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Vegetable Gardening

Newbie - Potato question

11 years ago

Hi everyone!
This is my first year gardening. I have raised beds.
My question is regarding potatoes!

I
have 4 potato plants. I have them hilled about 12''. One of the smaller
plants started flowering before the other 3. I just noticed that the
flower has dropped off, and it appears that a tiny, green potato is
forming.

My understanding was that the potatoes will grow under the soil, as they cannot have sunlight on them. Did I do something wrong?

The other plants are now flowering, and I am concerned that maybe they should be hilled higher?

Can anyone advise?

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Comments (2)

Peter (6b SE NY)
11 years ago
That's not a potato. It is a fruit that will have seeds, similar to a tomato, but poisonous. It happens. If you don't want the seeds (and there are many reasons potatoes aren't grown for seeds), I suggest cutting it off not to waste the plant's energy.

What variety are the potatoes? Not all flower reliably or at all.
urchinia
Original Author
11 years ago
Ah! So much I don't know, despite my research. I will likely cut off those seed pods then!

I cannot, for the life of me, remember what variety they are. I misplaced the little tag off of the bag the seed potatoes were in.
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