How to Cover Potatoes with Dirt & Remove the Lower Leaves

The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a warm-season garden crop generally grown as an annual, although it can grow as a frost-tender perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and warmer. One typical aspect of potato cultivation involves building up soil around young plants. Mounding, or hilling, the growing potato plant covers an increasing amount of stem, allowing a greater yield of tubers, and helps to ensure that tubers remain covered with soil. This is important, as sunlight hitting the tubers causes them to turn green and bitter with an accumulation of the chemical solanine. This chemical is toxic in large quantities and renders the potatoes inedible.

Hoe
Scissors, if needed

Instructions

- 1
  Pile up soil loosely around the potato plant stems when the potato plants are about 6 to 8 inches tall. Use a hoe to pull soil from the space between rows on both sides of the potato plants. Mound the soil up until it reaches a point about an inch below the lowest leaves on the potato plant. The ridge you create should be about 12 inches wide with the potato plants centered in the top.
- 2
  Repeat the hilling after two to three weeks and again, if needed, making the mounds slightly taller each time you add soil. Build up the hills gradually until they are about 8 to 12 inches tall.
- 3
  Monitor the potato plants throughout the growing season. If you notice any exposed tubers, add an additional few inches of soil to that spot, or cover it with straw or other sun-blocking material. Also, inspect the foliage for leaf spots, powdery growth and other symptoms of fungal diseases. Pinch or cut off any foliage affected by disease and dispose of it promptly. The lowest leaves on plants are often particularly prone to fungal diseases with spores that spread via splashing water.

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