Austrian farmers awarded potato with the title “Vegetable of the Year 2018”. Under the ground, an unusual plant forms tubers, and cherry tomatoes ripen on the branches.
The Dutch breeder Bieckenkamp got a cross of plants called L'Erd2-Tom2 in 2014 after four years of experiments: he grafted shoots of an early variety of Paradeiser tomatoes on potato seedlings. Since both species belong to the nightshade family, the fusion process is quite successful.
Selling seedlings of tomato potato started in mid-April. In English, he was dubbed TomTato (from the words "tomato" - tomato and "potato" - potato). The plant is positioned as universal: it can be grown both in open ground and in pots or buckets with a diameter of 50 cm and a volume of more than 40 liters. For the season, from each hybrid you can harvest a good crop: about 250-500 cherry tomatoes and 2 kg of potatoes.
By the way, the idea to cross tomatoes and potatoes and get a 2-in-1 crop came to the mind of Soviet breeders about 80 years ago. After many years of experience, the breeder Brusnetsov received the same hybrid and in 1939 presented a fruiting plant at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow.
Source: https://agronews.com