Well, I think I’ve seen it all . . but you know I haven’t! 🙂
I was out working in the garden . . nothing new and different there, huh? My potatoes have pretty much died back and I need to dig the taters but with the leaves mostly shriveled up, I looked down and some of them had tomatoes growing on them. I kid you not! I stood there for a minute thinking I was losing my mind. Am I thinking these are potato plants and I’m really on the tomato aisle?
At first, I thought a tomato had come up volunteer and was growing in through the potato plant but no . . those rascals are hooked right to the potato plant!
Potatoes Growing Tomatoes
Vince was in the shop working so I went and got him . . come and see what I’ve found!
Potatoes Growing Tomatoes
Vince has never been a gardener and he doesn’t know a strawberry vine from an okra plant and he was real sure that they were tomato plants and I just thought they were potato plants. So I drug him over to the tomatoes and yes, they look a bit similar but I assured him .. these are potato plants!
Then I began digging! That would prove to him that there were potatoes and tomatoes on the same plant!
Potatoes Growing Tomatoes
Yep, I see a potato down there!
Potatoes Growing Tomatoes
I dug up two big old potatoes before convincing him that it was a potato plant! Kinda hard to assure you that I’m wearing boots in the garden, isn’t it? I see toes! 🙂
Potatoes Growing Tomatoes
There you go! See the tomatoes hanging right over where I just dug potatoes?
Complete baffled, I turned to Google. First I found this article from Purdue University. It states that potatoes do produce a fruit, and since potatoes and tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, the vines, as well as the fruit looks similar. According to the article, the potato fruit contains a high amount of solanine, which is toxic to humans, so the fruit should not be eaten. Oops! 🙁
They say that when mature, the seeds can be saved and potato plants can be grown from them, though it takes much longer than growing from seed potatoes so I think I’ll stick with seed potatoes.
What’s weird is that it seems farmers don’t often see the fruit but it only happens when there are a lot of cool days. You can bet that what they consider “cool days” in Indiana . . well, they just don’t happen here in Texas during potato growing season so I’m still perplexed about how I managed to get these things.
If you remember back to early spring, my potatoes were about knee high when we had a late freeze. I covered half my potatoes with boxes but half were left uncovered (because I ran out of boxes). Those that were covered suffered no damage. Those that were not covered all froze back but then re-sprouted and it’s those that froze back and re-sprouted that are producing the fruit. All the seed potatoes I planted were the same so it has to be something to do with them freezing back and getting started again.
This article, from the UK and I don’t know if these are available in the U.S. yet, talks about a TomTato plant. Of course, it’s some kind of hybrid plant and even if it is in the U.S., it probably isn’t at Tractor Supply, which is where I got my seed potatoes. Apparently it produces tomato type leaves and from all appearances above ground, it’s just like a tomato plant, but has potatoes growing underground.
What I have are obviously potatoes producing an inedible potato fruit but it is pretty interesting, since in all my years of gardening, I’ve never seen it before.
Viki says
My family has grown gardens for years including grandparents and great-grandparents and I’ve never heard of such a thing.
shirley bruner says
Seems i learn something new every day from you, Judy. I’m glad you looked it up before eating those ‘tomatoes’. i have never seen that before, either. i’m gonna watch my potato plants carefully. thanks for the info.
mary taylor says
hi Judy
Luther Burbank deliberately pollinated potato flowers in order to get seeds. i believe his motivation was the potatoes of his day were small, rough and difficult to peel. l recall that the Russet Burbank Potato was one of his creations. I love russet potatoes. and i think of him, when i have baked potatoes. Maybe you will save the seed? and have a potato named after you?
Brandy M. says
Oh, oh, OH! I wonder what would happen if you put the “inedible fruit” in out for the coyotes & raccoons?!?!!??
🙂
Jenny M says
Years ago in the spring there was always an advertisement in the Sunday paper for flowers, bulbs and garden plants. They had a pomatoe advertised, with a picture of a potatoe underground and a beautiful tomato on top. My husband had to order it, when he received it, he got 2 seed potatoes and a packet of tomato seeds with instructions to plant both in same hole. That was the last of his ordering things.
Linda B in MI now TX says
spudtatoes…too bad thay can not be ate…was wondering what they tasted llike…poison I guess
Cathy Stoddard says
Good to know – just in case seed potatoes are ever unavailable…….
Marla S. says
I wonder if this was where the old tale of tomatoes being poison many many years ago originally came from. This is fascinating!
Emma says
My hubby’s family always planted “tomato potatoes” by cutting a hole in the potato and putting a tomato seedling in it. They’d get HUGE tomatoes (since the plants grew into one plant) but the potatoes were always sub-par. Note: the tomato grew into the potato and there would be little potatoes underground at the end of the season, but the tomatoes were the stars of the show. He used to sell them at a little stand!
Carolyn says
Lots of info there. I’ve never heard of the potato plant producing a ‘seed pod’. I’ve also never heard of anyone getting huge tomatoes from planting them in a potato as Emma said..
last yr I got a 2oz feta cheese container of seed potatoes! nothing else. This yr they are growing like crazy Green Beans are huge, peas have been producing. Lettuce not so great.
time will tell
Shelley says
I’ve had those show up before, but our growing season is cool.
Brent W Hopkins says
I remember Potatoes produced tomato-like fruit in my Grandfather’s garden in central Wisconsin when I was a child. We too marveled at the oddity. An interesting fact is that the potato seeds will generally produce offspring quite different in appearance from their parent. If you think about it, this makes sense. Consider all the different potato varieties such as red, purple, fingerling, Yukon Gold, etc. This is how such varieties came into being. If you are very ambitious, you could try saving your potato seeds and planting them. Perhaps you might come up with a fascinating exotic new variety!
Frankie says
Well I learned something new today! I had no idea that a potato plant could do that. Nor have I ever heard of using a potato to plant a tomato seed . . . I’m going to have to give that one a try.
Rebecca in SoCal says
Live, learn,…and teach!