Whats up with my potatoes?

Question

The potatoes in my garden are producing little green things above the ground, sort of like very small tomatoes. They are about the diameter of a nickle, are a little firmer than a cherry, and have small seeds inside. It isn't just a few plants, all of them are doing it. What's going on here?

Here are pictures- first is of one cut in half, you might not be able to see the seeds, the picture quality isn't great. The second is of a whole one.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/lakota222222/Photo6.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee1/lakota222222/Photo7.jpg

Answer 1

Hey, my dad was a potatoe farmer for awhile (along with every other veggie that would grow here), and those are perfectly normal. I know as kids we always wondered about them, but don't worry. It's normal!

Answer 2

Your plants are perfectly healthy. These are the "fruits" containing the seeds of the potato plants. You should/can lift potatoes once they are in flower so they should definitely be ready to eat by now. I don't think the potatoes will grow much bigger now anyway.  Never eat the fruits!

But my mouth is watering thinking of those delicious potatoes.  

Answer 3

Occasionally gardeners are surprised to find small, round, green, tomato-like fruit on their potato plants. These fruit are not the result of cross-pollination with tomatoes. They are the true fruit of the potato plant. The edible tubers are actually enlarged, underground stems. Normally, most potato flowers dry up and fall off the plants without setting fruit. A few flowers do produce fruit. The variety 'Yukon Gold' produces fruit more heavily than most varieties.

The potato fruit are of no value to the gardener. Potato fruit, as well as the plant itself, contain relatively large amounts of solanine. Solanine is a poisonous alkaloid. The small fruit should not be eaten. Since potatoes don't come true from seed, no effort should be made to save the seed.

Answer 4

Potatoes need to be "hilled up" three or four times as they are growing. Once the plants are around six inches tall you need to rake soil up around the base, almost to cover the whole stem up until the bottom leaves. This prevents the the tubers (taters that you dig and eat), from getting sunlight. If they get sun they turn toxic. Hence the green spots or the whole tuber becoming green. We will hill up with soil twice as they grow and then we will mulch with straw after that. This keeps the sunlight out and helps with moisture once the flowers set. Good luck.