Covering Potato Plants: How To Hill Up Potato Plants (2024)

FAQs

Covering Potato Plants: How To Hill Up Potato Plants? ›

Start in the middle point between two rows of potato plants, and hoe the dirt towards one row first. You want the dirt to fill up around the plant as you do this. Keep going down the row, scooping dirt. Do this until all potato plants have a good mound of dirt around them, then repeat for the other rows.

Hilling brings loose soil around the vines where the potatoes will form as well as deepening the roots into cooler soil. With the first hilling, I like to cover the vines up so that only the top leaves are exposed.

They are covered with soil or organic material, such as sphagnum peat moss, mulch, or straw and then watered deeply. In early spring, Mother Nature may do much of the watering.

You can hill your potatoes 1-3 times per season/crop. Just loosen surrounding soil in the bed and pull up around the leaves and stems. Try to hill before the stems grow too long and start to flop over. You should pull between 2”-6” new soil up around the plants each time you hill.

Completely unhilled potatoes will still form some tubers, though the harvest may not be as impressive as those that have been through the hilling process. Dig after the stems have died back as you would hilled potatoes.

Hilling may be done a few times a season. Check them every 2 to 3 weeks. Stop hilling when the plant is about 6 inches tall but before the potato plant blooms.

Take some finished compost and push it around the base of your potato plants to form little mounds. Cover up most of the foliage (perhaps 6 inches or so), leaving just the top part sticking up. Hilling helps to protect the growing tubers and encourages more growth.

Hilling operations may also damage potato plants, and significant reductions in yield are known to result from hilling and other types of cultivation (Nelson and Giles, 1986). Many commercial growers wait until vines are 12 or more inches tall before hilling.

Normally potatoes plants are 'hilled', when the soil is drawn up against the stem in order to create more space for the tubers to grow. This also reduces the risk of them making their way to the surface and turning green in the light. But straw can give exactly the same results with less of the work.

Mound the soil to a height of 3 to 6 inches and approximately 12 to 15 inches from the base of the plant. Use care to prevent damage to the plant roots, which may extend 8 to 12 inches from the base of the plant. Hilling maintains suitable soil cover for tubers as they expand.

Do you water potatoes after hilling? ›

Usually around the time my potato plants are flowering, I've hilled them as much as I can. At this time, I mulch them heavily with hay or straw and continue to make sure they receive 1 inch of water per week until close to harvest time.

When the plants are 6-8 inches tall, begin hilling the potatoes by gently mounding the soil from the center of your rows around the stems of the plant. Mound up the soil around the plant until just the top few leaves show above the soil. Two weeks later, hill up the soil again when the plants grow another 6-8 inches.

Provide 2 to 2.5 inches of water weekly, combining rain and irrigation, to support tuber bulking. Remember, consistent moisture is key to growing healthy potatoes with fewer defects. Adjust watering based on temperature and rainfall, and always keep an eye on soil moisture levels.

However, under proper conditions potatoes form a layer called the wound periderm to guard against pathogen invasion and dehydration, progressing through different stages of healing at successive time points: three days after wounding, the suberised closing layer is fully formed; by the seventh, development of the wound ...

Potatoes like a balanced fertilizer, such as a 2-3-3. If you're trying to take a natural approach to growing your own potatoes, finding a natural 2-3-3 fertilizer can be a challenge, which is why we recommend a 4-3-2 NPK fertilizer such as chicken manure pellets.

Staking potatoes

Much like tomatoes, potatoes can also be staked or twined to provide support. Individual plants may either require tomato cages around them or to be staked for support. Florida weave is an effective option for gardeners growing long rows of potatoes.

Reasons for hilling may include: improved weed control, improved drainage, minimization of greening of tubers, and raising of soil temperatures. Proper management of each of these factors may result in an increase in quality and quantity of tuber yield.

The Grow Biointensive potato planting method involves planting the potato seed at 9-inch centers by 9-inches deep while double digging and amending the garden bed. The rows are planted in an offset, or hexagonal spacing. The closer spacing helps maximize space and reduce water loss. No hilling is required.