Potatoes

[Summer 2019 – Columbus, OH]

This year we grew purple, pink and yellow mini creamer potatoes, russet potatoes, and yellow potatoes. We bought them from a grocery store just two months before the growing season and let them make sprouts. In mid-May, we planted them on our potato bed and made potato hills with the growth of the plant. After two and half months potato plants started to die-down by signaling to harvest. Once they began to die, we have to reduce the watering frequency to stop their regrowing possibility.

Luckily this year some of our potato plants bloomed and bore some fruits. These potato fruits look like green cherry tomatoes, but, they are poisonous and inedible. From the seeds, we can make our new potato traits. Large scale potato farmers use this technique to create their unique varieties.