New 'Frankenplant', the Egg and Chips, Grows Both Eggplants and Potatoes
It may be the age of the "Frankenplant." Scientists have created a super strain of plant that produces both eggplants and potatoes in the same pot. Botanists hope that the new plant will interest those who have limited space to grow plants, and also inspire children to become involved in horticulture.
The plant itself usually produces about four, big, purple eggplants on the stem, and about 4.5 pounds of potatoes beneath the soil. Marketed as the "Egg and Chips" plant, the plant is being sold by the British seed company Thompson & Morgan.
While this plant certainly seems like something out of science fiction movies, it was actually created with an age-old process that's been used on apple trees for years: grafting. The botanists experimented with more than 20 varieties of eggplant before selecting one that was deemed best for size and performance. Then, they carefully cut the delicate stems of eggplant and potato plants in half at an identical angle before grafting them together. The lower end of the potato plant and the top part of the eggplant plant naturally fused together and continue to grow.
The researchers won't say the exact variety of eggplant and potatoes, for fear that their work will be copied. However, the new plant could be just what a person with limited space needs in order to grow more vegetables for the dinner table.
It's been hard keeping quiet about this amazing plant-I've had to bite my tongue for the past year!" said Michael Perry, T&M New Product Development Manager, in an interview with Express. "For seasoned veg growers this is a really novel development. For those without the luxury of an allotment or large vegetable patch it makes the most of available space in the garden.
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