When do i earth up spuds?

I've got my king edwards and rocket spuds popping up now, but when do i earth up? I've earth both at any green and when its 8" above the soil. What kind of frequency do you end up earthing up aswell?

 

I`d earth them up every 4 inches.

 

I am really struggling with the whole earthing up thing.
My pots in the plastic bins are growing at different speeds. The ones I have planted in the garden are only just popping up.
When I earth up, do I just try and build the soil up around the stem and leave a lot of the foliage and side shoots showing or should I cover the whole lot and just leave the tips of the very top set of leaves showing?

 

I don't bother with earthing up, it's not worth the trouble on heavy clay. Just dig deep and plant deep, then leave them to it. You might get a few that have a green patch but who doesn't? Anyway they're still usable if you cut the green off.

 

I wonder what the limit is?

With my two rows its turning into quite a mound!

Any ideas when the best time to stop eathing up is?

 

Earthing up potatoes
I was always told to wait untill they are about 9in tall and then earth them up makin a nice flat top,i have always had a decent crop they say there is no benifit in earthing up a bit at a time.
Hope this helps
good luck metal micky
n/b i earthed mine up at the weekend

 

Just earthed mine up well tonight when I heard it will be down to -3C tonight

 

Thanks. I have just thrown some more compost and manure in and there isn't any more room in my bins for any more now. I noticed that some ants were moving into the bins, I caught them in the act and wondered if they will do the spuds any harm, I also gave them a very good watering as I presumed from reading the compost thread that if ants are in there,it could be a sign of it being too dry?

 

the ants wont hurt ya spuds. i just earth mine up as they pop out the soil.
. Use enough soil so that just about 5cm of stem are left visible above the mound.
This will ensure enough folliage is left to allow the plant to carry on growing strongly, but will stop light getting to the tubors so that they are prevented from turning green and poisonous. some peeps dont bother. but it does help.