fruity spuds

[anthonyonetwo]

as anyone ever heard of tomatoe like fruits on potatoe leaves

[JennieAtkinson]

What a coincidence. I found a plant with the same today and wondered what they were. Just like green tomatoes aren't they.

[DrBill]

as anyone ever heard of tomatoe like fruits on potatoe leaves

Tomatoes and potatoes belong to the same family botanically so it would seem logical that they should bear similar fruits if allowed

[sewer rat]

The small tomato like fruit you saw on your potato is actually the true fruit of the plant - the tubers are just elarged underground stems. However do not be tempted to eat it as it is full of solanine and not god for you. Similarly, do not save it as seed as they don't grow spuds from these.
But it is perfectly normal so do not worry about it.

[snohare]

If you leave them on the plants long enough, then if the oringinal plant haulm dies down the seed will sometimes take root and grow another tattie plant where it lies in the soil....so I believe. But I think this is not very often, to put it mildly.

[multiveg]

Read somewhere (probably a different gardening magazine) about how to save seeds from the potato fruit - you wouldn't get a lot of crop the first year from seed, but if you save the potatoes for the following year (a bit like microplants?).

[eskymo]

I had the same on some of my spuds this year - it totally freaked me out. But I soon realised why I got them, or maybe why I got them. I'd planted a couple of tomato plants next to the row of potatoes. There are lots of bees in our garden and I guess that they might have helped to cross polinate the plants...or am I talking rubbish again?

I did read somewhere that if you cut the top of a tomato plant and splice it onto a potato plant bottom half then you'll have spuds underground and tomatoes above ground as they are the smae family, but it's very unlikely to be successful - it was a kind of 'in theory' statement that 'in practice' mostly doesn't work.

[Peter]

I had the same on some of my spuds this year - it totally freaked me out. But I soon realised why I got them, or maybe why I got them. I'd planted a couple of tomato plants next to the row of potatoes. There are lots of bees in our garden and I guess that they might have helped to cross polinate the plants...or am I talking rubbish again?

I did read somewhere that if you cut the top of a tomato plant and splice it onto a potato plant bottom half then you'll have spuds underground and tomatoes above ground as they are the smae family, but it's very unlikely to be successful - it was a kind of 'in theory' statement that 'in practice' mostly doesn't work.

ESKYMO, sorry, but partly yes.

Very normal for spuds, it is just the normal sexual reproduction of spuds, the tubers being asexual.

Spuds are related to Toms and I remember that "grafting", seem to recall it featuring once on Tomorrows World as the future wonder crop.

[snohare]

I dunno, spumatoes sounds like awfully hard graft to me...