You say Pomato, but they so 'no' Renato (From Sutton Guardian)

Sutton man grows what he thought was a miracle fruit

8:00am Saturday 4th August 2012 in News By James Pepper

The gardener brought Sutton his giant pear has now grown a Pomato plant.

After his tomato plant grew too big for his greenhouse, Renato Bartolucci, 73, decided it was time to move it into the garden.

The Italian planted his tomato next to where he had put potato cuttings earlier this year, and within no time at all the potato plant was sprouting tomatoes - or so he thought. 

But experts have revealed the small green fruit are not in fact tomatoes, but potato fruit.

Guy Barter, chief horticultural advisor at the Royal Horticultural Society, said it's an easy, but potentially fatal mistake. 

He said: "The potato fruit can be poisonous so we do not recommend anyone should eat them, it could leave you with a very upset stomach."

Although tomatoes and potatoes are very closely related it is extremely rare hybridization occurs, so Mr Barter believes what Mr Bartolucci has found is a potato fruit.

Italian Mr Bartolucci said: "I thought the tomato and the potato had become too friendly, I thought it would maybe get into the Guinness book, no?"

Some varieties of potato do set fruit but farmers tend to avoid planting them as the fruit and the flowers use up vital vitamins which could enhance the potatoes.   

Mr Barter said: "Potato growers these days tend to stick to popular varieties as the market dictates, but tastes are changing.  We have seen a growing popularity in salad potatoes recently."

History determines that tomatoes and potatoes should not be planted close to one another due to late blight.

Late blight, the fungus disease transmitted by the Colorado potato beetle, will attack tomatoes and kill them in a day and can harbour the fungus for longer.

It was the late blight that caused the great Irish potato famine in 1740.