How To Earth Up Potatoes
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How To Earth Up Potatoes
Earthing up potatoes is an important part of the growing process. It involves drawing mounds of soil up around the plant to prevent new tubors from growing and turning green and poisonous. Tom Cole shows us how to earth potatoes.
Step 1: You will need
- A garden hoe
Step 2: When to 'earth up'
Earthing up is the process of covering growing tubers with soil. This will help prevent the greening of tubers, and blight infection. Begin earthing up once the shoots of your plant reached approximately 20 cm.
Step 3: Earthing up
Using your hoe, draw the gathered soil into mounds around the stems of your potato plants. Use enough soil so that just 5cm of stem are left visible above the mound. This will ensure enough folliage is left to allow the plant to carry on growing strongly, but will starve the developing tubors of light so that they are prevented from turning green and poisonous. Whilst doing this, take the opportunity to remove any weeds or debris that may have returned since planting.
Step 4: Upkeep
Keep an eye on your potatoes over the coming weeks incase the earth has been washed away by heavy rain. To avoid this occurring, do not make the mounds too steep. As the plant continues to grow, repeat the process every time it reaches 10 - 15cm of new growth above ground. This could mean repeating the process 3 or 4 times per season.