potato worries

[dinky_doo]

hello went to the plot on sunday and was looking at the spuds and i noticed that some had little fruits on them they were the size of small marbles.
i asked one of the sites old boys what was up and he asked if they had flowered i said nay,so i dug the plant u and there was nothing just the roots and the seed i planted no little spuds
i planted them in mid may and they were a little spindlly legged when planted
any ideas

[rogesse]

Little round fruits - they must have flowered behind your back!

Seriously, I have some early main crop (Mayan Gold) that seem to have done the same. There were potatoes but not as big as I would have liked. I have also had complete tatty failure on couple of late earlies.

Sorry I can't say why (do sympathise though) - hopefully somebody will come along and tell us why!

[dinky_doo]

i will try and take some photos on our next trip down there

[daylily]

I'm afraid I can't guess why you have no tubers, but for sure think it is nothing to do with the fruits. Some varieties have them, others don't.

[Alice]

Dinky Doo, don't worry about the fruits. It's normal, but don't eat them - they're poisonous.

As for the lack of potatoes - what variety are they. If they're maincrop they want 22 weeks in the ground. Maybe you just dug them up too soon.

Rogesse - I think maybe you have the same problem - didn't give them enough time. I leave potatoes until the top growth turns yellow and dies down.

[quark1]

Don't forget to save your fruits in a safe place.

There are a number of us here going to trial growing potato from true seed next year!

Just put the green 'marbles' on a window sill to dry out and go black - when the seed inside will be ready for scooping out - store in a paper envelope or similar......and watch this space next year!

[dinky_doo]

Don't forget to save your fruits in a safe place.

There are a number of us here going to trial growing potato from true seed next year!

Just put the green 'marbles' on a window sill to dry out and go black - when the seed inside will be ready for scooping out - store in a paper envelope or similar......and watch this space next year!

thanks for the advice guys i will save some of the seeds and try them out next year

[Flummery]

I think if they went in in Mid May they have definitely not had enough time, whatever variety they are. (Do you know what they are, incidentally - it will help us to give advice.)
I'd leave them another month, don't let them go short of water, then try again. If still small, wait a bit longer. Good luck.

[dinky_doo]

to be honest i cant rember which veriety they were

will see whatchappens

[Two_Sheds]

Yeah, I think you pulled them up a full month too soon.
Better luck next year.

[dinky_doo]

i still have laods of spuds in the ground
i onlypulled up a few plants at random from the plot
we were late getting them in this year due to the horrid weather we had in march/april