potato nightmare!

thamesmatt

I followed the advice on a thread a few weeks ago to grow potatos in an old bin.

Everything was going ok except I accidently put the lid on the bin, forgot about it and went on holiday for a week!

Upon my return I found dozens of long white canelike branches had grown up!.

I instantly watered them and chucked a load of compost over them.

Is it too late have I ruined them?

olibearhorse

the same thing happened in my compost bin! Probably due to the fact that they have had no light.

I am sure someone will come along and advise very shortly but I have always found potatoes to be pretty resilient so you will probably find they are ok, just make sure you 'earth them up' to protect the spuds and give them back their light!

Sharifa_2

What Olibear said - keep putting compost on them so that the tubers are covered when they develop and they'll be fine. The spindly shoots will put out leaves.

thamesmatt

thanks, the only slight problem is that I have now almost completely filled the bin! so i'm assuming now that anything growing deep down will be ok.

Don'tskipit

Don't worry thamesmatt.
As long as you keep 'earthing up' as you have, the stems will develop more roots with tubers on them.
I've got several bins planted and I've been harvesting lovely spuds for 3 weeks now. I don't pull the plant out, but dig down with my hands, take what I need, then recover with more compost. Spuds, up to now, have continued to produce more tubers.