Allotments 4 All

This is possibly a daft question due to lack of experience but here goes...

Went up the lottie for the 1st time for a week due to the rain etc and discovered these growing on my spuds.  The spuds are either Sarpo or Juliette - can't remember which way round I planted my rows (and the labels have faded).

They smell like tomatoes .....

That is the seed of the potato, they could smell off tomato as they are from the same family.
Its quite normal, nothing to worry about.

Don't eat them - call the Samaritans if you need someone to talk things through...

Knew it would turn out to be a daft question  :P

Not half as daft as some of the questions we've had lately  ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Quote from: OllieC on September 06, 2008, 20:56:15
Don't eat them - call the Samaritans if you need someone to talk things through...

;D this made me laugh, but seriously don't eat as they are poisonous, this year mine didn't fruit and i was already to save seeds to try growing from seed just as a curiosity/ experiment to see what the crop would be like ???.

Cut the leaves down to 4"........wait 2 weeks. Dig 'em up.

Just wait and see what you get when you pull your tomato plants up  ::)

Quote from: Plot69 on September 06, 2008, 21:38:52
Just wait and see what you get when you pull your tomato plants up  ::)

That would be a surprise seeing as how I haven't planted any ! :)

Just one question remains (and I probably should know this from O level Biology but it was over 32 years ago !) - if the tomato looking thing is a seed, what is the potato we replant as a seed potato ?

I believe it's a tuber, or type of root.

The tomato like thing is a seedpod you can create your own variety of potatoes from the seed contained within it if you want to.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,43114.msg432219.html#msg432219

Why, Ken??

Quote from: Baccy Man on September 07, 2008, 02:34:29
The tomato like thing is a seedpod you can create your own variety of potatoes from the seed contained within it if you want to.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,43114.msg432219.html#msg432219

Thanks for that.  Fascinating subject - might try this one year but probably not this as I have got enough to do.

I thought it was dodgy to grow spuds from your own saved seed.. The seeds will be a hybrid of what ever varities you've grown that year - and could turn out to be poisonous.

Quote from: keef could turn out to be poisonous.

Where did here this one?
Since It is false on all counts.

As for

Quote from: keefThe seeds will be a hybrid of what ever varieties you've grown that year 

that is how most new veg varieties get created.

Quote from: keef
I thought it was dodgy to grow spuds from your own saved seed.

Where did hear this bunk. Since it is no more dodgy then creating any other hybrid veg.

I suppose a potential problem might be that it would be difficult to know what the particular properties - strengths and weaknesses - of the new plant might be and therefore how to tend it. Mind you spuds of all sorts seem to be fairly straightforward, but then, if you are a relatively inexperienced gardener, you'd probavly rather go with the tried and tested than experiment with the unknown.

I usually remove the fruit on the basis that if the plant is using energy on producing fruit it's not using it on swelling the tubers, Anyway if it is producing fruit it presumably has already flowered so should be ready for lifting.

Quote from: keef on September 08, 2008, 00:07:59
I thought it was dodgy to grow spuds from your own saved seed.. The seeds will be a hybrid of what ever varieties you've grown that year - and could turn out to be poisonous.

You're absolutely correct keef. Apparently there are a number of wonderful tasting spuds that can't be released due to the toxic levels of solanine. And anyone who's ever tried producing new hybrids of anything will know that the chance of producing anything better than the professionals is pretty remote!

As I understand it, when potatoes were first introduced into Europe, some people thought that the fruit was what they were supposed to eat and it all ended tragically.

Of course, they did not have the benefit of our advanced experience and education.


lmao

Quote from: nastybritishgardener on September 08, 2008, 04:17:50

Quote from: keef could turn out to be poisonous.

Where did here this one?
Since It is false on all counts.

As for

Quote from: keefThe seeds will be a hybrid of what ever varieties you've grown that year 

that is how most new veg varieties get created.

Quote from: keef
I thought it was dodgy to grow spuds from your own saved seed.

Where did hear this bunk. Since it is no more dodgy then creating any other hybrid veg.

So i guess you think i'm wrong then  ::)

OllieC's post explains my thinking. A mate of mine used to share digs at Cambridge with a bloke who was doing a PHD on spuds.. I think it was him who told me about it.

Does this help? Whether to grow from seed or from a tuber will be determined by what you are trying to achieve:
If you want the next season of plants / crop to be a (more or less) exact replica of the plants / spuds you just had, you need to use the tuber: it will multiply (a bit like a clone, perhaps with a few "natural mutations" due to external factors) and simply reproduce itself.
If you use the seeds, you might get something that has only one half of the properties of your parent plant.
This works for fruit: this is why you take cuttings from fruit bushes (=basically the same bush, just regrowing) as opposed to using the seeds (it would be a new plant in the true genetic sense)