potatoes - earthing up help

littlestars

i'm been trying to grow some maincrop king edward potatoes for a little while now.
they did very little for ages and now in this past week they've gone from having green shoots of about 2inches to being out the top of the bucket in two days.

my Q is how much earth/compost should i add, a few inches or the full bucket?

kimmee

As far as I can tell you need to earth up as much as possible ie the full bucket. Thats what I'm doing to my pots planted in those potato planters. I'm a newbie at growing potatoes so I stand to be corrected!

Yorkie1

I'd agree with kimmee

littlestars

thanks, i was under the impression it was supposed to be a gradual earthing up, but i guess i can fill them buckets now!

Yorkie1

Sorry, I was under the impression that your foliage was already sticking out of the top of the containers, in which case yes fill to the top now.

But the general idea is indeed to fill up gradually, leaving only a small amount of leaf each time (or none, if frost is forecast), if starting from scratch - you put the seed tubers near the bottom and gradually add about 3-6" of compost at a time.

littlestars

thanks they are, it just kind of happened alot quicker than i expected.
i hope they grow ok, it's my first time growing potatoes.