Hi there, I have a question about my potatoes in containers.

I am in Mass for the record.

(1st time growing my own potatoes. Trying 5 5-gallon containers, w/1 seed potato each.)

My potatoes are doing great!

• I filled the 1st 1/4 to 1/3 of the bucket with nice loose soil (with good drainage holes in bottom)
• Planted my seed potato (only one per 5 gallon bucket for starters)
• Then put about 4-6" soil on top of that for it to sprout up through.
• Well, fast forward a couple months and now I have excellent growth from all 5 buckets.
• It is all leafed out to about 5" over top of lid.

My q is: Since I did not add soil to it as it grew and let it leaf out, is it ok to just add the soil in now up to 4" below top of container.

I was actually waiting for it to grow over the top of the container first, before adding the soil back in. Since that is what I saw on one of the youtube channel growers and his seemed to turn out fine.

Then, the more I read over time, the more I discovered that I should have been adding soil in as it grew. Only leaving a few inches of the growing stalk above soil level as it grew.

So, at this point, is it ok for me to just toss the dirt in there up to 4" to container top, just covering up all the stems/leaves that are now inside the container or should I cut off the stems and cover up just the main stalk.

Would this cause any issues to exposed trunk from a fresh cut or not or would the covered leaves/stems get in the way at all with the new roots coming out of the covered stalk for the new potatoes.

Thanks, in advance,