Live burial may not work.

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), June 01, 1999.

Another method that works quite well is simply to cover the potato plot with enough straw to keep light off the tubers. As it weathers down, you may need to add more. Harvesting such a plot is really easy.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), June 02, 1999.

Hey Tom,

I did the lazy man's method of planting; just threw out chunks of potatos on the surface of the soil and the threw about 4 inches of hay on there. They are coming up nicely. So now if I just keep adding hay on top to keep the weeds down and keep the potatos covered I should get spuds under there. Anybody else tried this?

-- David Palm (djpalm64@yahoo.com), June 03, 1999.