When do I start mounding soil on Potato plants?

Nicola 5/27/2012, 1:39 pm

I planted potatoes this year, never having done so before, with no real idea what I was doing, and I still feel that way. I know I saw a thread here somewhere about the 8 or so ways to grow 'em, and mine are sort of between hilled rows and real SFG:
Spaced right (4 per square),
neither grids (I borrowed a broken one for original planting/spacing), nor trench/hill (but I took some soil out and put it in bags, for the time when I need to cover the plants).
Now, how do I know when that time is? Is it when they reach a certain height, leaf count, when flowers appear, or what? I think they're about 6-8" tall now. I haven't counted leaves,nor do I see flowers.
Come to think of it, I need to go actually look at them, as I've kinda ignored them since I fenced them off from my chickies; I guess it served to fence them away from me, though I walk past them a minimum of 4 times a day.

**rowena___.** 5/27/2012, 4:41 pm

i cover mine when they are about 6" tall. i cover about 4" and leave the top 2" so there are leaves exposed to collect sunlight. i continue to cover until they flower (that will happen at different times in the season depending on the variety). after they flower and the foliage turns yellow, i start harvesting.

Triciasgarden 5/27/2012, 4:49 pm

I took soil out of the bed like you did. Now is a great time to put some back in. They are pretty hearty but do be a bit careful not to break stems. I added about 3-4 inches of soil around each plant and watered them. When they grew 3-4 more inches I added more soil and ran out. They are heavy feeders so adding compost while adding the soil would always be good.

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When do I start mounding soil on Potato plants?

When do I start mounding soil on Potato plants?

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