Anyone else have them this summer? Mr Google tells me they don't affect the spuds.
I've grown early crop spuds for decades, but this time also planted a few main crop ones - and it's these that are both flowering and fruiting. Never happened here before - maybe due to the very long dry spell then heavy rain?
samanya,
Jan 12, 6:43pm
I think they are the 'true' seeds & I'm fairly sure that they are poisonous. To have them both together is unusual & likely it is due to weather conditions, haha . which have also been unusual!
starseeker,
Jan 12, 7:06pm
Yep, they are the fruit which will produce seeds, I think they are probably poisonous. They sure smell poisonous! The life cycle of the potato is to produce flowers then seed, same as other berry plants. This is quite normal, & I've often seen it, & like tomato plants, which potatoes are related to, there are often flowers & berries on the same plant at the same time.
veejay13,
Jan 12, 7:18pm
Starseeker is absolutely right, and they are poisonous.
kaddiew,
Jan 12, 9:25pm
Thanks folks. I'm only intending to eat the spuds, not the berries!
I dug one up and it looks like it's going to be an extremely sparse crop (unlike my early ones), as if all the effort has gone into the very vigorous, lush foliage.
lythande1,
Jan 13, 7:59am
Berries, lol. they produce things that look like green tomatoes, and yes they are poisonous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_fruit Like all parts of the plant except the tubers, the fruit contain the toxic alkaloid solanine and are therefore unsuitable for consumption.
kaddiew,
Jan 13, 9:07am
Haha thanks couldn't hurt to try!
kaddiew,
Jan 13, 9:09am
Berries is as good a name for them as any! Yep thanks I'm aware they're poisonous.
lakeview3,
Jan 13, 9:11am
The ‘fruit’ on potato plants are indeed poisonous, potato is the the same family as deadly nightshade, the solanacae family.
Incidentally tomatoes are also same family, but they are not poisonous obviously.
So no, don’t eat the potato fruit.
starseeker,
Jan 13, 4:58pm
If you leave the foliage till it dies down you will probably find that you have a much better crop. Potatoes are still forming underground while the top is fruiting.
mark_g,
Jan 13, 5:02pm
I've got them too. But I also have a potato yield much bigger and better than the previous 5 years. Beans been fantastic this year too (fairly sh!te for the last couple of years). Some of the viral issues that I've seen for the last few years just are not evident this year. May be due to the long dry spells we've been having?
Less potato/Tomato psyllid problems I think. I have definitely had more codlin moth infestation in the apples. Also very very little evidence of fire blight - again probably due to the dry spell in spring when they were flowering.
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