Interesting to learn that some folks prune potato blossoms. Always something new to learn. I follow the traditional path - leave the flowers, and take them as a sign that there are edible tubers down there - take a few, but don't pull the plant hill it (heap soil around the stem, feel free to bury some leaves. And just tell your children, those are not edible flowers. If they're too young to hear and understand, they're too young to be left roaming the veggie patch unsupervised. Happy growing to all.
I do that method too while removing the flowers, I don’t pull the plants for another 3-4 months or when the plant dies as you can get more potatoes and bigger potatoes the longer you leave the plant in the ground
Cutting the flowers won't help potato production in any meaningful way. 60 yrs ago my Irish grandfather showed me the right way to deal with a flowering potato plant, that was shown to him by his grandfather in the 1890's. The process is called "stepping down" the entire plant. Simply step on the plant and crush the main stalk near the ground, being careful not to sever the stalk. This causes the plant to stop sending nutrients above ground and causes the nutrients to migrate to the potatoes. The number of potatoes remains about the same, but the potatoes themselves get about 20-50% larger than they would without stepping them down. This is a tried and true method that has been used in Ireland for centuries.
I began by running my own trial this year sowing four rows of Charlotte potatoes at my allotment. They were sown side by side, at the same time, with similar manuring, fertilising and watering quantities. In essence I did my very best to ensure that they all experienced the same environmental factors. Having so far harvested four plants that went to flower and four others that were prevented from doing so, I can give you the following results: Flowers removed: 37 potatoes weighing 3.83kg Flowers left on: 40 potatoes weighing 4.12kg
Agreed. I have grown potatoes for years and never pruned the flowers nor have I ever heard of anyone doing so. And the idea that kids will come along and eat them... I'm tired of catering to a world filled with the stupid. Educate your kids lady.... and what kid goes around eating strange flowers anyway? This woman also has one plant next to her driveway and she's making videos like she's an expert? It's clear she doesn't know what she's talking about. She may mean well... but it comes off as an attention seeking wanna-be.
The biggest factor in all this is making sure if you have determinate or indeterminate potato’s just like tomato’s if you go pruning your determinate tomatoes it ain’t gonna go well
@@JustinMentionedIt My Dutch potato seed farming relatives have NEVER mentioned determinate or indeterminate, or my Dutch potato farming relative who produces upwards of 5kg per metre
Best line ever from my neighbor… “What are those pretty pink flowers in your garden?” “They’re potatoes,” I replied. She responds, “Where’s the potato part?”
A friend made an experiment. One raised bed with potatoes with flowers. One without- he cut them. A surprise came to light in autumn. The uncut potatoes were only a few per plant- but much bigger potatoes. The cut plants had many potatoes but much smaller. The potatoe plants have to cure the wounds and are stressed. Potatoe illnesses can go into the wounds. I would never do the cut. (Sorry for my bad language.) Greetings from a european gardener!
I think it is counter-intuitive to cut. Normally, heading the blooms makes the plant work on more blooms as its purpose is to make fruit bearing seed. If this is the case with potatoes, it would take energy away from tuber formation, just as you have indicated. Did your friend weigh the output of tubers and compare between the two groups? If there is no significant difference in weight, smaller is not better because there is more work and more loss of material in peeling.
Leave the flowers on the plants, to do their part. There is a lot of science that goes into a great explanation. I'm not very Science(Y), so I will say to try planting half the potatoes with flowers and other half without. Cutting the flowers did yield small potatoes in my garden. The Potato plant in its natural state did a great job. Bonus? No more buying seed potatoes. Have a great Day!
I also yielded significantly small spuds after removing my flowers last year. They were quite large and shouldv bore great spuds. They were many the size of a quarter. When you see the plants start to flower, stomp them down and then add white rice and banana around the bed. Cover with some fresh soil and the added potassium and phosphate will help the spuds too.
Gee when I was growing up with potato fields everywhere and without supervision, neither me or my siblings or any of our friends or anyone I know ever tried to eat flowers off of anything. It’s too bad people don’t teach children what to and what not to eat rather than just protecting them without a lesson on the possible danger. Can’t protect kids from everything so we might as well teach them.
@@smallfeet4581Humans have been eating flowers probably as long as we've existed, including children. Even weed flowers in your grass are edible, e.g. clover, dandelion, violet, etc. I ate all kinds of flowers as a child.
@@sproutingemily yeah dandelions nettles elderberry etc but there was a process to turn them into something , I would not have picked anything and put it in my mouth , the idea of eating flowers was just never a thing I felt I wanted to do , some things are not good , I had friends who ate gooseberries but I thought they were horrible , some berries were not edible as far as I know like red ones off mountain ash trees
Would be interested to see a side by side test but in all my years and 1000's of pounds of spuds grown, I have always left the flowers. Some will form seeds but that is a small percentage so there is little if any spud yield loss... IMO.
@GoneBattyBats Same here. Started in '65, nipped off flowers from half the plants, in '67, but it made no difference to my yield. I noticed commercial growers don't bother and that settled my mind for good, no pruning.
hello... thanks for the great video...I noticed this morning that some of my potatoes were flowering. I'll be trimming those off and composting them. Thanks for the information from Oklahoma
Thanks for the tip re: flowers, my maris piper plants recently began flowering as we've just had a heatwave over here, so im glad to know its likely that as theyre only 60 days old so far
You won't get tomatoes without flowers. Same family, different plant. Do not cut the flowers off of eggplant or peppers either. None of those are trying to form tubers.
Bad move, Dean. Five others, apart from you, also didn't realise that. Four members of the nightshade family and only potatoes produce tubers, the rest producing fruit from their flowers. In fact, apart from root vegetables, all other plants produce fruit from flowers. Better luck next year, fam!
I'm from the south and growing up, my dad truck patched. We always had acres of potatoes. Dad always said that's one way to know when to dig them up is when the flowers start becoming spent. We had truckloads of taters every year. If we wanted new potatoes, we dug a few rows up early.
No. Pruning the flowers will not increase tuber production. What's more, letting those flowers produce fruit will produce actual potato seed inside, and those seeds will be of a variety that has never been grown before. I'm four years into a variety that only I have, produced from seeds from berries. And you can do that too by letting those flowers get fertilized and grow into berries with seeds. :)
Too much trouble and no guarantee, particularly of flavour. In fact, I tried it twice, eight years apart, but the tubers tasted disgusting on both occasions. That's why I stick with the clones, tubers, as you know what you're getting. Sounds like you struck lucky.
Interesting approach. I ended up planting potatoes this year even though I had no intention to because my wife found a bag in the back of the closet that were all sprouting and squishy. I had a small garden patch I hadn't yet decided what to grow, so I planted them. One of them produced flowers. I just let it go, because it was kind of pretty...never occurred to me to harvest the seeds. Maybe they'll grow next season, since I just let the fruit fall off.
@@eventhisidistaken Thanks! Yeah they'll grow pretty much without any effort. The flowers are pretty and they certainly attract the pollinators, even though most won't produce the little berries (depends on the amount of moisture, temperature, etc.) It's worth a try - and you've nothing to lose really. It will take probably a couple years to get decent sized tubers, but after that, they'll be the size of any other normal potato.
Thank you for this interesting content. My potato plants are growing in cardboard cartons for the first time and are doing very well. I will watch for blossoms and prune them out.
Thanks, this makes sense and gives me some things to think about regarding my current situation. My past experience is growing potatoes in Alaska, where the season is so short that I did not need to think about "when" to dig. Now I am in Pennsylvania, and my potatoes are flowering early but also starting to yellow. My guess is I am over watering and they are in distress. I have clipped the flowers, reduced watering, and hilled up a bit more straw and dirt. Hopefully this will give them the help they need to make it into September.
I'm doing an experiment this year removing half of my flowers and leaving the other half, both in my grow bags and in-ground plants. I'm going to compare my harvests to see how much difference in yield there is.
I actually bought potato seeds from bratanical interest as well. I thought it was interesting. I had never heard of potato seeds. I can't wait to try. Thanks for the information. Take care!!
My potato plants look lush, full, and happy, and I have been removing the flowers as they emerge. But I was wondering, would it be advantageous or result in producing more potatoes if I cut back some of the abundant foliage a bit as well? I have buried some of the plants' branches with the hopes of them rooting and making a larger crop of potatoes. What would you advise? Thanks!
Thank you for your information on the flowers. Mine are full of flowers going to cut them off the first thing in the morning. No children but I prefer bigger tubers, good information. first time growing Russett and red potatoes. After reading some of the other comments. I think I will just cut half the flowers. First time growing potatoes. I am waiting until first week of October. I am used to growing sweet potatoes. just picked them had a good harvest. I am curing them right now. I enjoy growing any kind of potatoes. Low maintenance.
I planted potato peelings and have a good few potato plants now. One of my potato plants is flowering in early June, I dug up five spuds then put the plant back to carry on growing. I'll let it go to seed out of interest. I've always removed flowers before. You mention temperature so I think that might be the reason why it flowered because we've had some hot days and cold nights
Found the same, but mine was accidental. Put peelings in a 4x4 foot compost bin and withdrew almost 60lbs of spuds the following year. A very welcome surprise.
Its past the flowering point and now I have little green cherry like tomato things coming out. Are the green bulbs what I can plant next year?? Only one plant produced the green pod
I’m a new subscriber, retired 5 years, I enjoy flower plants and now I want to start growing Vegetables, so I’m here for the Education…So how can my wife and I start a good eating vegetable
What we have done for many years now is the use the potato's that we did not get a chance to eat, that were sprouting, was to replant them in June. We have an outdoor cellar where we store them from harvest, when the outside temps are low enough. We eat the potatoes from harvest till in October till almost May when they start to sprout. They we plant the sprouting potatoes.
I still have a bag of potatoes from last year in my garage. I planted some today. I have some that sprouted in their own that started growing in April and some that I planted last month in May. First things up in the spring if they're planted in fall.
Thanks for that quick and helpful information. The comment from some months ago is also quite interesting. Have you tried his method of stepping on the plant but careful not to crush main stalk. Still you don't want animals or kids eating the flowers, so that remains a reason to cut off potato flowers.
I just watched Countryside Flower shop video. She’s a very seasoned Gardner and she does not cut off the flowers. They are the sign tubers are growing. I’ve searched many videos on potato growing to get it right. There is a lot of confusion out there.
@@fancythat5136 It sounds like (from this video and several others, along with articles that I've read) that it's more about using the energy for potato production instead of growing flowers/seeds.
I have always left the flowers on. I have heard that once they dry up, you could dig up some baby potatoes. I have always had good size potatoes with the flower left on. Maybe it doesn’t make much difference to cut or leave be.
Different potatoes have different growing periods. There's first Earlies, (called new potatoes) second Earlies (also called new potatoes) and Main crop. First and second Earlies are planted at the same time, but the seconds are left longer, so grow larger. The first Earlies are used in salads, etc. The more eyes left on the seed potato the better, as this wlll produce many more small potatoes. With Mains I leave only two eyes to sprout, so much larger potatoes are produced. There are varieties of Mains that can be left in the ground, until around Christmas, but you have to be careful of frost with those, lifting them, so they don't get destroyed.
That's interesting. I've never taken the flowers off. I've waited for them to die and then I would harvest. I'll give this a try on half my potatoes and see what the difference is
One of your earlier comments on potatoes raises an interesting question. What would a side to side comparison show with one potatoes bush with flowers and another without ? Would it make a difference ?
No is the simple answer or commercial growers would employ folk to nip off flowers. Anecdotal, but I tried, fifty-five years ago, leaving flower on half. The yields more or less matched with maybe a pound difference. If you give it a go, please, get back with your observations.
I’m in Central Florida 9b. Three years gardening in my backyard. Second time trying to grow sweet potatoes. Was so surprised when I saw flowers on the vines. It maybe because I fertilized with Fish Emulsion recently. Anyway, I am going to remove the flowers and let the sweet potatoes below continue growing. It’s still in the 80’s during the day. Nights seem to be cooling off in the low to mid 60’s. I don’t have any idea when I planted them 😢. Any wise words of wisdom? Thank you.
she doesn't know what she's talking about and this fear of people eating flowers is absurd. Nobody eats them. A child would spit it out immediately. Good grief!
Your potatoes are flowering? Thats awesome now collect the pollen from the anthers and if you have 2 or more varieties take the pollen from 1 and put it on the stamen other and vice versa do this because many potatoes are self sterile and will need another type of potato to fertilize. Remember that all of your potatoes of 1 variety say Red Norland for instance are actually part of the same plant in a real sense they are actually part of the original potato they came from and so if the potato is self sterile it will not fertilize any potatoes of the same variety you must cross pollinate. With any luck a berry will begin to form that looks much like a green tomato but don't eat it as its poisonous much like nightshade which is in the same family as btw are tomatoes and peppers. This berry will remain green but when its ripe it will soften. extract the seeds and save them for spring plant them early indoors as it takes potatoes considerably longer to grow from true seed than from the tuber. When time for harvest comes though you will have many new and different varieties of potatoes it is also very interesting to see the different growing habits of many of these true seed plants some will send out stolens and grow more potatoes from them some will grow very loooong vines also variations in taste and amount of starch thickness of skin color of skin color of the potatoes themselves there is a great deal of variety to be found. Maybe you will find the next greatest cultivar of potato ever grow it on year after year from seed potatoes or even get a new cultivar on the market. The results are always interesting when growing from true seed.
@@billyandrew Yes they are, but if you let them flower and get the berries then you will have actual seeds which are no longer clones and have a high degree of variability.
I grew my first potatoes. Full garden and bucket grown. 1 bucket has a purple flower. I may let it grow since its 1 flower. I am assuming when the leaves die its ready. Im not sure. I trenched most of my rows and added soil as they grew. But my potatoe plants are getting really tall. Is this normal to get 2 feet tall above the 1ft of soil above ground
No it isnt your plant focuses more on flower production than fruit production Try cutting it otherwise you end up with really small potatoes There is someone who made a timelapse of potatoes and he had the same problem
Cutting these plants is useless. It does nothing to increase tuber size. Try "stepping down" the entire plant. Simply step on the plant and crush the main stalk near the ground, being careful not to sever the stalk. This causes the plant to stop sending nutrients above ground and causes the nutrients to slowly migrate to the potatoes. The number of potatoes remains about the same, but the potatoes themselves get about 20-50% larger than they would without stepping them down. This is a tried and true method that has been used in Ireland for centuries.
Mine are regularly tall and bushy and have been for the last fifty-five years. Plenty of foliage means plenty of energy going down into the tubers. I was looking at the plant in the vid and it looked a bit spindly and forlorn for my taste, still, each to their own.
Seed potatoes produce clones, (tubers descended from just one variety) but potato seeds produce new variants, each totally unique. The known variants (seed potatoes) were arrived at through trial and error over long periods of time, looking for size, texture, colour, taste and, of course, how well they store. Variants are a bit hit and miss, my own two attempts producing nice looking, nice sized, potatoes, but they tasted vile on both occasions.
Hello, good video. I'm wondering if we can actually prune off the buds BEFORE they open up into a flower. Mine are getting ready to flower but they arent opened yet. What do you think? Thankyou.
Those poisonous fruit produce the best potatoe seeds that last for years, they make perfect potatoes, the seeds are valuable as they last for years, i have used these seedswith anazing results, the disease rate on these plants is much smaller than using the eyes.
You, like someone else in comments, were quite lucky. I've tried from seeds, twice, several years apart and both crops, one ground planted, the other containers, tasted dreadful.
What you do with “what’s this thing on my potato plants” (flowers like all herbaceous plants have-“so weird”) is crossbreed. It’s fun and you can maybe develop a new variety-maybe even become world famous! First, remove the anthers from target flowers before they produce free pollen so they won’t pollinate themselves. These plants and their target flowers will be the mother plants. Next, when the ‘father plants’ (if you want to crossbreed, the mother and father should be different varieties or species) start to produce free pollen, collect it with a sable watercolour paintbrush, put it in a prescription pill-bottle or something; then brush the pollen on the pistils of the target mother plants (which have already had the anthers removed and are not yet fertilized). Mark these flowers somehow (I use a twist-tie from a bread bag, twist it around the terms just below the target flowers. If you are crossing more than two varieties, you might want to identify which is which right on the twist tie). To prevent unwanted pollination, you may remove the other, non-target flowers ( also to let as much energy flow into the remaining target flowers-the mother flowers). Let the fruit mature for the season. Then pick and remove the seed my simple mushing and rinsing with cold water. Dry the seed on a paper towel and store in a cool, dark place (so long’s they’re dry, you may put them in the fridge-but it’s not necessary unless you intend to keep the seed for a long time, in which case you put them in the freezer). Next spring, early, plant the seeds just like you would tomato or green-pepper seeds (they’re all in the nightshade family, look and germinate about the same way). Set the seedlings out in the garden (away from the food-crop potatoes so you don’t accidentally harvest them). They’ll grow just like a regular potato plant. When the top has died back (it’s a good idea to keep notes about each different cross to see how disease, rain and heat resistant they might be), dig up the tubers: they are tiny potatoes about the size of beans or peanuts. They will likely be a different colour than either parent. Store these baby tubers (make sure they’re not damp to prevent mood) and plant them the flowing year. You’ll get full-size tubers this time. Make notes about their size, shape, taste, colour, &c AND MAKE SURE NOT TO EAT THEM ALL-the ones you are most interested in you’ll need to do back-crossing. Back-crossing is the same controlled-pollination process, this time using pollen from the crossed plants (you’ll make them the father plants for this time around) to pollinate one of its parent plants (the mother plants). Repeat the steps, collect the targeted fruits, remove the seed and plant the following year. The same thing will happen-tiny tubers the first year. Except this “segregating generation” will reveal the pedigree of all the varieties’ ancestry: you’ll have tubers of every shape and colour-some quite bizarre. Again, keep these baby tubers and plant them the next year. You might select the best ones and discard misshapen or weak ones (that get rust or otherwise perform poorly). Now you will get full-size potatoes that are totally unique. You may name the variety and enter them as a novelty at the fall fair. You may use them for other crosses and back-crosses. You might find it very interesting and fun. There are many species of wild potatoes in their native habitat in the South American Andes (mostly Ecuador and Peru). From these all cultivars are bred. There are over 2500 varieties in nature and potential to breed thousands of crosses and select varieties for any number of desired traits. Did you know that Cortez the Conquerer noticed the indigenous Mexicans picking berries about the size of of currants with which to make salsa. From this variety all tomatoes of every size and description have been bred. Similarly, almost all dogs descend from wolves (the Rhodesian Ridgeback being the exception: the original cross was between an Italian Mastiff -a domestic dog-and an African Wild Dog-which is a separate species, more like a jackal. It took 65 years of back-crossing to get as much Wild Dog traits out as possible), yet look at the huge variation of size, shapes fur and temperament has been gotten by breeding. See Dr Carlos Ochoa, the world famous Professor of Potatoes (RIP). Have fun. We developed a strain we called “Strawberry Ripple” because the meat was marbled pink and white. The original cross was a Peruvian Purple potato with a Red Pontiac (the former being very close to wild and therefore containing a very diverse genetic constitution-the raw material for breeding). It took about seven years. We eventually abandoned them because they were very susceptible to summer heat-but, had we the time, we might have sent some up north to let the high latitude farmers give it a try in cooler climes. It tasted a lot like a Purple spud-tart-and was fairly creamy texture. Like Purple spuds, they are a bit off-putting mashed, but beautiful pan fried. Good luck and have fun.
Depends where you live and what varieties you're growing. Living in the UK, I chit my first and second Earlies, (both called _new)_ beginning halfway through January. I leave plenty of eyes (sprouts) on the firsts, the idea being they will produce lots of small potatoes for summer dishes and potato salads. They take 10 - 12 weeks to grow, so I plant them out in March with frost protection. Those I lift (harvest) from June through July. The seconds I limit to four eyes, at most, as I want them a bit larger and they take 14 - 16 weeks to grow. These, too, I plant out in March and lift them from July through August. Maincrop or Mains I chit at the beginning of March leaving only two eyes, because I want large potatoes, at the beginning of March. I plant them out halfway through April, using frost protection, if required. They can take anything from 16 - 22 weeks to grow, so I lift those from August to October. There is a new variety I used last year, that can be left and lifted through December, providing there is no frost. I wasn't so lucky and a frost hit in the second week in December, so I lost the entire yield, but those are the risks you take. I have a new crop planted, but had to buy more seed potatoes, as I was unable to save any. One last thing...if the foliage yellows and dies, prematurely and it isn't down to neglect, well, I lift the plant and tubers, then burn the lot. I don't risk it infecting my compost. Good luck!
thank you- I always wondered; but I also noticed that something always comes around a nd eats those flowers and/or fruit on my plants. Hopeully I'll have bigger potatoes this year
Hello as I’m a new subscriber. Very interesting. Potato flowers are so beautiful. Last summer was my first time growing potatoes. Not all of my potatoes flowered. Do you know why?
I grow red potatoes all around different times of the year and they pretty much grow 9 months of the year in different places but recently I planted some and I just had my flowers so I’m interested to see what you have to say about the flowers. I’ve had some beautiful flowers on mine just recently, but I just left them alone. I have no small children around.
4:54 minutes in and the point arrives. Opening Body Close. Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them. 3 minutes from start to finish. Give it a go. Toastmasters.
What I would do with the flowers... not sure... give them to you? 😇 Thank you so much, this was very well explained. You can see them form, long before they turn to flowers and will remove them the moment I see the flower pods forming. Think I've used too much phosphate, too early on but I am just experimenting, first year growing potatoes... in bags. #Modular
potatoes need high potassium not high phosphate. And removing flowers does not work to any good end. You might get more potatoes but smaller. This is inefficient. Let the plant produce big ones, even if fewer.
If they're green (green skin), throw them away - they've been exposed to the sun and apparently are high in a particular toxin. Just watched an "Epic Gardening" vid on this. Cheers!
Potatoes that get exposed to sunlight, because the potatoes are stems w/ chlorophyll in them, will start to turn green. This is bad, as it also triggers the production of oxalates (I thibk it is), which are bad for us. The fix is easy, tbough. If you see potatoes poking through the soil, pile dirt on top of them to block the sunlight. If yhey've bern harvested, store them in a dark, cool place for a few weeks & they should be fine.
If the spuds are exposed to sun light, they turn green so you should cover them up with dirt. Some claim the green is poisonous but to me, it just tastes really nasty and I just cut it off. I have never heard about the flower thing and just let them be. If you over water, you will get hollow spaces that are a little brown around the edge but don’t really affect edibility.
i would if different varieties of potato produced more than one color 🥔 and thanks for the video, it looks like my potato is getting ready to make little flowers so now i know what to do.
I believe that it John Reader's book "The Potato: a History of the Propitious Esculent" (2009) tells us that when potatoes were first introduced to Europe, they were grown for a while principally as ornamental plants -- the both the foliage and the flowers are quite pretty. It took a while for many to learn that this poisonous plant gives us a hidden treasure. (One story is that potatoes in northern Europe, potatoes were recognized as valuable crops during the Thirty Years' War, when the grain crops trampled by armies were ruined, but potatoes could still yield food after after being trampled.)
This is my first year growing potatoes. I had some poking up above the ground and noticed that they looked green. I covered them up with dirt. Will that be OK? Or will they still be poisonous?
It means the soil they're planted in is lacking Phosphorus. Phosphorus is needed for flower and fruit production. While Nitrogen is for root and leaf growth.
@@maryoboyle1156 I was a newbie once. But I learned through studying what I can, trial and error and observation. A phosphate/phosphorus based fertilizer would help you in your current situation fast acting like bone meal. But you may still get potatoes even though the potato plants didn't flower. Depending on the soil you used, it does sound like you don't have enough or any garden sand or rocks in your soil, just pure dirt. Next time add rocks to the bottom of the container about 2 to 3 inches below the seed potatoes any rocks will do if you have any laying around even a bag of those cheap rocks that they use to hold fence posts in place at home Depot or Lowes would work. I know logic would think they would interfere with potatoes but no. all your potatoes will grow above the seed potatoes most of the rock's will be below potato production. rocks contain Phosphorus which roots surround rocks to feed off the phosphorus that rubs off the rocks and seep off into the surrounding water and soil which the roots feed from. Sand also has phosphorus because well, sand is rock just finely ground up. If you have kids let them smash rocks for you gives them something to do and kids love to smash things. sweep up the tiny fragments and rock dust and mix it into potato soil before you plant and use the bigger rocks for the bottom. When it's time to harvest potatoes get your potatoes out and use a sifter to sift the dirt to get the rocks to set in a bucket for next time. you can make one yourself with a few nails, wood, some staples and a wire mesh big enough for dirt to go through but not rocks. Or just add bone meal to your soil for a quick boost. Rocks continuously seep phosphorus in low amounts but it does build over time.
Different species, as was stated. The vineleaves on sweet potatoes are edible. The potatoes can be planted whole or the slips (shoots) can be grown to create many plants.
Just have a conversation with your kids about your plants. I educate my son on everything I'm doing in the garden so he knows all of this stuff too. I don't avoid it, I prevent it.
In four years the original crop will have long rotted away, all except one is my guess. Anything edible you find will be the descendants of the original (if I can use that term) clone. 😂😂😂
I'm growing potatoes for the first time. My daughter and I planted potatoes within a day or two of each other. We both live in Tucson but she lives at a higher elevation than I. Her potatoes are starting to flower but mine are not. My question is, is it a bad thing that my potatoes aren't flowering?
I watched a TH-cam video yesterday and someone actually did a test on this subject. He planted two rows of identical varieties. One row he left the flowers and the other one he removed them. The row with the flower left on produced a higher yield. Maybe it's something we all should try
I never subscribe to any channel that wastes my time during the video I clicked on to watch to tell me to subscribe to their content before I've actually seen any of it.
Bro I bought two bags of potatoes from food Giant and forgot about them and when I opened the closet I left em in a while later they where covered in eyes so I planted them and got like four grocery bags stuffed full back plus a basket we where overwhelmed with spuds and I only planted two and a half bags and didn't fertilize at all
Interesting to learn that some folks prune potato blossoms. Always something new to learn. I follow the traditional path - leave the flowers, and take them as a sign that there are edible tubers down there - take a few, but don't pull the plant hill it (heap soil around the stem, feel free to bury some leaves. And just tell your children, those are not edible flowers. If they're too young to hear and understand, they're too young to be left roaming the veggie patch unsupervised. Happy growing to all.
Common sense, refreshing!
This is done for fruit producing trees the first few years so that the tree will grow bigger faster.
Flowers tell you the tubers are nearly ready to lift , I'm sure
@@smallfeet4581I use that method too - when the flowers have gone, and the leaves begin to die, is when I start to take the spuds
I do that method too while removing the flowers, I don’t pull the plants for another 3-4 months or when the plant dies as you can get more potatoes and bigger potatoes the longer you leave the plant in the ground
Cutting the flowers won't help potato production in any meaningful way. 60 yrs ago my Irish grandfather showed me the right way to deal with a flowering potato plant, that was shown to him by his grandfather in the 1890's. The process is called "stepping down" the entire plant. Simply step on the plant and crush the main stalk near the ground, being careful not to sever the stalk. This causes the plant to stop sending nutrients above ground and causes the nutrients to migrate to the potatoes. The number of potatoes remains about the same, but the potatoes themselves get about 20-50% larger than they would without stepping them down. This is a tried and true method that has been used in Ireland for centuries.
Thanks! I didn't know that. Best potatoes i ever ate were in Ireland. I shall try it!
Worth a go . What can you lose ... a few spuds .
Also known to do it with onions …
@@mmsdcb9081 Exactly so....same process, same results.
God bless you for sharing your grandfather’s wisdom with us all
I began by running my own trial this year sowing four rows of Charlotte potatoes at my allotment. They were sown side by side, at the same time, with similar manuring, fertilising and watering quantities. In essence I did my very best to ensure that they all experienced the same environmental factors. Having so far harvested four plants that went to flower and four others that were prevented from doing so, I can give you the following results:
Flowers removed: 37 potatoes weighing 3.83kg
Flowers left on: 40 potatoes weighing 4.12kg
Agreed. I have grown potatoes for years and never pruned the flowers nor have I ever heard of anyone doing so. And the idea that kids will come along and eat them... I'm tired of catering to a world filled with the stupid. Educate your kids lady.... and what kid goes around eating strange flowers anyway? This woman also has one plant next to her driveway and she's making videos like she's an expert? It's clear she doesn't know what she's talking about. She may mean well... but it comes off as an attention seeking wanna-be.
I've never pruned my flowers. Interesting experiment and results as well. Thanks for sharing that. 👍
The biggest factor in all this is making sure if you have determinate or indeterminate potato’s just like tomato’s if you go pruning your determinate tomatoes it ain’t gonna go well
@@JustinMentionedIt My Dutch potato seed farming relatives have NEVER mentioned determinate or indeterminate, or my Dutch potato farming relative who produces upwards of 5kg per metre
@@JoelJosephson I know! I didn’t know about it either till kinda recently
Best line ever from my neighbor…
“What are those pretty pink flowers in your garden?”
“They’re potatoes,” I replied.
She responds, “Where’s the potato part?”
Sitting atop her shoulders.
@@billyandrew 😂
😂
The "Potato Part" is in the Grocery Store!
😂
A friend made an experiment. One raised bed with potatoes with flowers. One without- he cut them. A surprise came to light in autumn. The uncut potatoes were only a few per plant- but much bigger potatoes. The cut plants had many potatoes but much smaller. The potatoe plants have to cure the wounds and are stressed. Potatoe illnesses can go into the wounds. I would never do the cut. (Sorry for my bad language.) Greetings from a european gardener!
I think it is counter-intuitive to cut. Normally, heading the blooms makes the plant work on more blooms as its purpose is to make fruit bearing seed. If this is the case with potatoes, it would take energy away from tuber formation, just as you have indicated. Did your friend weigh the output of tubers and compare between the two groups? If there is no significant difference in weight, smaller is not better because there is more work and more loss of material in peeling.
@@MrKevinStraub There was no signifikant difference in weight.
😢I never cut the flowers off either. I grow in pots and just let the plants do their thing.
I never cut the flowers and many potatoes don’t grow flowers.
Another commenter said to “step down” (without breaking) the stalk and that is how it’s done in Ireland. Worth a try
Leave the flowers on the plants, to do their part. There is a lot of science that goes into a great explanation. I'm not very Science(Y), so I will say to try planting half the potatoes with flowers and other half without. Cutting the flowers did yield small potatoes in my garden. The Potato plant in its natural state did a great job. Bonus? No more buying seed potatoes. Have a great Day!
Yes, leave on the flowers. Pruning the flowers promotes more energy to produce more flowers like with any plant.
I also yielded significantly small spuds after removing my flowers last year. They were quite large and shouldv bore great spuds. They were many the size of a quarter. When you see the plants start to flower, stomp them down and then add white rice and banana around the bed. Cover with some fresh soil and the added potassium and phosphate will help the spuds too.
@mikealalee2889 what do you mean "stomp them down"?
Gee when I was growing up with potato fields everywhere and without supervision, neither me or my siblings or any of our friends or anyone I know ever tried to eat flowers off of anything. It’s too bad people don’t teach children what to and what not to eat rather than just protecting them without a lesson on the possible danger. Can’t protect kids from everything so we might as well teach them.
If a kid is old enough to know better yet dumb enough to eat it they deserve the stomach ache. Lesson learned.
Never in my childhood did I want to eat flowers and don't know any one who did , 🤷
@@smallfeet4581Humans have been eating flowers probably as long as we've existed, including children. Even weed flowers in your grass are edible, e.g. clover, dandelion, violet, etc. I ate all kinds of flowers as a child.
@@sproutingemily yeah dandelions nettles elderberry etc but there was a process to turn them into something , I would not have picked anything and put it in my mouth , the idea of eating flowers was just never a thing I felt I wanted to do , some things are not good , I had friends who ate gooseberries but I thought they were horrible , some berries were not edible as far as I know like red ones off mountain ash trees
Considering the kids were eating laundry detergent a few years ago, I think flowers are a much smarter snack option!
I didn't know that sweet potatoes bloomed. I was fascinated to know why. Thanks for the information.
Would be interested to see a side by side test but in all my years and 1000's of pounds of spuds grown, I have always left the flowers. Some will form seeds but that is a small percentage so there is little if any spud yield loss... IMO.
I agree. No flower No fruit. Is the law of nature. People grow hectares of potatoes. I rather doubt the go trim the flowers.
@GoneBattyBats
Same here.
Started in '65, nipped off flowers from half the plants, in '67, but it made no difference to my yield.
I noticed commercial growers don't bother and that settled my mind for good, no pruning.
hello... thanks for the great video...I noticed this morning that some of my potatoes were flowering. I'll be trimming those off and composting them. Thanks for the information from Oklahoma
Thanks for the tip re: flowers, my maris piper plants recently began flowering as we've just had a heatwave over here, so im glad to know its likely that as theyre only 60 days old so far
Hello...your video has truly aided me with my 1st harvesting of potatoes...thanks you
Awesome, I've just cut all my tomato flowers off too hoping for loads this year
You won't get tomatoes without flowers. Same family, different plant. Do not cut the flowers off of eggplant or peppers either. None of those are trying to form tubers.
My guess is Dean is making a joke 😁
Bad move, Dean.
Five others, apart from you, also didn't realise that.
Four members of the nightshade family and only potatoes produce tubers, the rest producing fruit from their flowers.
In fact, apart from root vegetables, all other plants produce fruit from flowers.
Better luck next year, fam!
pamsloan84
Same with any other veg and fruit.
I'm obviously evil, as I find the OP hilarious.
😈🤪😂😂😂
@@billyandrew I am shocked that people might actually make that assumption.
I'm from the south and growing up, my dad truck patched. We always had acres of potatoes. Dad always said that's one way to know when to dig them up is when the flowers start becoming spent. We had truckloads of taters every year. If we wanted new potatoes, we dug a few rows up early.
Potato flowers are beautiful!
No. Pruning the flowers will not increase tuber production. What's more, letting those flowers produce fruit will produce actual potato seed inside, and those seeds will be of a variety that has never been grown before.
I'm four years into a variety that only I have, produced from seeds from berries. And you can do that too by letting those flowers get fertilized and grow into berries with seeds. :)
Too much trouble and no guarantee, particularly of flavour.
In fact, I tried it twice, eight years apart, but the tubers tasted disgusting on both occasions.
That's why I stick with the clones, tubers, as you know what you're getting.
Sounds like you struck lucky.
Interesting approach. I ended up planting potatoes this year even though I had no intention to because my wife found a bag in the back of the closet that were all sprouting and squishy. I had a small garden patch I hadn't yet decided what to grow, so I planted them. One of them produced flowers. I just let it go, because it was kind of pretty...never occurred to me to harvest the seeds. Maybe they'll grow next season, since I just let the fruit fall off.
@@eventhisidistaken Thanks! Yeah they'll grow pretty much without any effort. The flowers are pretty and they certainly attract the pollinators, even though most won't produce the little berries (depends on the amount of moisture, temperature, etc.)
It's worth a try - and you've nothing to lose really. It will take probably a couple years to get decent sized tubers, but after that, they'll be the size of any other normal potato.
@@billyandrew Yeah I think so too, just the nature of the beast I guess. Might be worth another try though, you never know what you're going to get.
Inconspicuously holding the pruning shears in her right hand at the beginning of the video was great foreshadowing.
But she had to talk about feelings first.
Thank you for this interesting content. My potato plants are growing in cardboard cartons for the first time and are doing very well. I will watch for blossoms and prune them out.
Thanks, this makes sense and gives me some things to think about regarding my current situation. My past experience is growing potatoes in Alaska, where the season is so short that I did not need to think about "when" to dig. Now I am in Pennsylvania, and my potatoes are flowering early but also starting to yellow. My guess is I am over watering and they are in distress. I have clipped the flowers, reduced watering, and hilled up a bit more straw and dirt. Hopefully this will give them the help they need to make it into September.
Subscribed and appreciate your info on potatoes and flowers. Mine flowered for the first time this year.
Thank u for the info I always thought i should cut the flowers off.
Fascinating. Are potatoes able to cross pollinate with other potatoes nearby? And does this give us a new type of potato next year?
Hello, thank you for the great information. This will be my first year growing potatoes.
My advice is leave the flowers on, unless you have safety considerations.
Thank you for the information. On my potato plants I am definitely seeing flowers and those tomato-like fruits
Thank you for the info.... Learned something new!
Thank you , I learned something new today I’ll put in practice.
I'm doing an experiment this year removing half of my flowers and leaving the other half, both in my grow bags and in-ground plants. I'm going to compare my harvests to see how much difference in yield there is.
Any difference will be negligible.
I tried the experiment myself.
Please post your results.
so what happened with the experiment...one year later.
Thank you for this! Your timing is perfect for my garden. I find I’m constantly learning because of Chanel’s like this.❤️🇨🇦
I actually bought potato seeds from bratanical interest as well. I thought it was interesting. I had never heard of potato seeds. I can't wait to try. Thanks for the information. Take care!!
I purchased the Clancy potato seeds from them as well. They are doing great!
Thank you for the video. This my first year growing potatoes and this info was really helpful.
false info don't cut
My potato plants look lush, full, and happy, and I have been removing the flowers as they emerge. But I was wondering, would it be advantageous or result in producing more potatoes if I cut back some of the abundant foliage a bit as well? I have buried some of the plants' branches with the hopes of them rooting and making a larger crop of potatoes. What would you advise? Thanks!
Burying tomato vines which will root at the nodes can help them survive dry spells productively but potatoes aren't tomatoes.
Nah, fam, no extra spuds for you. 😂
Works well with strawbs, though.
Hi!! Great video! I am growing potatoes and noticed a flower today. Just wondering- what is the time frame of planting to harvest?
Is that Queen Anns lace or hemlock behind you?
Flowers are beautifull.
Thank you for your information on the flowers. Mine are full of flowers going to cut them off the first thing in the morning. No children but I prefer bigger tubers, good information. first time growing Russett and red potatoes. After reading some of the other comments. I think I will just cut half the flowers. First time growing potatoes. I am waiting until first week of October. I am used to growing sweet potatoes. just picked them had a good harvest. I am curing them right now. I enjoy growing any kind of potatoes. Low maintenance.
I planted potato peelings and have a good few potato plants now. One of my potato plants is flowering in early June, I dug up five spuds then put the plant back to carry on growing. I'll let it go to seed out of interest. I've always removed flowers before.
You mention temperature so I think that might be the reason why it flowered because we've had some hot days and cold nights
Found the same, but mine was accidental.
Put peelings in a 4x4 foot compost bin and withdrew almost 60lbs of spuds the following year.
A very welcome surprise.
@@billyandrew When you say peelings do you mean they grow from the shredded potato peel??
@@billyandrew Great surprise. I've got some now and they need transplanting to a larger plot.
I planted potatoes in a trench do I need to trim the foliage at the bottom of the plant as I add soil.
Its past the flowering point and now I have little green cherry like tomato things coming out. Are the green bulbs what I can plant next year?? Only one plant produced the green pod
I’m a new subscriber, retired 5 years, I enjoy flower plants and now I want to start growing Vegetables, so I’m here for the Education…So how can my wife and I start a good eating vegetable
Hi I got interested in growing potatoes and loved the way you teach but please help me with a fill guide and what to consider until harvest, thx.
Here's our full guide: www.gardenary.com/blog/6-easy-steps-to-grow-organic-potatoes
What we have done for many years now is the use the potato's that we did not get a chance to eat, that were sprouting, was to replant them in June. We have an outdoor cellar where we store them from harvest, when the outside temps are low enough. We eat the potatoes from harvest till in October till almost May when they start to sprout. They we plant the sprouting potatoes.
I still have a bag of potatoes from last year in my garage. I planted some today. I have some that sprouted in their own that started growing in April and some that I planted last month in May. First things up in the spring if they're planted in fall.
Thanks for that quick and helpful information. The comment from some months ago is also quite interesting. Have you tried his method of stepping on the plant but careful not to crush main stalk. Still you don't want animals or kids eating the flowers, so that remains a reason to cut off potato flowers.
I have definitely not stepped on my plants. I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison!
Thanks for the tip..just started growing potatoes. I wld probably cut the flowers and put in a vase. After which compost just like how you did it.
Weigh your harvested potatoes, if you cut off the flowers.
Next year, leave the flowers on and weigh them.
You won't notice much difference.
I didn't know if I needed to cut the flowers off or not, this is the first year I've grown potatoes, but now I do. Thanks
I just watched Countryside Flower shop video. She’s a very seasoned Gardner and she does not cut off the flowers. They are the sign tubers are growing. I’ve searched many videos on potato growing to get it right. There is a lot of confusion out there.
@@fancythat5136 It sounds like (from this video and several others, along with articles that I've read) that it's more about using the energy for potato production instead of growing flowers/seeds.
there is no need to cut the flowers. It does not increase production of potatoes
Well, snapping off the flowers from any plant benefits the strength of the plant.
@@shawnturner7064 I’ve never heard of anyone removing flowers
This is the first time ive ever heard this! Will do!
I have always left the flowers on. I have heard that once they dry up, you could dig up some baby potatoes. I have always had good size potatoes with the flower left on. Maybe it doesn’t make much difference to cut or leave be.
Different potatoes have different growing periods.
There's first Earlies, (called new potatoes) second Earlies (also called new potatoes) and Main crop.
First and second Earlies are planted at the same time, but the seconds are left longer, so grow larger.
The first Earlies are used in salads, etc.
The more eyes left on the seed potato the better, as this wlll produce many more small potatoes.
With Mains I leave only two eyes to sprout, so much larger potatoes are produced.
There are varieties of Mains that can be left in the ground, until around Christmas, but you have to be careful of frost with those, lifting them, so they don't get destroyed.
I subscribed again. Somehow, I was unsubsidized from your channel. Which I would never do. I love your channel ! I have learned sooo much.
That's interesting. I've never taken the flowers off. I've waited for them to die and then I would harvest. I'll give this a try on half my potatoes and see what the difference is
First Earlies, (new potatoes) here, in the UK, are often harvested, as the flowers start to bud, in June.
One of your earlier comments on potatoes raises an interesting question. What would a side to side comparison show with one potatoes bush with flowers and another without ? Would it make a difference ?
No is the simple answer or commercial growers would employ folk to nip off flowers.
Anecdotal, but I tried, fifty-five years ago, leaving flower on half.
The yields more or less matched with maybe a pound difference. If you give it a go, please, get back with your observations.
I’m in Central Florida 9b. Three years gardening in my backyard. Second time trying to grow sweet potatoes. Was so surprised when I saw flowers on the vines. It maybe because I fertilized with Fish Emulsion recently. Anyway, I am going to remove the flowers and let the sweet potatoes below continue growing. It’s still in the 80’s during the day. Nights seem to be cooling off in the low to mid 60’s. I don’t have any idea when I planted them 😢. Any wise words of wisdom? Thank you.
I need a lady like you in my garden. I grew spuds last year but did not think about pruning the flowers
she doesn't know what she's talking about and this fear of people eating flowers is absurd. Nobody eats them. A child would spit it out immediately. Good grief!
Your potatoes are flowering? Thats awesome now collect the pollen from the anthers and if you have 2 or more varieties take the pollen from 1 and put it on the stamen other and vice versa do this because many potatoes are self sterile and will need another type of potato to fertilize. Remember that all of your potatoes of 1 variety say Red Norland for instance are actually part of the same plant in a real sense they are actually part of the original potato they came from and so if the potato is self sterile it will not fertilize any potatoes of the same variety you must cross pollinate. With any luck a berry will begin to form that looks much like a green tomato but don't eat it as its poisonous much like nightshade which is in the same family as btw are tomatoes and peppers. This berry will remain green but when its ripe it will soften. extract the seeds and save them for spring plant them early indoors as it takes potatoes considerably longer to grow from true seed than from the tuber. When time for harvest comes though you will have many new and different varieties of potatoes it is also very interesting to see the different growing habits of many of these true seed plants some will send out stolens and grow more potatoes from them some will grow very loooong vines also variations in taste and amount of starch thickness of skin color of skin color of the potatoes themselves there is a great deal of variety to be found. Maybe you will find the next greatest cultivar of potato ever grow it on year after year from seed potatoes or even get a new cultivar on the market. The results are always interesting when growing from true seed.
All seed potatoes are clones.
@@billyandrew Yes they are, but if you let them flower and get the berries then you will have actual seeds which are no longer clones and have a high degree of variability.
Denmark. I put potatoes on the lawn, cover with seaweed easier to harvest without soil on it, cleaning is also easier.
Hi. Do you happen to keep track how many days after emergence, the flower buds starts to appear? Thanks.
Depends on species and conditions.
Could a tomato plant be grafted to a potato plant? I must try it. Cheers
I grew my first potatoes. Full garden and bucket grown. 1 bucket has a purple flower. I may let it grow since its 1 flower. I am assuming when the leaves die its ready. Im not sure. I trenched most of my rows and added soil as they grew. But my potatoe plants are getting really tall. Is this normal to get 2 feet tall above the 1ft of soil above ground
No it isnt your plant focuses more on flower production than fruit production
Try cutting it otherwise you end up with really small potatoes
There is someone who made a timelapse of potatoes and he had the same problem
Cutting these plants is useless. It does nothing to increase tuber size. Try "stepping down" the entire plant. Simply step on the plant and crush the main stalk near the ground, being careful not to sever the stalk. This causes the plant to stop sending nutrients above ground and causes the nutrients to slowly migrate to the potatoes. The number of potatoes remains about the same, but the potatoes themselves get about 20-50% larger than they would without stepping them down. This is a tried and true method that has been used in Ireland for centuries.
Mine are regularly tall and bushy and have been for the last fifty-five years.
Plenty of foliage means plenty of energy going down into the tubers.
I was looking at the plant in the vid and it looked a bit spindly and forlorn for my taste, still, each to their own.
Tq for sharing your knoledge.
What is the difference between a potato plant started from a seed or a seed potato?
Seed potatoes produce clones, (tubers descended from just one variety) but potato seeds produce new variants, each totally unique.
The known variants (seed potatoes) were arrived at through trial and error over long periods of time, looking for size, texture, colour, taste and, of course, how well they store.
Variants are a bit hit and miss, my own two attempts producing nice looking, nice sized, potatoes, but they tasted vile on both occasions.
Hello, good video. I'm wondering if we can actually prune off the buds BEFORE they open up into a flower. Mine are getting ready to flower but they arent opened yet. What do you think? Thankyou.
We have grown potatoes for decades. We always remove the buds as soon as they form.
or sharing incorrect info?
I’m growing Clancy too!!
Those poisonous fruit produce the best potatoe seeds that last for years, they make perfect potatoes, the seeds are valuable as they last for years, i have used these seedswith anazing results, the disease rate on these plants is much smaller than using the eyes.
Do you plant them in the ground like other seeds?
I often get fruit on my plants I never knew!
Started some TPS 0:04 diploid and tetraploid mixes from Cultivariable this year, along with some other landrace projects.
You, like someone else in comments, were quite lucky.
I've tried from seeds, twice, several years apart and both crops, one ground planted, the other containers, tasted dreadful.
What you do with “what’s this thing on my potato plants” (flowers like all herbaceous plants have-“so weird”) is crossbreed. It’s fun and you can maybe develop a new variety-maybe even become world famous!
First, remove the anthers from target flowers before they produce free pollen so they won’t pollinate themselves. These plants and their target flowers will be the mother plants.
Next, when the ‘father plants’ (if you want to crossbreed, the mother and father should be different varieties or species) start to produce free pollen, collect it with a sable watercolour paintbrush, put it in a prescription pill-bottle or something; then brush the pollen on the pistils of the target mother plants (which have already had the anthers removed and are not yet fertilized). Mark these flowers somehow (I use a twist-tie from a bread bag, twist it around the terms just below the target flowers. If you are crossing more than two varieties, you might want to identify which is which right on the twist tie).
To prevent unwanted pollination, you may remove the other, non-target flowers ( also to let as much energy flow into the remaining target flowers-the mother flowers).
Let the fruit mature for the season. Then pick and remove the seed my simple mushing and rinsing with cold water. Dry the seed on a paper towel and store in a cool, dark place (so long’s they’re dry, you may put them in the fridge-but it’s not necessary unless you intend to keep the seed for a long time, in which case you put them in the freezer).
Next spring, early, plant the seeds just like you would tomato or green-pepper seeds (they’re all in the nightshade family, look and germinate about the same way). Set the seedlings out in the garden (away from the food-crop potatoes so you don’t accidentally harvest them). They’ll grow just like a regular potato plant.
When the top has died back (it’s a good idea to keep notes about each different cross to see how disease, rain and heat resistant they might be), dig up the tubers: they are tiny potatoes about the size of beans or peanuts. They will likely be a different colour than either parent.
Store these baby tubers (make sure they’re not damp to prevent mood) and plant them the flowing year. You’ll get full-size tubers this time. Make notes about their size, shape, taste, colour, &c AND MAKE SURE NOT TO EAT THEM ALL-the ones you are most interested in you’ll need to do back-crossing.
Back-crossing is the same controlled-pollination process, this time using pollen from the crossed plants (you’ll make them the father plants for this time around) to pollinate one of its parent plants (the mother plants). Repeat the steps, collect the targeted fruits, remove the seed and plant the following year. The same thing will happen-tiny tubers the first year. Except this “segregating generation” will reveal the pedigree of all the varieties’ ancestry: you’ll have tubers of every shape and colour-some quite bizarre.
Again, keep these baby tubers and plant them the next year. You might select the best ones and discard misshapen or weak ones (that get rust or otherwise perform poorly). Now you will get full-size potatoes that are totally unique.
You may name the variety and enter them as a novelty at the fall fair. You may use them for other crosses and back-crosses. You might find it very interesting and fun.
There are many species of wild potatoes in their native habitat in the South American Andes (mostly Ecuador and Peru). From these all cultivars are bred. There are over 2500 varieties in nature and potential to breed thousands of crosses and select varieties for any number of desired traits. Did you know that Cortez the Conquerer noticed the indigenous Mexicans picking berries about the size of of currants with which to make salsa. From this variety all tomatoes of every size and description have been bred. Similarly, almost all dogs descend from wolves (the Rhodesian Ridgeback being the exception: the original cross was between an Italian Mastiff -a domestic dog-and an African Wild Dog-which is a separate species, more like a jackal. It took 65 years of back-crossing to get as much Wild Dog traits out as possible), yet look at the huge variation of size, shapes fur and temperament has been gotten by breeding.
See Dr Carlos Ochoa, the world famous Professor of Potatoes (RIP).
Have fun. We developed a strain we called “Strawberry Ripple” because the meat was marbled pink and white. The original cross was a Peruvian Purple potato with a Red Pontiac (the former being very close to wild and therefore containing a very diverse genetic constitution-the raw material for breeding). It took about seven years. We eventually abandoned them because they were very susceptible to summer heat-but, had we the time, we might have sent some up north to let the high latitude farmers give it a try in cooler climes. It tasted a lot like a Purple spud-tart-and was fairly creamy texture. Like Purple spuds, they are a bit off-putting mashed, but beautiful pan fried.
Good luck and have fun.
How long does it take for potato’s to grow? How do you know when to harvest .?
Depends where you live and what varieties you're growing.
Living in the UK, I chit my first and second Earlies, (both called _new)_ beginning halfway through January.
I leave plenty of eyes (sprouts) on the firsts, the idea being they will produce lots of small potatoes for summer dishes and potato salads.
They take 10 - 12 weeks to grow, so I plant them out in March with frost protection.
Those I lift (harvest) from June through July.
The seconds I limit to four eyes, at most, as I want them a bit larger and they take 14 - 16 weeks to grow.
These, too, I plant out in March and lift them from July through August.
Maincrop or Mains I chit at the beginning of March leaving only two eyes, because I want large potatoes, at the beginning of March.
I plant them out halfway through April, using frost protection, if required.
They can take anything from 16 - 22 weeks to grow, so I lift those from August to October.
There is a new variety I used last year, that can be left and lifted through December, providing there is no frost.
I wasn't so lucky and a frost hit in the second week in December, so I lost the entire yield, but those are the risks you take.
I have a new crop planted, but had to buy more seed potatoes, as I was unable to save any.
One last thing...if the foliage yellows and dies, prematurely and it isn't down to neglect, well, I lift the plant and tubers, then burn the lot.
I don't risk it infecting my compost.
Good luck!
thank you- I always wondered; but I also noticed that something always comes around a nd eats those flowers and/or fruit on my plants. Hopeully I'll have bigger potatoes this year
DON"T cut the flowers
deer will eat them
@@richardschipper5989 why shouldn't I cut them off?
Hello
Thanks for the info
This is my first year growing potatoes 😁
Been growing spuds for fifty-five years.
I nipped off the flowers on half my plants, decades back, but the difference in yields was barely noticeable.
or sharing incorrect info?
Hello as I’m a new subscriber. Very interesting. Potato flowers are so beautiful. Last summer was my first time growing potatoes. Not all of my potatoes flowered. Do you know why?
First time watcher, luv ur content😊
Welcome to Gardenary!
I grow red potatoes all around different times of the year and they pretty much grow 9 months of the year in different places but recently I planted some and I just had my flowers so I’m interested to see what you have to say about the flowers. I’ve had some beautiful flowers on mine just recently, but I just left them alone. I have no small children around.
Hello, new here and loved watching this video. New to gardening
Welcome to the Gardenary community!
4:54 minutes in and the point arrives.
Opening
Body
Close.
Tell them what you are going to tell them.
Tell them.
Tell them what you told them.
3 minutes from start to finish.
Give it a go.
Toastmasters.
Why does she lengthen the video by repeating so often? Short and to the point is better!!
What I would do with the flowers... not sure... give them to you? 😇
Thank you so much, this was very well explained. You can see them form, long before they turn to flowers and will remove them the moment I see the flower pods forming. Think I've used too much phosphate, too early on but I am just experimenting, first year growing potatoes... in bags. #Modular
potatoes need high potassium not high phosphate. And removing flowers does not work to any good end. You might get more potatoes but smaller. This is inefficient. Let the plant produce big ones, even if fewer.
I planted my first potatoes this year. The plants are long and look hardy. Is there any way potatoes themselves can be dangerous to eat?
If they're green (green skin), throw them away - they've been exposed to the sun and apparently are high in a particular toxin. Just watched an "Epic Gardening" vid on this. Cheers!
Potatoes that get exposed to sunlight, because the potatoes are stems w/ chlorophyll in them, will start to turn green. This is bad, as it also triggers the production of oxalates (I thibk it is), which are bad for us. The fix is easy, tbough. If you see potatoes poking through the soil, pile dirt on top of them to block the sunlight. If yhey've bern harvested, store them in a dark, cool place for a few weeks & they should be fine.
Only if they're still green, diseased or infested.
If the spuds are exposed to sun light, they turn green so you should cover them up with dirt. Some claim the green is poisonous but to me, it just tastes really nasty and I just cut it off. I have never heard about the flower thing and just let them be. If you over water, you will get hollow spaces that are a little brown around the edge but don’t really affect edibility.
Thanks for the tip!
i would if different varieties of potato produced more than one color 🥔
and thanks for the video, it looks like my potato is getting ready to make little flowers so now i know what to do.
I believe that it John Reader's book "The Potato: a History of the Propitious Esculent" (2009) tells us that when potatoes were first introduced to Europe, they were grown for a while principally as ornamental plants -- the both the foliage and the flowers are quite pretty. It took a while for many to learn that this poisonous plant gives us a hidden treasure. (One story is that potatoes in northern Europe, potatoes were recognized as valuable crops during the Thirty Years' War, when the grain crops trampled by armies were ruined, but potatoes could still yield food after after being trampled.)
This is my first year growing potatoes. I had some poking up above the ground and noticed that they looked green. I covered them up with dirt. Will that be OK? Or will they still be poisonous?
Covering them with dirt is the right thing to do. If any are still green when you harvest them, you can just cut the green part off
Hey do you have any knowledge about clovers
Pinkish purple Clover make great tea from dried flowers...a little peppery and earthy.
I planted my potatoes in March I still have no flowers, can you please advise me
It means the soil they're planted in is lacking Phosphorus. Phosphorus is needed for flower and fruit production. While Nitrogen is for root and leaf growth.
Also it can be the type you planted., I planted Red potatoes in containers the day after mother's day they just started flowering about a week ago.
@@k9thundra thank you for replying so what kind of fertiliser should I use, I am a newbe!
@@maryoboyle1156 I was a newbie once. But I learned through studying what I can, trial and error and observation.
A phosphate/phosphorus based fertilizer would help you in your current situation fast acting like bone meal. But you may still get potatoes even though the potato plants didn't flower. Depending on the soil you used, it does sound like you don't have enough or any garden sand or rocks in your soil, just pure dirt. Next time add rocks to the bottom of the container about 2 to 3 inches below the seed potatoes any rocks will do if you have any laying around even a bag of those cheap rocks that they use to hold fence posts in place at home Depot or Lowes would work. I know logic would think they would interfere with potatoes but no. all your potatoes will grow above the seed potatoes most of the rock's will be below potato production. rocks contain Phosphorus which roots surround rocks to feed off the phosphorus that rubs off the rocks and seep off into the surrounding water and soil which the roots feed from. Sand also has phosphorus because well, sand is rock just finely ground up. If you have kids let them smash rocks for you gives them something to do and kids love to smash things. sweep up the tiny fragments and rock dust and mix it into potato soil before you plant and use the bigger rocks for the bottom. When it's time to harvest potatoes get your potatoes out and use a sifter to sift the dirt to get the rocks to set in a bucket for next time. you can make one yourself with a few nails, wood, some staples and a wire mesh big enough for dirt to go through but not rocks. Or just add bone meal to your soil for a quick boost. Rocks continuously seep phosphorus in low amounts but it does build over time.
@@k9thundra thanks a million for your advice..
Great video. Thanks. How about sweet potatoes?
Those are in the morning glory family, rather than the Solanaceae (nightshade; tomato, potato, eggplant family).
@@leiatyndall8648 Thank you for your response!
Different species, as was stated.
The vineleaves on sweet potatoes are edible.
The potatoes can be planted whole or the slips (shoots) can be grown to create many plants.
good info. will prune my potatoes.
Just have a conversation with your kids about your plants. I educate my son on everything I'm doing in the garden so he knows all of this stuff too. I don't avoid it, I prevent it.
How long from the point of flowering til potatoes form?
The tubers have already formed at that point, although small.
Have a potato plant in a huge pot without harvesting for at least 4 years! Are they still OK to eat, or do they taste like wood?
In four years the original crop will have long rotted away, all except one is my guess.
Anything edible you find will be the descendants of the original (if I can use that term) clone. 😂😂😂
Seed can also plant after freezing
I have grown quite a few potatoes over the years and this year is the first time i have seen them bloom. And the flowers are white on mine. Weird.
Just came across this channel and just loved this episode. My potatoes flowering as well. Thanks for the tips. #Keepupthegreatwork
waste of time
Flowering usually happens in the middle of its life cycle, as you should get another 3-4 months of growth once the flowers appear
Thanks for sharing this information
for sharing incorrect info?
I'm growing potatoes for the first time. My daughter and I planted potatoes within a day or two of each other. We both live in Tucson but she lives at a higher elevation than I. Her potatoes are starting to flower but mine are not. My question is, is it a bad thing that my potatoes aren't flowering?
I watched a TH-cam video yesterday and someone actually did a test on this subject. He planted two rows of identical varieties. One row he left the flowers and the other one he removed them. The row with the flower left on produced a higher yield. Maybe it's something we all should try
Oh interesting!
I never subscribe to any channel that wastes my time during the video I clicked on to watch to tell me to subscribe to their content before I've actually seen any of it.
Bro I bought two bags of potatoes from food Giant and forgot about them and when I opened the closet I left em in a while later they where covered in eyes so I planted them and got like four grocery bags stuffed full back plus a basket we where overwhelmed with spuds and I only planted two and a half bags and didn't fertilize at all
I've never done anything with my potato flowers. I always get abundant potatoes.
This was a very helpful I am pruning the flowers right now after watching your video!
Thanks 👍
Thanks for the info . I was looking into this.
Thank you for the info!
or sharing incorrect info?
@@richardschipper5989 Annnd. . . .do you want to expound upon that?
If you leave flowers on it encourages pollinators to be around.
Never encountered a difference in yield with or without flowers.
❤❤❤awesome thanks for the information