God I love growing our own

[pargyle]

Had to do some harvesting today

Crikey Eric, those strawberries look good .. are you growing them under glass or in a poly tunnel - mine have only just started to flower ! What variety are they ?

 

[JamezF]

I made a new strawberry bed this Winter and planted it with new plants. The old plants I transferred to pots a couple of months ago and put them in Frankenstein's greenhouse. They have fruit ripening already despite the disturbance. Even my outdoor late season plants have unripe fruit though.

James

 

[enrico]

Crikey Eric, those strawberries look good .. are you growing them under glass or in a poly tunnel - mine have only just started to flower ! What variety are they ?

They are ' Christine' and rooted runners go into trays on a frame in the unheated greenhouse in Autumn. That's where they stay until they have finished fruiting when the whole frame gets taken outside and new runners are prepared for the following year. They are a lovely sweet early variety.

 

[E&MBees]

Have I left it to late to earth up my Charlotte potatoes? They are in bags, and the shoots are about 30cm long.

 

[JamezF]

Have I left it to late to earth up my Charlotte potatoes? They are in bags, and the shoots are about 30cm long.

Did mine yesterday and they were about the same (though they're in the ground). As I understand it, earthing up is just to put more cover over the tubers so they don't turn green, so timing isn't critical.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

and to protect from frosts if they are earlies

 

[pargyle]

and to protect from frosts if they are earlies

And if you are growing in bags to give them more depth to grow in - the tuber roots start from the stems you bury. It increases the crop. Mine had really grown on over the last week and I earthed up some of mine that were not far off 20 cms. Not a problem.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We don’t earth them up but plant them at the bottom of a potato bag and fill to the top. Seems to work just as well.

 

[JamezF]

the tuber roots start from the stems you bury

Last time I checked I could find no evidence that this is the case. One entry I found on the RHS website stated that earthing up does not increase yield, but again without any reasoning.

In fact there seem to be lots of people online saying it does or doesn't without presenting any actual evidence demonstrating that potatoes are actually biologically capable of producing roots and/or tubers from buried stems. I suspect it might be something that's become "true" by repetition. I guess it shouldn't be that hard to test by somehow marking the original soil level on the stems before the plant is earthed up, then checking for roots and tubers above that mark at harvest time.

And of course there may be other reasons that earthing up indirectly increases yield.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Last time I checked I could find no evidence that this is the case. One entry I found on the RHS website stated that earthing up does not increase yield, but again without any reasoning.

I remember my uncle telling me the tale of my grandfather, Arthur Jenkins, when he started his 'Welsh produce' (grocery) business during the depression, he used to grow his own vegetables to sell in the shop, and used a vacant plot next to the house to grow potatoes. all he did was lift a clod of turf up, pop a potato in the hole, then return the clod, grass side down into the hole then stamp on it. he did nothing then until it was time to harvest them (maybe he was also a pioneer of 'no dig' gardening!! ) he grew enough to turn a profit and then went on trading from the front room until he bought Waterloo shop on the village square in 1945.
My mother's father taught me to garden and always told me to earth up the potatoes, but not once did he say it was because the tubers grew on the stalks, but rather as a protection against frost, first to cover the delicate leaves but later, because the haulms were now raised above the surface of the garden the later frosts would settle into the lower area between the ridges and not damage the leaves.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Last time I checked I could find no evidence that this is the case

Commercial spuds aren’t earthed up are they?

 

[JamezF]

Commercial spuds aren’t earthed up are they?

No idea, to be honest. I know someone who grows hundreds of tonnes of them commercially though. I shally try to remember to ask him next time I see him.

James

 

[enrico]

As a bit of an aside to spuds there is a Facebook story on planting tomato plants on their side when they are about six inches long. The buried stem grows extra roots and the end shoot bends through 90 degrees and grows upwards. The crop is meant to be heavier. Can't be bothered to try it.

 

[E&MBees]

As a bit of an aside to spuds there is a Facebook story on planting tomato plants on their side when they are about six inches long. The buried stem grows extra roots and the end shoot bends through 90 degrees and grows upwards. The crop is meant to be heavier. Can't be bothered to try it.

I always plant mine deeper than the level that they are at in the pot. They seem to grow much stronger that way. I must plant them out in the greenhouse, but there’s no space because of all the other seedlings.

 

[pargyle]

Last time I checked I could find no evidence that this is the case. One entry I found on the RHS website stated that earthing up does not increase yield, but again without any reasoning.

In fact there seem to be lots of people online saying it does or doesn't without presenting any actual evidence demonstrating that potatoes are actually biologically capable of producing roots and/or tubers from buried stems. I suspect it might be something that's become "true" by repetition. I guess it shouldn't be that hard to test by somehow marking the original soil level on the stems before the plant is earthed up, then checking for roots and tubers above that mark at harvest time.

And of course there may be other reasons that earthing up indirectly increases yield.

James

Well, if they don't sprout from the buried stems then the tuber roots grow upwards .,,, I start mine off in the bags with 10 cms below and 10 cms above and earth up progressively as the foliagea appears - Until the earthing up gets to the top of the bag. I always find potatoes at all levels in the bags when I harvest them. I've tried just filling the bags with compost and planting the spuds ... didn't get such a good crop - although there are hundreds of factors that affect yield and I know lots of people who just fill the bags and let them get on with it. Pays yer money and takes yer choice ... Whatever works for you - same as beekeeping really !

 

[pargyle]

I always plant mine deeper than the level that they are at in the pot. They seem to grow much stronger that way. I must plant them out in the greenhouse, but there’s no space because of all the other seedlings.

Tomatoes do send out roots from the buried stem so you do get a stronger plant as a result. As tomatoes and potatoes are part of the same family (Solanaceous) perhaps that where people have got the belief that potatoes will behave in the same way ? Indeed, perhaps they do !

 

[Curly green finger's]

No idea, to be honest. I know someone who grows hundreds of tonnes of them commercially though. I shally try to remember to ask him next time I see him.

James

most we’ve grown some years ago was 30 tonnes of potatoes - as far as I’m aware potato growers don’t earthup.
One thing that is not good is the rows have got thinner there not as wide as they use to be.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

there is a Facebook story on planting tomato plants on their side when they are about six inches long. The buried stem grows extra roots and the end shoot bends through 90 degrees and grows upwards.

nothing new about that - American (and British sometimes) commercials used to do something similar - tomato vines were grown up cords suspended from a wire line fixed at roof level, once the vine has grown to the roof and the lower trusses removed, you unhitch the cord from the line, lay the first few feet of vine on the ground and re-tie the cord further along the wire, thus allowing the vine to grow up a few more feet and produce more trusses.
our local market garden two doors down from us when I was a kid (my grandparents then had the house when we moved to the shop) always grew their tomatoes supported by cords from the roof. I remember stepdad and his father who lived next door to my grandparents using the same setup and I still do the same - but without the dropping the vines down for more trusses.

 

[enrico]

nothing new about that - American (and British sometimes) commercials used to do something similar - tomato vines were grown up cords suspended from a wire line fixed at roof level, once the vine has grown to the roof and the lower trusses removed, you unhitch the cord from the line, lay the first few feet of vine on the ground and re-tie the cord further along the wire, thus allowing the vine to grow up a few more feet and produce more trusses.
our local market garden two doors down from us when I was a kid (my grandparents then had the house when we moved to the shop) always grew their tomatoes supported by cords from the roof. I remember stepdad and his father who lived next door to my grandparents using the same setup and I still do the same - but without the dropping the vines down for more trusses.

We have done that too but never buried the stems that were laid on the ground!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

We have done that too but never buried the stems that were laid on the ground!

doesn't really matter, they will still send out roots.