Gardeners have been surprised this year to find fruit produced on tops of potato plants. Learn how they are caused and why they are not edible. Many home gardeners have been shocked to see their potato plants do something they have not seen before: produce fruit on the tops of the plants.
These gardeners are familiar with planting the seed potatoes or potato pieces and digging potatoes at the end of the season. Some might have even noticed the small, tomato-like blossoms in July or August, but few people have seen the fruit that look like green cherry tomatoes at the top of the plants.
Michigan State University Extension hotlines have received many calls this summer about strange fruit where it doesn’t belong. Potatoes belong to a small family, the Nightshade or Solanaceous family. The other members are tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
- Potatoes resemble tomatoes more than the other family members.
- Potatoes and tomatoes can share diseases, like this year’s large problem with late blight,
- For potatoes, this is the disease responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
- They can share insect problems like tomato hornworm that will feed on both potatoes and tomatoes with nondiscriminatory delight.
Occasionally, you will see ads in garden magazines for a grafted tomato-potato mix up that produces tomatoes on the top and potatoes in the soil. This expensive grafted plant does not produce a great number of either. It is like a two-headed calf; it is unusual and nobody else has one to show off.
This year’s cool July was responsible for the potato fruit seen across Michigan. Potato flowers and fruit are produced because this is how the plants multiply themselves, by seed. Potato flowers look very much like tomato flowers except instead of being yellow, the potato flowers can be white or lavender or pink.
It depends on the type of potato as to the flower color. Most years, July and the beginning of August are hot and sometimes dry months. Those cute little flowers fall off the plants and never have the opportunity to go from flower to fruit. The cool weather with adequate rain allowed the flowers to remain, pollinate and grow into small potato fruit. Fruit and seeds of fruit grown on potatoes. Photo by Ohio State University, Bugwood.org These potato fruit are not edible. More precisely, they are poisonous. They contain high amounts of solanine that can make the eater very ill. Solanine is also found in potatoes that are dug, left in the sun and the skin turns green.
What do potato flowers turn into?
Do Potato Plants Bloom? – Potato plants produce flowers during the end of their growing season. These turn into the true fruit of the plant, which resemble small, green tomatoes. Potato plant flowering is a normal occurrence, but the flowers usually just dry up and fall off rather than producing fruit.
Should I remove potato flowers?
How to Trim Potato Plants – To trim your edible potato plants, pinch off the blossoms as soon as they appear on the plant, or snip them off with shears. Blossoms are an indicator that the plant is mature and small tubers are formed. Removing the flowers removes the competition and fosters larger, healthier potatoes.
Prune the potatoes when the foliage has wilted. Prune the plant down to ground level, 1 inch (2.54 cm.) above the soil surface. Don’t cut them any lower than this, as you may expose the tips of shallow potatoes. Wait two weeks to dig the tubers out to allow the potato skin to thicken. Pruning of ornamental potatoes, such as Ipomoea, can occur any time the plant has outgrown its surroundings.
Generally, at this point the tuber is mature. These ornamentals can be aggressively pruned with no ill effects. In fact, the plant will branch out and rapidly begin filling in the space. Unlike edible potatoes, ornamentals can be pruned right down to the ground, if needed.
- Cut back the ornamental potato vines from spring through fall, as needed, to contain the size or shape of the plant.
- Pruning will also increase the bushiness of the plant, as it encourages branching at the cut sites.
- Prune judiciously or not at all if you prefer longer, vine-like foliage.
- If you live in a mild climate, some potato vines will grow year round and need continuous pruning.
Trim back any foliage that has been killed back or damaged after the first frost, down to the soil line or one inch (2.5 cm.) above it. When the weather warms up, you will likely have another chance at seeing the glory of your ornamental potato vine.
Can you eat a potato flower?
Can you eat potato flowers and fruit? – You should NEVER eat the potato fruit or flower because the fruit, in particular, is poisonous. According to information from Michigan State University’s website, the fruit contains high amounts of solanine that makes the eater very ill. It’s the same poison found in inedible potatoes that have been dug up and left in the sun to turn green. 
Potato plant flower: The potatoes are the only part you can eat – don’t eat the fruit or flowers (Image: Getty) The potato plant fruit isn’t just unpleasant to eat, it can lead to horrible symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain, shock and diarrhoea.
What can I do with potato flowers?
Remove Flowers on Potato Plants – The University of California IPM recommends removing the flowers when they appear. If they are not removed, the plant will put energy into producing flowers and seeds. Pinching off the flowers encourages the plant to put its energy into producing larger tubers.
If you’re using the vines to brighten the garden as well as produce the tasty tubers, the small potato flowers — purple, blue, white, yellow, gold, pink, red or burgundy, depending on the cultivar — are an attractive addition to the vines as they spill over the soil or from a potato tower. While many gardeners just pinch off the flowers with their fingers, consider at least putting on eye protection, long sleeves and gloves to avoid touching the plant’s sap.
If you have sensitive skin or an allergy to potatoes or other members of the Solanum family, you could develop a rash or other allergic reaction. Alternately, sterilize scissors or pruners by dipping the blades into rubbing alcohol, Lysol or Pine-Sol.
How many potatoes will grow from one potato?
Potatoes are a popular vegetable in home gardens. They are relatively easy to grow and produce well in average soil. How many potatoes each plant produces depends on how well their growing needs are met, the type of potato you are growing, and the weather conditions in your area.
What does it mean when a potato plant flowers?
Question: Help! I’ve planted four kinds of potatoes. Some are flowering, some are not. Does flowering mean that new potatoes are ready to harvest? How do I know when each kind are ready to harvest? I can’t remember what I’ve planted where, so it is really confusing.
Answer: Do you know which varieties you planted? Each type of potato has a different “days to maturity” number. For example, Yukon Golds are 70 to 90 days to maturity. This makes them “early season” potatoes because they are ready earlier than some. A “late season potato,” such as heirloom fingerling types, takes about 110 to 135 days to maturity.
If you recall when you planted your spuds, you can kind of predict their readiness. But it is always best to check directly, by hand. For example, I try and plant at least some of my potatoes by the end of March. It is now the end of June. That’s 90 days of growing that has happening already.
So it is time to go out and check the early-season varieties such as Yukon Gold and Viking Purple that I planted in late March. I also planted heirloom Rose Finn, in early May. These are late season potatoes that need 110 to 135 days to mature. So far, they’ve only been growing about 50 days. They’ll need another couple of months at least to get to maturity.
If you can’t remember or don’t know what you’ve planted, grub around the soil below the vines with your hands periodically to feel for tuber development. Young or new potatoes can be hand harvested as soon as they develop. These are a real summer treat, not available at the grocery store.
- Flowering just means that the vines are mature enough and have enough leaf area to start forming tubers.
- It doesn’t mean the tubers are ready to harvest.
- Until they reach mature size, your potatoes should be watered regularly though the summer, from 1 to 3 inches of water per week, as needed.
- Cover the plants with soil and other organic material to protect the tubers as they form, from sunlight and greening of the skin.
The greening is chlorophyll, which is not harmful in itself but may be accompanied by a high concentration of a toxic compound called solanine. Mounding soil around growing potato vines also makes harvest easier and may prevent water loss. To toughen up your potatoes for storage before harvest, do not water them much after they flower.
Let the vines die all the way back before you harvest them. Clean your potatoes before storing them. You need only brush the soil off potatoes grown in coarse, sandy soil. But if you grow potatoes in fine, sticky clay soil, your potatoes may need washing. If so, be sure the potatoes are completely dry before placing them in storage.
Keep in mind that red potatoes, while great for eating fresh, don’t keep as long as yellow or white varieties. Thin-skinned potatoes like reds don’t last as long in storage as those with thick skins, such as Russets. Personally, Yukon Gold is my favorite all-around potato variety to grow at home.
When should you dig up your potatoes?
When to Harvest Potatoes – Once you’ve planted your seed potatoes in cool but mostly frost-free weather (they can tolerate a very light frost), they’ll need as many cool days as possible before harvesting. The flowers and foliage determine when to best harvest your crop.
How long do potato plants flower?
Second Earlies – Planting second early potatoes is a good way of extending the new potato crop for a few more weeks and possibly right up until the end of August. They are generally planted around late April and should be ready for harvesting about 10-12 weeks later,
What Colour are potato flowers?
Gardeners have been surprised this year to find fruit produced on tops of potato plants. Learn how they are caused and why they are not edible. Many home gardeners have been shocked to see their potato plants do something they have not seen before: produce fruit on the tops of the plants.
These gardeners are familiar with planting the seed potatoes or potato pieces and digging potatoes at the end of the season. Some might have even noticed the small, tomato-like blossoms in July or August, but few people have seen the fruit that look like green cherry tomatoes at the top of the plants.
Michigan State University Extension hotlines have received many calls this summer about strange fruit where it doesn’t belong. Potatoes belong to a small family, the Nightshade or Solanaceous family. The other members are tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
- Potatoes resemble tomatoes more than the other family members.
- Potatoes and tomatoes can share diseases, like this year’s large problem with late blight,
- For potatoes, this is the disease responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
- They can share insect problems like tomato hornworm that will feed on both potatoes and tomatoes with nondiscriminatory delight.
Occasionally, you will see ads in garden magazines for a grafted tomato-potato mix up that produces tomatoes on the top and potatoes in the soil. This expensive grafted plant does not produce a great number of either. It is like a two-headed calf; it is unusual and nobody else has one to show off.
This year’s cool July was responsible for the potato fruit seen across Michigan. Potato flowers and fruit are produced because this is how the plants multiply themselves, by seed. Potato flowers look very much like tomato flowers except instead of being yellow, the potato flowers can be white or lavender or pink.
It depends on the type of potato as to the flower color. Most years, July and the beginning of August are hot and sometimes dry months. Those cute little flowers fall off the plants and never have the opportunity to go from flower to fruit. The cool weather with adequate rain allowed the flowers to remain, pollinate and grow into small potato fruit. Fruit and seeds of fruit grown on potatoes. Photo by Ohio State University, Bugwood.org These potato fruit are not edible. More precisely, they are poisonous. They contain high amounts of solanine that can make the eater very ill. Solanine is also found in potatoes that are dug, left in the sun and the skin turns green.
What are the balls on potato plants?
A Fruit by Several Other Names – Those round seed pods are also called potato fruit, potato berries and seed balls. They look like green cherry tomatoes and usually appear in small clusters. The interior of a seed pod has up to 500 tiny seeds distributed throughout a mass of moist tissue.
Why do my potato plants have berries?
Potato fruit. Photo by Gerald Holmes, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org Searcy, Ark. – Our office has received some curious calls lately. Gardeners have been surprised this year to find fruit produced on tops of their potato plants.
Folks are surprised to see plants resembling cherry tomatoes come up where they planted potatoes. Some have seen the small, tomato-like blossoms and now we’re receiving questions from a few people who are noticing the fruit that looks like green cherry tomatoes at the top of the plants. Here’s the low down on this phenomenon.
Potatoes belong to a small family, the Nightshade or Solanaceous family. The other members are tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Potatoes resemble tomatoes more than the other family members and often share the same disease and insects. Occasionally, you will see ads in garden magazines for a grafted tomato-potato plant “TomTato”, that produces tomatoes on the top and potatoes in the soil.
- This grafted plant does not produce many of either.
- It’s considered a novelty plant.
- However, I’m not referring to the grafted plants in this article.
- I’m discussing fruits growing at the top of a potato plant that naturally occurred.
- Potato flowers and fruit are produced because potatoes multiply by seed.
The edible part of the potato plant is a tuber connected to the roots of the plant. While you can cut up the potato into plantable chunks and get more potatoes, the tubers themselves are not seeds, even though the ones you plant are called seed potatoes.
- The true seeds of the plant appear only rarely, in round, green seed pods.
- It shouldn’t be surprising that these seed pods look like tomatoes because potatoes and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are members of the same plant family.
- Potato flowers look very much like tomato flowers except instead of being yellow, the potato flowers can be white or lavender or pink.
It depends on the type of potato as to the flower color. Typically those blooms are aborted and never have the opportunity to go from flower to fruit. The weather conditions have allowed the flowers to remain, pollinate and grow into small potato fruit.
These look like small, round or oblong cherry tomatoes and usually appear in clusters. Those round seed pods are also called potato fruit, potato berries and seed balls. The interior of a seed pod has up to 500 tiny seeds distributed throughout a mass of moist tissue. Using potato seeds instead of seed potatoes is comparable to fruit tree growers using fruit seeds to grow trees instead of grafting scions onto rootstock.
Seed potatoes give you potatoes that have the desirable qualities of specific varieties, while potato seeds provide us with potential new varieties but let the professionals handle that. Fruit and seeds of fruit grown on potatoes.