tomato style berries on potato plants

[jannie]

I found these beries where the flowers are on my plants. they are poisonous aren't they? is this to animals as well as they are dangling low down and i have a rabbit that could reach. Will the potatoes still be ok to eat and does this mean they are ready for harvesting?

sorry about all the questions but much appreciaite any help.

Jannie

[Odsox]

They are called potato "apples" and yes, they are poisonous the same as green potatoes. There is nothing wrong with your potato tubers though as they are just the seed berries of the potato plant.
As to harvesting, it depends on what type of potatoes they are. If they are earlies or second earlies then they are ready, if they are maincrop and you want to store them then they need leaving in the ground until the green foliage dies down. But if they are maincrop and you're impatient then you can certainly dig them now one cook at a time, it's just that they won't keep until the skin has hardened to stop the tubers from drying out and shrivelling.
Sorry, probably far too much information.

[jannie]

Thank you for your response. They are rooster potatoes. Never seen these berries before but have heard about them.

[Odsox]

Roosters are maincrop, so what I noted above.
As far as rabbits are concerned I'm afraid I don't know if they are a danger or not, but as all green parts of potato plants are poisonous (to humans) it's all rather academic as to the potato apples.
I assume rabbits are probably intelligent enough not to eat poisonous plants or the species would have died out long ago.

[jannie]

Lol yes thats true. he has eaten the leaves of the plants quite alot and seems to really like them (one plant was reduced to stems a while back). dont think i'll risk it with the berries though.

Thank you so much for your advice.

[demi]

I cant garentee 100 percent but rabbits tend not to eat poisonus things.
I had 3 rabbits which were free to hop about in umungst various plants and flowers in the garden, some of which were poisonus, and they never ate anything which poisoned them.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Amongst the many, many, things I like about tomatoes is that most other animals regard them as being toxic (because the plant and unripe fruits are) and leave them alone. Rabbits and birds do not touch them. Even my chickens won't try and take them from the plants, though they will eat them if I give them tomatoes that have gone over, which probably speaks volumes for how they perceive me.