I had a volunteer potato in my garden this year so I just let it do its thing (Completely overshadowing all of my corn but oh well). It flowered and now suddenly there are… berries??? I’ve literally never seen these before, what are these?

    • a_talking_is2 [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      11·
      11 months ago

      Usually yes, but that’s not very efficient. Seed-grown potatoes are very fragile and need special care. Having a bulb as a fallback for nutrients is what gives potato resilience. They grow a lot like tomatoes. Usually people only do that to get new breeds. Since, technically, planting a bulb is cloning. the-more-you-know

    • penitentkulak [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      Huh, now I’m curious! These don’t look ripe, I’m thinking you would save the seeds of the berries the same way as a tomato. Wonder if it would be like a hybrid plant where the seeds will produce a random plant that might not really grow potatoes, unlike the clones your producing by replanting the tubers.

    • cynesthesia [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      yes, wait until they ripen and the berries get soft, then squeeze the seeds out. note that potatoes don’t grow true - a potato grown from seed will be different from its parent. normally potatoes are propagated with little chunks of potato and those are clones. potatoes grown from seed are like apples grown from seed - a bit random

        • cynesthesia [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
          2·
          11 months ago

          probably wash the potato berry goop off and dry them but idk, search ‘how to grow potato berries’. if you search how to grow potatoes from seed you’re going to get a bunch of stuff about using seed potatoes (which aren’t actual potato seeds)