Not a lot of people know this but since potatoes and tomatoes actually come from the same family, they can be merged together through the process of grafting.
This will then result in one plant growing potatoes underneath the soil and tomatoes on the top.
A man showcased the whole process in a Youtube video he posted on his account.
He started in early spring.
He started off by sewing tomato seeds into seedling trays which grew into tiny tomato plants after a few weeks of care.
He kept them indoors but made sure that they get enough sunlight from the windows.
Once they started to grow bigger, he began potting them up. Then, he also showed some of the seed potatoes he left in a bright place that has began sprouting.
Potatoes grow really quickly.
Because of this, he started growing the potatoes in the late spring, much later compared to when he started growing the tomato seeds.
And so he planted and potted the tomatoes so they can catch up with the tomatoes.
He utilized a mix of potting mix and compost in a small pot for the potatoes. Then 2 and a half weeks later, the plants are now ready for grafting.
Clean tools are a grafting must.
For this reason, have some methylated spirits handy to keep the grafting knife squeaky clean.
Now, he started to take cuttings from the tomato plants. He made sure to choose stems that are almost the same size as the potato plant.
He then removed the leaves of the tomato shoots and started the grafting process by cutting the potato plant to match the tomato cutting.
Then, he sliced down a few centimeters deep in the middle of the stem.
He then grabbed the tomato cutting and created a long angled cut on each side creating a “V.”
Then, he placed the cutting into the potato stem making sure that both sides line up. This is called cleft grafting.
Then, he wrapped them together with grafting tape.
He also wanted to do another type of grafting called the whip & tongue graft which requires doing an angled cut on both the tomato and potato plants.
He then kept the small pots indoors as the grafts heal for about a week. He also kept them covered with a plastic bag to boost humidity and misted the plants twice a day.
After 6 days, he removed the bag.
He discovered that those that weren’t covered looked healthier.
He kept them for 6 days more and then it was finally time to transfer them to a larger pot where he also created a bamboo tower to support the plants as they grow.
Not all cuts are created equal.
As per his observation, the cleft graft worked better compared to the whip & tongue so that’s a great consideration if you’re planning to do the same thing.
Fruits started showing 32 days post-grafting.
And at 70 days, different types of tomatoes have grown beautifully from the stems.
While the potato wasn’t quite ready for checking yet, he just continued to harvest the tomatoes as they ripen up.
Now once the plants finally died up, it was time to check if potatoes actually grew underneath the soil.
As he pulled the stems up, indeed, there were “beautiful golden” potatoes! Incredible!
While they’re not huge potatoes, it’s still amazing how the whole experiment actually worked. Science works indeed.
Check out the video below to see how the whole experiment worked out!
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