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Strange potato plants!
RainyB
Posts: 6
Hi, I would like to ask if any of you have an explanation for the strange potato plants I have grown this year. I bought some Rooster seeded potatoes and planted them outside in the last week of April, in a raised bed 8 x 5 feet. There are about 19 plants and most have grown to be over 5 feet tall. When I took the netting off they fell over and had ti be caned. They are now in flower.
The really strange thing though is that one of the plants has produced what look like red potatoes growing up the stalk up to about 3 feet, at the junctions with some of the branches and little leaves are coming out of them. They look like they're trying to seed. Is this a mother plant? Are they poisonous?
Loraine
0
Posts
That certainly is very tall. They look as if they're growing in quite a shady position, which might account for lanky etiolated growth.
As for the small potatoes on the stems ... potato tubers form on the stems of the plants - this is why we earth up potato plants, so that the tubers can grow below ground. It might be that because your potato plants are growing in the shade, the lack of light has triggered the potato tubers to grow despite them not being under ground.
Have your potatoes been earthed up so that as much stem as possible is underground? This encourages the development of a larger crop because the potatoes form on the stems, not the roots.
When potatoes are exposed to sunlight they produce chlorophyll and solanine - solanine is poisonous if eaten in quantity - because of this, I would not eat potatoes growing above the ground.
I hope that helps
Last edited: 26 July 2016 05:55:09
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As you can see, the plot isn't in shade so I didn't expect them to be leggy. I did earth them up but clearly it would be impossible to earth up stems of this hright adequately. Seems a bit strange too that only one of the plants has these tubers growing up the stems.
I'm wondering if they became leggy because they were supported a bit by netting...