Potatoes outgrowing bag - too high to hill/earth up

Question

I've grown some potatoes in foot high bags and have been steadily earthing them up as they grow. The stem has now reached about two feet so any earth I put on top simply falls off.

Is it best to repot them in a larger container or leave it to grow to avoid damaging them?

Answer 1

Maybe just drop them, original bag and all, into a taller bag and keep adding dirt? I use burlap coffee bean sacks from a local importer.... about 3 ft tall. 1 ft tall definitely won't do the trick, or, at least, not to the degree you'd like.

Answer 2

Shoot, just add straw instead of soil. In fact that is how a lot of potato growers deal with your same problem. Potatoes grown in pots or in the garden soil, I use a tomato cage and just keep stuffing straw instead of soil always keeping a good 6" at first of green top growth above the straw and later I allow a foot of top growth. Works very well.