Has a "pomato" ever been created?

Question

Has a cross between a potato and a tomato ever been created, or is it just an urban legend?

Answer 1

Yes. I created one by accident in my veggie garden where potatoes and tomatoes were growing in close proximity. It had tiny tubers, like stunted potatoes, and green fruit about the size of cherries, like stunted tomatoes. So you couldn't use either the tubers or the fruit. I wasn't willing to try as both were probably full of solanine. Potatoes and tomatoes are related to the deadly nightshade. It looked like a potato plant with tiny green tomatoes growing on it.

Answer 2

Luther Burbank, once grafted a branch of a tomato plant on to a potato plant.

Since both of them belong to the same family Solanace; the graft survived and the composite plant was called 'Pomato' by him.

This 'freak' graft produced potatoes under ground, as the root stock was a potato plant ; and produced tomatoes on its aerial branches, as the graft was of tomato .

It continued to produce both the vegetables for the rest of its short life.

One can repeat the experiment to day and with a fair amount of luck can achieve results similar to Burbank.

Remember , this is not a cross between the two plants , but a graft only.

A cross or hybridization involves use of sexual reproductive organs of the two plants. I.e. Pollen of one are transferred to the stigma of the other and resultant seeds are collected and checked for the expected results.

Answer 3

Copied & pasted (because I didnt believe it)

A Pomato Plant?

The tomato, pepper, egg plant and potato are closely related. The tomato plant is occasionally grafted to the potato; resulting in a freak plant which may produce tubers below ground (potatoes) and tomatoes above. This odd plant is sometimes called the "potomato" or "pomato".

Answer 4

Pomato is usually used to refer to the grafting of a tomato or other solanaceous plant on to a potato root stock. They are interesting specimen plants and can often be found at the back of gardening magazines.

Answer 5

Difficult to see how you could a tomato is the fruit of the plant that grows on the stem and the potato is the root. the accepted way of growing hybrid plants is the take a cutting from one plant and graft it onto the other but since the potato and the tomato and basically the same plant I don't see that it would make any difference

Answer 6

I've never heard of this but my dad grew loads of vegatables and one year he found a parsnip growing with a carots top. It looked really weird and he didn't risk eating it.

Answer 7

a potato is a vegetable, a tomato is a fruit.

Answer 8

Doubtful. I sure wouldn't eat one if it existed.

Answer 9

dont know but a tommacco was invented by homer simpson

Answer 10

it has, but it is called a tompotatompo