Growing Potato

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10 Oct 23 Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 5a Temperate Warm Summer climate)
I forgot to mention -- and kept forgetting to post this additional part. When you are "hilling up" you are actually burying LEAVES. Leaves have specialized tissue to COLLECT LIGHT -- that is to say, they are NOT ROOTS -- so to me, burying leaves is NOT CORRECT. It may help to get the potatoes producing sooner, BUT somehow to me if a potato plant made leaves it wanted to collect light -- roots are different, they are sort of thin and round/tube like and are used to transport water and nutrients -- AGAIN: leaves are leaves and roots are roots -- and when I stop and think about it burying leaves doesn't seem right... and my gut instinct is saying that it is not correct. I have also noticed that roots are thinner, and are probably easier for the plant to make/grow -- leaves look like they take a lot of work/nutrition -- so why bury something that is specialized to be above the ground???....... again, the pros may say otherwise and have lots of data and past successes to prove their view point. I have done it both ways (not sure why I did- but I did) and really have not noticed any differences in OVERALL potato production.... so why bury the leaves and make all that extra work hilling up ??? Also, potato tubers seem to like lots of air flow... so make sure the soil is light or ir your in containers ensure lots of holes near the bottom sides to create updrafts..
19 Oct 23 Anonymous (Canada - Zone 3b Temperate Warm Summer climate)
Pull the leaves off.
24 Nov 23 Faith Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 5a Temperate Warm Summer climate)
Seem like a waste to have the plant grow leaves just to pull them off.... I'm all for burying the seed potatoes at the correct depth (based on soil conditions -- mine go down about 10 inches) -- it saves me the work of hilling up... seems like it saves the potato plant some work as well. The results are about about the same so why bother with all the extra work ?
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