Potato plants can still produce large and perfectly healthy tubers, even if the plant never flowers at all . You can wait until the plant itself dies back (leaves turn yellow, and plant dries up) and harvest mature potatoes 2 to 3 weeks later.
A potato plant will sometimes flower when it is close to maturity. Cold , wet weather can also encourage a potato plant to flower. Flowers on a potato plant indicate that its tubers (the edible part of the plant that grows underground) are starting to form.
Potato plants flower towards the end of their growing season , when the plant is close to maturity. It is nothing to be concerned about – in fact, it is a sign that the potato plants are doing well! However, you should not harvest the potatoes right when the flowers start to form.
A common inquiry we ran across in our research was “What does it mean when potatoes Bloom?”.
I found the answer is a potato plant flowers when close to maturity so it can reproduce. The flowers may lead to green fruit that has seeds. A potato plant flowers as it gets closer to maturity and signals that “new potatoes” ( small tubers ) are ready for harvest.
ANSWER: Don’t worry if your potato plants aren’t producing blooms. The flowers are not needed in order for the plants to grow delicious tubers underground . Instead, the blossoms are linked to production of the small, green above-ground fruits that resemble tomatoes.
Is it normal for potatoes to flower?
Potatoes are a cool-season vegetable, but after temperatures warm up, you may see the plants begin to flower. You might be wondering if this is a cause for concern or a normal part of the growth process. So, why is your potato plant flowering ?
One more query we ran across in our research was “Why do potato plants flower?”.
We can dig a little deeper! while potatoes produce their edible product under the ground in the form of tubers, tomatoes bear an edible fruit on the leafy part of the plant. Occasionally, however, gardeners will notice tomato looking things on potato plants . The reasons why potato plants flower are environmental and do not affect the edible nature of the tubers .
What does a potato plant look like when it blooms?
According to Michigan State University, a potato plant will flower near maturity, as part of its process of reproduction (producing new plants). After flowering, a potato plant will sometimes produce green fruit with seeds inside. These fruits look like green cherry tomatoes .
Well, potato plant flowers usually have white, purple, or pink petals, along with a yellow center . However, the petals on a potato plant flower can also be blue or red.
Do potato flowers fall off in summer?
Most of the time, the flowers fall off in the summer heat . However, proper pollination combined with cold, wet weather can encourage potato flowers to produce fruit (the green fruits that look like cherry tomatoes, which we mentioned earlier).