What will we have underneath?

[mike crowe]

I have three potato plants in tubs and the tops are now about 3 ft high with plenty of flowers and the poisonous 'Green Tomatoes'. Does the prolific foliage and flowers on top indicate a massive crop under? ..... (Well no harm in hoping)

[Ecnerwal]

Your lower crop would benefit some if you had trimmed off the flowers, so the plant was not wasting energy on the "green tomatoes" - but given they are that far along, you might amuse yourself with leaving the ones that have formed and seeing if you can get any seeds to sprout, and if the resulting potatoes are worth being a new variety (any from seed will be new, what's unknown is new good, new indifferent, or new bad - as with many plant-breeding crapshoots.) Any new/current flowers should be pinched out for better potato cropping.

If you are curious about the state of the under-crop at present, consider "grabbling" - literally poking your hands in and harvesting potatoes without pulling up the whole plant. If you want maximum yield, rather than new potatoes now, wait. If you want new potatoes now, grabble.

[mike crowe]

Thanks for that info. Have duly 'deflowered' the potatoes.

Going for bumper crop.

:-)

[wawwiz]

What do you mean by " poisonous 'Green Tomatoes"

[Ecnerwal]

Potatoes sometimes (not infrequently) flower. Less frequently, they set fruit. If you are a potato breeder, this a a good thing, as it's the only way to do potato breeding and get new varieties, rather than the clones that everyone else grows from seed potatoes. Those fruit are both poisonous and similar (looking) to small green tomatoes.

For the rest of us (unless we want to dabble in potato breeding) removing the flowers is best for potato plant yield, and guarantees no fruit setting.

[mike crowe]

Well from the spud in one pot, 5lb 14oz + three which were attacked and rotten and from the pot with 2 spuds in, 16lb 0oz. I guess that the tops were reflective to what was going on underground.

.