"So boiled up, s&p and down she went. No ill effects"

It takes a lot of solanine to poison someone, I think you'll be fine. I'm wondering how they tasted though.

Those are, as Linda said, the fruit and that's where people get new seed stock for creating new strains/varieties of potatoes. They normally don't breed back true but sure can make for some interesting new types of potatoes. You might want to harvest some seeds from them and grow a few out, see what you can come up with. Could be fun!

Shoe (tater head!)

Shoe, I harvested a couple very early, actually knocked them off while weeding. Asked a friend who's been growing taters for several years and I could tell she thought I was nuts. I should have asked here at the gitgo. I bought Yukon Gold, Kennebec, and another Maine potato. I ate it yesterday and feel fine. It tasted just like the others I dug. Like a potato only more so. That's why I decided to grow some after having fresh at a friends. Such a huge difference. It was just a bitty thing. Will do with the seeds and give it a try. Live and learn. Can I plant now or wait till spring. First frost is usually around October 1.

No, you don't want to plant now. The best thing would be to let some of the seed/fruit get a bit soft, then harvest it. To separate the seed you can put the fruit in a blender, cover with water, and blend just enough to separate the seed from the pulp. Let the seeds ferment, like you would do tomato seeds, then rinse, several times to get clean seeds.

Let them dry then store for the winter. About a month before your regular potato sowing date you can sow the seeds in a seedbed and they'll produce small tubers. If you have time in your zone to plant out those tubers, like you would do regular "seed potatoes" then do so. Each plant may be different from another so grow out what you like, discarding any that you don't, saving those tubers for normal vegetative propagation next year. Who knows, you may end up with a "Evan Gold" or "Evan Superduper", you get to name it!

HTH
Shoe

Hey Shoe, folks are looking for you re: Willow Tea Tip.

Thanks Shoe, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks! I just noticed my willow tea tip came up today.

Just posted over there.
Much obliged.

Shoe

Here's an update, I checked this AM and exposed another of what I thought was a fruit. It was actually a small tater exposed on the top where the skin had turned green. It was still attached by a "stem". I noticed several others and piled dirt on top them.

Do you think that might be what you ate before, a tater gone wild, busting out of the soil?

Shoe

Exactly. I guess the solanine test was a bust I'll likely chuckle every time I walk by the patch. Sometimes being a newbie has it's advantages, especially if you're easily entertained.

I think being a newbie is/was the funnest...that's why I like the garden world, it some area or another even the most seasoned person discovers something new.

Shoe

Glad you're still with us, Evan Hey, if we weren't trying new things, it just would be a really dull time, wouldn't it?

Shoe--thanks for the information on how to grow potatoes from seed....I never knew that before! Might give that a try next season if I get any fruits on my plants.

This year was a great year for potatoes. Not sure, but I think we ended up with about 2000 lbs.

wow .. that photo is ready for our halloween display

Seems to me that potatoe deserves a name Joanne.

That is really A GREAT POTATO STORY

K


So this Russian family, from Russia moved to Canada....Saskatchewan. They brought some "Blue Russian" potatoes with them and planted them in Canadian soil because they were the BEST potatoes EVER. Every year this family saved potatoes for "seed potatoes" to plant the next year. Their children & grandchildren continued the tradition and time sped by to become about 100 years or abouts. So here we are in 2009, 1 guy, no siblings and no family...moving into a senior's lodge a no one to carry on the Blue Russian Potato. So my brother-inlaw (next door neighbour to the Russian dude) gets an ice-cream pail of "seed Potatoes" They get planted and 2010 the Ogilvie Family shares. So that's the story. They are AWESOME potatoes. Huge, thin skin, crisp like an apple to cut, no brown spots in the middle and store the longest from all other. No kidding in March it was still thin skinned and crisp like an apple. The other potatoes I could not have shown to the family before some prep and then serve. Very honoured to have them and enjoy the silly Miss Potatoe face too

I first thought I was going to be hearing a Paul Bunyan potato story Joanne. But yours is better.

What a great story, Joanne. So glad someone was able to carry on the tradition!

That was an awesome story! I love it!