Type of potato fruit
Many do not know what the name of the cultivated potato fruit is. Contrary to the usual assertion that potatoes are a vegetable, it belongs to berries. The fruit of a potato is not at all a tuber that is eaten. These are small green berries that can be found at the tops of bushes.
Type of potato fruit
What are potatoes
Potatoes belong to the nightshade family. It has a typical flower structure with five stamens. To be precise, the culture is the cultural relative of the black nightshade. Its name came from the Italian language, where the tubers in appearance were compared to a truffle mushroom.
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants have the same type of fruit as potatoes. A person uses their fruits for food, but potato berries cannot be eaten, they are poisonous. They are rich in alkaloids, including nicotinic acid. It is extremely dangerous for humans and can cause severe food poisoning.
What people are used to thinking of as a fruit or a tuber is not really a fruit or a tuber. In the axils of the buds located on the stem underground, special shoots are formed. So the plant tries to create a reserve supply of nutrients for itself, namely starch.
The buds increase in size, as they are composed of elastic cells and a root crop is formed. It is for this reason that it is recommended to huddle potato beds. So the shoots are formed more intensively and the yield increases. The number of tubers does not affect the formation of the seed in any way.
Fruit type
The type of fruit of the potato is called the succulent multi-seeded berry. This type of berry has two seed chambers. If in a tomato or eggplant it reaches an impressive size, then in a potato it grows no more than a walnut.
The fruit consists of 3 shells:
- Leathery layer - represented by a dense elastic skin that protects the berry from mechanical damage and adverse environmental influences. In potatoes, it is quite dense. During the growing season, its color changes from green to purple or almost black.
- The middle layer is juicy and consists of bulky cells. In hot summer, with insufficient watering, this layer of the pericarp may become thinner.
- The inner layer is also juicy. Seeds are attached to it.
- Unlike tomatoes and peppers, the fruit of a potato is not eaten. One berry contains from 150 to 250 small flattened seeds. The sizes of the seeds may vary depending on the variety.
When no fruit is formed
Irregular watering interferes with fruit formation
It also happens that potatoes do not form fruit. There may be several reasons:
- The plant did not receive enough nutrients. For nightshades, it is very important to have nutritious soil and regular watering.
- Pests can also cause a lack of flowering and fruiting. Colorado beetles eat buds.
- Young potatoes are often harvested immediately after flowering. The plant does not have enough time to form the ovary.
Reproduction by fruits
Planting tubers is the most common way to grow potatoes, but not the most economical.In the spring, about a third of last year's harvest has to be used.
When propagating by seeds, you can save planting material and get a good harvest. There are varieties of potatoes specialized for fruit propagation. They intensively form not only tubers, but also berries.
Over the years of selection, scientists have tried to get away from seed reproduction. Gardeners believe that the fruit of a potato is a sign of fattening. They are removed in order for the underground part of the plant to form more intensively.
Features of the
Growing potatoes with fruits rather than tubers is a more time consuming process, but more economical. They practice planting seedlings and harvesting in the same year. For this, seeds are sown in seedling boxes at the end of February, and at the end of April, mature plants are transplanted to a permanent place in open ground.
Some farmers plant seeds directly into the ground, and in the fall they collect small tubers up to 3 - 4 cm in diameter. This planting material is planted in the beds next spring.
Growing nightshade seeds helps to protect the crop from many diseases:
- potato cancer;
- late blight;
- gray rot.
Conclusion
In Russia, potatoes did not take root immediately. The reason for this was the widespread belief that a vegetable growing on the aerial part of the shoots can be eaten. This led to a huge number of poisoning and even death. Poisonous plants were destroyed. As soon as people realized that not all parts are poisonous, the tubers became one of the main elements of the diet of an ordinary person. This happened only after the first half of the 18th century.