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.

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 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

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!

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. :)

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.

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!

Thank you for the information. On my potato plants I am definitely seeing flowers and those tomato-like fruits

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.

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.

Thank you , I learned something new today I’ll put in practice.

Hello...your video has truly aided me with my 1st harvesting of potatoes...thanks you

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

Potato flowers are beautiful!

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.

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.

Thank you for the info.... Learned something new!

Thank you for the video. This my first year growing potatoes and this info was really helpful.

Thank you for this! Your timing is perfect for my garden. I find I’m constantly learning because of Chanel’s like this.❤️🇨🇦

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

This is the first time ive ever heard this! Will do!

Hello, thank you for the great information. This will be my first year growing potatoes.

Tq for sharing your knoledge.

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

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.

Thank you for the info

Thanks for the tip!

Subscribed and appreciate your info on potatoes and flowers. Mine flowered for the first time this year.

Flowers are beautifull.

Thank u for the info I always thought i should cut the flowers off.

I need a lady like you in my garden. I grew spuds last year but did not think about pruning the flowers

First time watcher, luv ur content😊

Thanks for the info . I was looking into this.

Thanks for the info

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.

Thank you

❤❤❤awesome thanks for the information

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!!

Hello Thanks for the info This is my first year growing potatoes 😁

Inconspicuously holding the pruning shears in her right hand at the beginning of the video was great foreshadowing.

Thanks

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 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

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.

Awesome, I've just cut all my tomato flowers off too hoping for loads this year

Thanks for sharing this information

good info. will prune my potatoes.

I’m growing Clancy too!!

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

Denmark. I put potatoes on the lawn, cover with seaweed easier to harvest without soil on it, cleaning is also easier.

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 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.)

Fascinating. Are potatoes able to cross pollinate with other potatoes nearby? And does this give us a new type of potato next 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?

Thank you for the info!

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 ?

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

I've never done anything with my potato flowers. I always get abundant potatoes.

A very attractive plant , Spuds look good too😄

Hi!! Great video! I am growing potatoes and noticed a flower today. Just wondering- what is the time frame of planting to harvest?

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!

Hi. Do you happen to keep track how many days after emergence, the flower buds starts to appear? Thanks.

cool.interesting

Hello, new here and loved watching this video. New to gardening

I watched a KZfaq 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

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

If you leave flowers on it encourages pollinators to be around.

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.

Flowering usually happens in the middle of its life cycle, as you should get another 3-4 months of growth once the flowers appear

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.

Hello there subscribing now!!!

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

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.

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.

Glad I found this, my potatoes started flowering the other day. Under watered and they bloomed a few flowers and too much fertilizer too.

Just came across this channel and just loved this episode. My potatoes flowering as well. Thanks for the tips. #Keepupthegreatwork

I would try to let the flower and possibly produce some seed so I could try to grow some from seed. I'm always trying some experimental things with things in the garden. Like I tried growing strawberries from seed this year to find out that the package was mislabeled and got basil instead.😂

This was a very helpful I am pruning the flowers right now after watching your video! Thanks 👍

I planted potatoes in a trench do I need to trim the foliage at the bottom of the plant as I add soil.

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I just did a shorts video today on my potato plants that are growing and it was about flowers. Thank you so much for this video. 😁🌱🌿💚Now I know. New subscriber here also. Happy Growing🌱🌿💚

Good video, my first year with potatoes and this was very useful!

Hello there!

Thanks for the warning. My neighbor is 2 years old and curious person. I guess I'll crop the plant.

Hehe! "I never even seen a potato seed" holding a handful of flowers containing seeds if you dry them out 😁

Thank you help me

Not all potato varieties produce flowers, it's got nothing to do with fertiliser or temperature, those berries are not fruit, they are seed pods, inside are dozens of true potato seeds, the flowers and seed pods have no effects on tuber production.

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

I will prune the flowers and give my wife a bouquet for her birthday

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?

My potatoes are flowering as well! I will be cutting them off as well. Thank you for doing this video.