Yes, sorry to say she is correct. Potatoes exposed to the sun develop excess levels of solanine and turn greenish in color. Solanine poisoning can make you ill and, if excessive, can even cause death. You can Google "solanine" for lots more info on it but I included one link below.

That is why potatoes need to be planted in trenches, dirt mounded, and mulched heavily as they grow to prevent the sun exposure.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Solanine in Potatoes

As Dave stated, potatoes which turn green from sun exposure are toxic. If your potatoes are just forming, hill them up ( pull dirt up around) or mulch them and you should be fine. It does not matter hwow deep you planted them to start with, they will grow to the top of the ground so you will always have to hill or mulch. If they are green and mature toss them. The rest of the tubers not exposed will be fine.

Thank you digdirt and farmerdilla so much! We'll be sure to toss the exposed potatoes.

Have a great summer!

Actually, if only a part of the potato's green, just cut that off and eat the rest. It's only the green part that's toxic. I've gotten potatoes from the store that had some green-tinged parts. I ate everything but the green part, and I'm still alive to talk about it.

Then just mound dirt around the plants so that the rest of the potatoes will develop underground.

Funny you question green potatoes, I have two separate hills and one vine on each hill boasts "cherry" like green things. never seen the likes of it. They are almost at the end of thier vines in with the flowers. I took pics for memories- lol

I thought potatoes grew underground
Regards

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g'day tish,

yes you need to protect the developing spuds from the effects of the sun/ultra violet effects.

but all is not lost check our instant potato patch pic's you can use hay/straw to mound up around them and still have great success.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

moldy

Those are potato seed pods, not the potatoes. The potatoes do grow under whatever you cover them with.

anney nailed it - those are seed pods, not potatoes ;). Your potatoes are at the base of the plant and hopefully covered.

Some folks let the seed pods dry, save the seeds, and grow potatoes from them. I prefer to buy seed potatoes and plant them - faster results. ;)

Dave

I believe the seeds are just as toxic as the leaves, too. I've never had my potatoes produce seeds, but then I've never had them bloom, either.

tish5775,

This is the reason you need to "hill" Hilling doesn't have so much to do with the stem as much as the tubers themselves. Hilling won't necessarily encourage potatoes to form all along the stem the higher you go. The goal of hilling is to provide a protected enough environment in order for the actual potatoes/tubers to form without turning green and developing solanine, a bitter and toxic (in significant quantities). Hilling improves drainage, minimizes tuber greening, minimizes frost damage, aids in weed control and facilitates harvesting. If you did not hill, the potatoes forming near the surface would turn green and the stolons near the surface which form the tubers may turn into foilage instead of tubers.

First you plant the potatoes in a trench below soil level, then as they grow, you keep adding more soil until you are hilling them.

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While I understand you feel the need to find a definitive answer, the potato vine is still a vine. If you cover suppress parts of the vine from light, those parts will stop producing chlorophyll and root along the vine likely despite having photosynthesized in the first place. If you want to hill, hill often so that only two inches of stem are seen at the top.

What results in a higher yield is not so much potatoes along the length of the stem as much as proper growing medium with plenty of water retention as well as with plenty of drainage. Many gardeners hill, but their yield isn't optimum because their growing medium isn't optimum to begin with. If your growing medium is optimum you'll get a higher yield from plants that aren't hilled much vs plants that are hilled to 8 feet in poor growing medium.