Should You Remove Potato Blossoms? Everything You Need to Know

If you are growing potatoes (Potato) in your garden, you may be surprised to see them start to bloom. While we grow potatoes for their edible tubers that grow underground, it is important that potato plants also mature above ground.

Depending on the variety of potato, potato flowers can come in a variety of colors and shapes. But should you remove them?

What Do Potato Flowers Look Like?

Potatoes are a family of flowering plants, which also includes plants like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. For this reason, potato flowers resemble tomato or eggplant flowers.

Different varieties of potatoes produce different types of flowers—some are large and showy, while others are smaller and grow in clusters. Potato flowers can be white, purple, pink, blue, or red, with anthers (the part of the stamen that holds the pollen) that can be yellow, red, or dark purple. The color of the flower can sometimes be a clue to the possible color of the skin and flesh of the potato growing below ground.

Why do potatoes flower?

Flowering is a normal part of the potato plant’s life cycle and their presence indicates that the plant is healthy and maturing properly. Generally, potato plants will begin to flower a few weeks before the potatoes are ready to harvest.

You should harvest baby potatoes (new potatoes) two to three weeks after they have finished flowering, and harvest storage potatoes (mature potatoes) two to three weeks after the plant’s leaves have died.

Like other flowering plants, potato plants flower to reproduce. If pollinated, potato flowers produce small green fruits that look like unripe cherry tomatoes. Each potato contains about 300 seeds, which can technically be planted and used to grow more potato plants.

However, these green potatoes contain solanine, which is highly toxic even in small amounts, and should not be eaten. And most potatoes are grown from seed potatoes, a type of potato that has been grown to produce a crop of potatoes.

If your potato plant doesn’t flower, don’t worry. Potatoes don’t always flower, and flowers aren’t required to produce potatoes. In fact, some varieties of potatoes barely flower at all—whether or not a potato plant flowers doesn’t affect the quality or quantity of potatoes it produces.

What to do when potato plants flower

When you see your potato plant begin to flower, this is a sign that the tubers are growing underground and will soon be pulled out of the ground. Once you see them blooming, you can either prune them or leave them alone—your decision will depend on a number of different factors.

If you are growing potatoes in an area where children or pets can easily access them, you should remove the potato blossoms to prevent them from developing into toxic green potatoes. Removing the blossoms can also help increase potato yields, as the energy that the plant would normally use to produce fruit and seeds is redirected to form tubers underground.

However, removing potato flowers is an optional step. If their presence does not pose a danger to children or pets, you can let your potato plants flower if you want to enjoy their bright flowers.