please excuse my ignorance about berries

Lidspinner · June 8, 2012

I normally grow a few acres of everything but Potatoes....in the past few years I have been getting into growing some easy potatoes, yukon gold and some little red ones that I cannot remmeber the name.....but anyhow, I have not had great luck using the bags or buckets......this year I am following a youtube video that I watched of them growing on the ground covered in aged compost and straw..thats it....and they are growing better than ever....of course we will not know anything till the end of summer but I could not be happier about plant growth so far...

my question is going to sound so stupid to everyone and I feel so dumb asking cause I know its something I should know be it that I have been growing for several years, but last year I got TONS of little berries all over my plants....I mean TONS....I was stumped and didnt really pay much attention to what they were as I am still a rookie at growing potatoes.......but now I am seeing that people are giving those little berries away and posters are trreating the berries as a good sign.....I threw them in the compost pile with the dead plant matter from last year....

what exactly are the berries and how do I use them in the future?

Thanks again everyone....its amazing the amount of knowledge I get from this site on all the forums...its my go to site for gardening, thats for sure.

Doug9345 · June 8, 2012

Remember that potatoes are Solanums like peppers tomatoes and a bunch of others. Those little "berries" are where how potatoes grow real seeds. If you notice they look like little tomatoes. Look in the potato forum for more information on TPS - True Potato Seed.

Lidspinner · June 8, 2012

so your saying that little berry is the TPS? do you have to break open the berry to get to the seed? or just store the berry in its shell? I would think it would rot but what do I know? lol.

so how would one use that berry to start from TPS to grow next years crop? I will start doing some research in here and see what I find. Thanks for the info

Lidspinner · June 8, 2012

I am watching Tom Wagners videos right now

delltraveller · June 8, 2012

The seeds are inside the berries and you'll need to extract the seeds from the berries to use them, similar to how you get seeds from inside the tomatoes.

**Tom Wagner** · June 11, 2012

Potato berries have been a major part of my life for the last 59 years. Here is a photo of some 9 month old berries of Finn Bad, a potato variety that combines flavor and long keeping tubers and berries. I include the fruit and seed photos below. I have found some nice synergistic combinations using multiple generations of breeding tuberosum and wild species...and long keeping berries is one of those happy accidents. Ambient temps in my garage since picking.

flutterby · July 6, 2012

Tom ~ Do you have to wait until they get ripe before you open them and extract the seeds?

wmontanez · July 7, 2012

@Flutterby
To get the most mature seeds and break some of the gel coat around the seeds getting the seed after the berry is soft or ripe is the best. If you get them when they are still hard they have some immature seed that would not germinate.

wmontanez · July 7, 2012

Quote:

so your saying that little berry is the TPS? do you have to break open the berry to get to the seed? or just store the berry in its shell? I would think it would rot but what do I know? lol.

so how would one use that berry to start from TPS to grow next years crop? I will start doing some research in here and see what I find. Thanks for the info

@Lidspinner
Yes the berries are the true potato seeds (TPS) and they are like hybrid tomato seeds some are different than the mother plant. Planting tubers is just cloning or vegetative propagation in other worlds you get the same as the potato you planted.

You have to extract the seed as you would do with tomatoes. Letting the berry mature is best. They can rot after a while, they get soft and there is the best time to extract the seed. You could ferment the pulp etc.

Lastly yes, the way you start with TPS is from those berries. Search the Potato sub-forum there is good info there on that subject. Amazing new potatoes can be discovered by growing those little seeds.

flutterby · July 8, 2012

The berries were recovered from a plant that was demolished by a ground squirrel. I guess they like potatoes too. I will put the rest of the plants into my "square foot gardens", which are 4'X4'X1' with hardware cloth on the bottoms. I was hoping they would do well in the ground, and they were doing quite well until their "day of reckoning"...GRRR....

flutterby · July 8, 2012

So what I mean is, that the berries were not quite ripe. Will they ripen on their own, like a tomato?

wmontanez · July 8, 2012

@Flutterby

They do. I take mine from the plants once they are plump but firm because once they fall who know what plant they belong to since I am growing more than one kind. I label a cup and leave them there in the kitchen counter until they ripe.

flutterby · July 10, 2012

Thanks a lot, Wendy!

I will do that! No good about label since I do not know what potato it is from since the ground squirrel ate them...GRRR!!! I was so happy to see potato berries as they are rare for me.

wingnut · July 10, 2012

I just begun makeing hand pollinations a week or so ago, but have hundreds of OP (open pollinated) berries already from grape sized down.

June 8, 2012	#1
Lidspinner Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Southern Ohio Posts: 22	please excuse my ignorance about berries I normally grow a few acres of everything but Potatoes....in the past few years I have been getting into growing some easy potatoes, yukon gold and some little red ones that I cannot remmeber the name.....but anyhow, I have not had great luck using the bags or buckets......this year I am following a youtube video that I watched of them growing on the ground covered in aged compost and straw..thats it....and they are growing better than ever....of course we will not know anything till the end of summer but I could not be happier about plant growth so far... my question is going to sound so stupid to everyone and I feel so dumb asking cause I know its something I should know be it that I have been growing for several years, but last year I got TONS of little berries all over my plants....I mean TONS....I was stumped and didnt really pay much attention to what they were as I am still a rookie at growing potatoes.......but now I am seeing that people are giving those little berries away and posters are trreating the berries as a good sign.....I threw them in the compost pile with the dead plant matter from last year.... what exactly are the berries and how do I use them in the future? Thanks again everyone....its amazing the amount of knowledge I get from this site on all the forums...its my go to site for gardening, thats for sure.

July 7, 2012	#8
wmontanez Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: MA Posts: 776	@Flutterby To get the most mature seeds and break some of the gel coat around the seeds getting the seed after the berry is soft or ripe is the best. If you get them when they are still hard they have some immature seed that would not germinate. __________________ Wendy

July 8, 2012	#12
wmontanez Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: MA Posts: 776	@Flutterby They do. I take mine from the plants once they are plump but firm because once they fall who know what plant they belong to since I am growing more than one kind. I label a cup and leave them there in the kitchen counter until they ripe. __________________ Wendy

June 8, 2012	#2
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	Remember that potatoes are Solanums like peppers tomatoes and a bunch of others. Those little "berries" are where how potatoes grow real seeds. If you notice they look like little tomatoes. Look in the potato forum for more information on TPS - True Potato Seed.

June 8, 2012	#5
delltraveller Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 481	The seeds are inside the berries and you'll need to extract the seeds from the berries to use them, similar to how you get seeds from inside the tomatoes.

June 11, 2012	#6
Tom Wagner Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204 Posts: 1,157	Potato berries have been a major part of my life for the last 59 years. Here is a photo of some 9 month old berries of Finn Bad, a potato variety that combines flavor and long keeping tubers and berries. I include the fruit and seed photos below. I have found some nice synergistic combinations using multiple generations of breeding tuberosum and wild species...and long keeping berries is one of those happy accidents. Ambient temps in my garage since picking.

July 6, 2012	#7
flutterby Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Grizzly Flats, CA Posts: 32	Tom ~ Do you have to wait until they get ripe before you open them and extract the seeds?

July 10, 2012	#13
flutterby Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Grizzly Flats, CA Posts: 32	Thanks a lot, Wendy! I will do that! No good about label since I do not know what potato it is from since the ground squirrel ate them...GRRR!!! I was so happy to see potato berries as they are rare for me.

July 10, 2012	#14
wingnut Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: bald hill area thurston county washington Posts: 312	I just begun makeing hand pollinations a week or so ago, but have hundreds of OP (open pollinated) berries already from grape sized down.