Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - What is the optimum hill height for potatoes and at what point is higher not better?

mrdoitall · June 4, 2011

I grow my potatoes in 6 to 8 inch trench. I plant the seed pieces in the trench and only cover them with 2 inches of soil to start with. I space the seed pieces 10 or 12 inches apart and 3 ft between rows. As the plants grow say 6 inches I pull the soil up to them. But leave 2 or 3 inches of the plant showing above the soil. As the plants grow I pull more soil up to them the same way as before. I keep doing this until they start to flower. Total soil pulled around the plants is 8 to 12 inches high and 12 to 24 wide of hill. So the seed pieces are say 6 inches deep with another 8 to 12 inches of soil add to them for a total of 14 to 20 inches give or take a inch or two. I plant 200 ft of potatoes each year. I get around 600 to 800 lbs of potatoes around 3 to 4 lbs per foot of row. My grandfather did it like this 50 years ago. It works for me. I use my tractor to hill them and to dig them. I have experimented with more hilling as high as 2 feet but did not get any more potatoes. This was with Kennebec potatoes. Also around here a 10 lb bag of good size potatoes sales for 6.99 to 8.99 per bag. I think growing 200 ft a potatoes is well worth the work. saves me around $400.00 to $700.00 per year. If you have the space grow them.

June 4, 2011	#17
mrdoitall Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Alabama Posts: 185	I grow my potatoes in 6 to 8 inch trench. I plant the seed pieces in the trench and only cover them with 2 inches of soil to start with. I space the seed pieces 10 or 12 inches apart and 3 ft between rows. As the plants grow say 6 inches I pull the soil up to them. But leave 2 or 3 inches of the plant showing above the soil. As the plants grow I pull more soil up to them the same way as before. I keep doing this until they start to flower. Total soil pulled around the plants is 8 to 12 inches high and 12 to 24 wide of hill. So the seed pieces are say 6 inches deep with another 8 to 12 inches of soil add to them for a total of 14 to 20 inches give or take a inch or two. I plant 200 ft of potatoes each year. I get around 600 to 800 lbs of potatoes around 3 to 4 lbs per foot of row. My grandfather did it like this 50 years ago. It works for me. I use my tractor to hill them and to dig them. I have experimented with more hilling as high as 2 feet but did not get any more potatoes. This was with Kennebec potatoes. Also around here a 10 lb bag of good size potatoes sales for 6.99 to 8.99 per bag. I think growing 200 ft a potatoes is well worth the work. saves me around $400.00 to $700.00 per year. If you have the space grow them.