Agriculture: The TomTato – A Plant That Grows Tomatoes above Ground and Potatoes Below

Meet the extraordinary TamTato--plant that produces both tomatoes and potatoes.

This Plant was developed by Thompson and Morgan, a horticultural firm based in the town of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England--through high-tech grafting.

 
Thompson and Morgan director Paul Hansord explained that it was difficult to achieve and each TomTato is grafted by hand without any genetic modification.

“It has been very difficult to achieve because the tomato stem and the potato stem have to be the same thickness for the graft to work. Each TomTato plant is specially grafted by hand to create this unique double cropping feature. There’s no genetic modification – it’s an all-natural, and safe process. It is a very highly skilled operation," he said.

TomTato which has been dubbed "Veg Plot in a Pot" can grow more than 500 sweet cherry tomatoes above the ground and the cherry tomatoes are said to be much sweeter than those available in supermarkets. 

The TomTato is one seasonal plant, unveiled in September, and is available to gardeners across UK at £14.99 ($24) per 3.5-inch plant.  It can be grown inside or outside.

              


Via BBC, The Independent