Tell me about hilling potatoes, please

[AmyRey]

I'm still pretty green at this gardening thing - I didn't realize that "hilling" potatoes was something I should do.

My potatoes look great. They were planted about three-four weeks ago. The plants themselves are about a foot tall, three, fairly close together rows in a 3'x7' bed, not raised.

There's not much in terms of neighboring soil to pull up around the plants - I'd be getting into the other plants if I did this.

What else can I use? And what happens if I don't do anything? What exactly does hilling accomplish?

I've googled a bit, but every post I see just acts as though the need to hill is a given and that I should already know this. lol Most of the links I've seen lead me to believe that I should cover up all but the topmost leaves. Do they send out new potatoes at the leaf junctions?

Any and all expertise is welcome.

 

[gettinaclue]

As the plant grows, you pile soil around the plant. The soil that you pile around the plant is where new 'taters will grow.

I will be trying to grow my potatoes in a circle of fensing this year to avoid the hoeing up of soil around the plant...which for me, is a back breaker.

In doing the 'taters this way, I just pile straw and some soil on top and it will hopefully save my back and give a good yeild.

I'm hopeful. I've heard good things about this method.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not talking about sweet potatoes. Those are different to the regular potatoes.

Regular potatoes make potatoes above the seed potato. You need to provide a place for those potatoes to grow. Also, if the potatoes are exposed to sunlight, they turn green and are dangerous to eat. So you need to give the potatoes some room to grow potatoes and you need to keep these potatoes buried so they are out of the sun. Besides, they are easier to dig if they are above average ground level.

I have not tried Gettinaclue's method but plenty of people say they do it that way and it works real well. I believe them. I plant mine in a slight trench, then pull dirt up around them as they grow, maybe two to three times a season. As long as you leave the top six or so leaves exposed, they will continue to grow. When you see them start to bloom, you can quit hilling them. They are starting to set potatoes so any additional hilling is a waste, unless you need to bury the potatoes that are developing to keep them out of the sun.

 

[AmyRey]

Okay - so if I don't hill my potatoes, then I won't get any?

I see some website that say I can use mulch rather than soil. Would pinestraw work? I have lots and lots and lots of pinestraw.

 

[Ridgerunner]

if you don't hill them, you won't get many and what you do get may be pretty small.

I just use dirt, not mulch, so I cannot speak from experience. I would expect pine straw to work great as long as it did not blow away or wash away in a rain.

 

[digitS']

Pinestraw should work, AmyRey!

Most of us don't plant seed potatoes very deep, the ground settles, and the new potatoes grow too close to the surface. As was said, if the sun shines on them -- they'll turn green !

I am always short of soil by the time the potatoes need hilling. But, I've got compost! Sometimes it isn't completely composted but that's okay.

My seed is planted fairly deep. I don't want to go down too far because the ground takes forever to warm up. But, planting seed potatoes at, say, 3 inches, looks to me to be a guarantee that you will have to really mound the soil or the harvest will yield lots of "greenies." I go for 6 inches as a planting depth.

Then I cover the ground around the plants - later - with an inch or 2 of soil or compost.

I'm not a believer in covering the plant's leaves. The plant grows through photosynthesis. The plant needs those leaves to make growth - including tuber growth.

Steve

 

[AmyRey]

Okay, so if mulch will work here - what exactly am I doing? Is hilling a way of "tricking" the plant into thinking that more of it is underground than really is? If mulch works, is darkness the key? Moisture isn't as important? I guess since the tubers aren't actually roots they don't require actual soil to grow in?

I'm sorry I'm asking such disjointed questions. This is how my mind works. It's a curse. lol

 

[i_am2bz]

FWIW, AmyRey, I understand what you're asking (even if I can't answer!!)...I have read about sooooo many different ways to grow taters that I am thoroughly confused.

So, I am doing one patch in a container covered with straw, & one in a raised bed that I will hill with compost...& see which works best.

 

[digitS']

Tubers may not be roots but the potato plant has roots, make no mistake.

The plant benefits from a fertile soil. Let's go outside of this neck of the woods . . . aaaallll the way to Texas where Texas A & M considers potatoes as "heavy feeders" right along side cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and sweet corn. For fertilizer needs, the folks there suggest "5-7 pounds of 8-24-24 per 100 feet of row."

Maine is supposed to be a traditional potato growing state. Those Maine Yankees say, "a balanced fertilizer (for instance, 10-10-10) at a rate of about 30 pounds per 1,000 square feet, or about one pound per every 10 feet of row." That would be 10 pounds of 10-10-10 per 100 feet of row.

Some of the most fertile soils of Washington and Idaho are given up to growing spuds.

Steve

 

[vfem]

Great info Steve!

Just to add to this, because I use buckets for my potatoes (fill to grow, then dump to rummage for taters when done), I try to add some compost tea during them weekly rounds of watering. The first year I didn't do this and had lots of tiny tiny tiny. Yet last year during my second planting I started the compost tea treatment and had much longer and more tender potatoes the second time. I only grew 'new' potatoes and didn't let them get to storage size... but we go through potatoes mainly in the summer and fall and not so much the winter. I know that's odd... but we're potato salad, BBQ kinda people!