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Student Returns To Her Home After Quarantine, Finds Potatoes Taking Over Her Kitchen, People Post Similar Pics
If there's a way, nature finds it. So when Donna Porée (@donna9p) locked up her apartment to quarantine with her husband, the sack of potatoes she left behind refused to give up and just rot. No, no... The potatoes had searched for sources of life throughout the whole 3 months of Donna's absence.
When the woman came back home, she couldn't believe the progress the vegetables have made. "It's very surprising but the potatoes have punctured through the joints of my kitchen," Donna told Bored Panda.
Image credits: donna9p
While cleaning up, Donna decided against eating the potatoes or throwing them away. After all, their tremendous will to live demanded something a little more respectful. "I carefully removed them from my apartment and replanted them in a vegetable patch outside," Donna explained.
In the process of doing so, there was one more thing that needed to be taken care of. "When I was relocating the potatoes, I couldn't help myself and measured their sprouts. To my amazement, some were almost 1 meter (3.3 feet) long!"
After seeing Donna's pics, people started sharing their own photos of accidental potato sprouts.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
And Now We Know Where Pringles Come From
N G 5 years ago
"Good day to you sir, please plant me on the battle field outside", spoken in stiff upper class British accent
SoozeeQ 5 years ago
I was imagining that in Colonel Sanders accent, rather than a British one!
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Sprouted potatoes contain higher levels of glycoalkaloids, which can be toxic to humans when eaten in big amounts. Even though discarding the sprouts, eyes, green skin, and bruised parts of a potato, as well as frying it, may help reduce glycoalkaloid levels, more research is needed to know for sure whether or not we can safely eat sprouted potatoes. Until then, the safest thing to do is to discard them and get new ones.
RELATED:
#2
Potatoes Were Hiding In My Pantry. They Look Like Some Sort Of Sea Creature
One of the best ways to reduce sprouting in potatoes is to buy them in moderation. Try to avoid stockpiling these vegetables and only buy them when you have plans to use them.
Also, if you spot any damaged potatoes, it's probably best that you get rid of them and make sure that the remaining ones are stored in a cool, dry, and dark place.
Some funny reports suggest that we should avoid keeping potatoes with onions as putting the two together may accelerate sprouting. However, that's just folklore; there's no scientific evidence to support this.
#3
This Bag Of Potatoes In My Basement
#4
A Potato I Found Under My Kitchen Counter Looks Like Some Sort Of Alien Forest
Layla Corman 5 years ago
Amazing shape! You know that smelled AWFUL! Old potatoes= mold+dirty kitty litter+hot barf+death
#5
Sweet Potato Sprouting
Daria B 5 years ago
Sounds almost like an exclamation, like "Sweet potato sprouting, what is that?"
Elizabeth Butler 5 years ago
Many people put a sweet potato, or a piece of one, in water in a window to make a lovely house plant.
Pam Scherer 5 years ago
Just imagine the great potato harvest you could get if you had planted these!
#6
The Microwavable Potatoes I Left Over Winter Break Sprouted
mph seti 5 years ago
I didn't think that could happen...Wow. I thought it'd only happen to raw potatoes left in a not too dry dark space.
Lorrie Finley 5 years ago
But THOSE are raw potatoes and THAT envirmoment is dark, just like if they were planted.
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Lorrie Finley 5 years ago
Probably pushed through the edging where it's heat sealed to the package. The film is quite thin really.
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Lorrie Finley 5 years ago
Why? This just means they are fresh when you buy them.
Load More Replies... #7
Apparently If You Rotate A Sprouting Potato Every Few Days, They Get Confused.
Dynein 5 years ago
Of course they get confused... imagine what a plant would look like if it couldn't sense it's environment! It'd be a random mess of roots, leafs and stems - nonsense, it needs to get some idea about the best direction for the specific purpose. Roots: Downwards, follow the surface, follow the moisture, follow the nutrients. Stems: Upwards (sideways if you're a sufficient size already), to the light. "To the light" is a really major factor here, but (some, I don't know if all) plants really can sense where "down" is! They have little weights in the cell that sink to the bottom. (further info on "plant sense" in reply to this comment)
#8
Yesterday I Turned This Potato Upside Down, And Today I Got A Practical Lesson In Gravitropism, The Tendency Of Plants To Alter Their Growth With Respect To Gravity. Bonus: It Turned Into A Lobster
Elizabeth Butler 5 years ago
Put those roots in water and put vase in a window for a lovely house plant
#9
I Had A Heart Attack
Perfumista Perfumista 5 years ago
I'm thinking it crawled down on its own
Load More Replies... Layla Corman 5 years ago
Seeing this is on the floor, you know it was so creepy, it couldn't be touched!
#10
Won’t Be Photographing Any Mountains Or Foreign Destinations In The Foreseeable Future So I Decided To Take Some Shots Closer To Home
#11
Box Of Potatoes That Has Been Left Unopened For About A Year
Henry Cheves 5 years ago
Now I want potatoes so I can plant them in my friend's homes and have this happen.
Sue Sanders 5 years ago
Well, what are ya gonna do for a solid year, anyway? Especially if there are no Nintendo games around, or even Monopoly for pete's sake, or D&D ..... so you just send up shoots and make the idiots on BP guess what you're up to. What fun!
#12
When You Left Somewhere 5 Months Ago, Come Back And Didn’t Realise You’d Left Some Potatoes In A Cupboard
Daria B 5 years ago
Deep inside your heaaa-ah-art / That's where it's got to staaa-ah-art / There are those who douu-uh-ubt / YOU WILL START TO SPROUUUUUUUT ♬♪
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#13
I See Your Tomato, And I Offer You A Bucket Of Seedy Potatoes And One Kitty
Allan Breum 5 years ago
Just don't let the cat eat the sprouts. Potato plants are stupidly poisonous.
#14
This Potato Has Been Growing For 3 Weeks
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 5 years ago
I love how you can see the difference between Sweet Potatoes and 'real' potatoes in the sprouts here. SP usually produce leaves quite soon, while potatoes just have long tentacles.
#15
Delicate Sweet Potato Sprouts Look Unearthly And Beautiful, Like Martian Coral
Fran Stateler 5 years ago
If you put the other end in water the tendrils will become what are called 'slips' and you can plant them for more sweet potatoes
Curry on... 5 years ago
As a kid, I use to cut a sweet potato in half, place it in water and let it sprout. They grow pretty leaves if left alone.
#16
My Dad Found A Horror Potato Sprouting In The Back Of Our Pantry Drawer
#17
My Potato Is Ripe I Think
Osgood_7 5 years ago
Potatoes and onions release gasses that make the other go bad more quickly. If you want them to last longer, keep potatoes and onions apart
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 5 years ago
I read this before on bp and we separated those two from then on! Thanks, random panda-person who told me, for my potatoes have since then been less sprouty!
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Perfumista Perfumista 5 years ago
Looks like it's puffling up its feathers to attact the onion
Sue Sanders 5 years ago
Do that, and they create a beautiful pink forest for humans to argue about.
Sharon Vaughn 5 years ago
I think if you had turned the onion with the roots down, it too would have sprouted.
#18
Forgotten Purple Potatoes
#19
This Sprouted Sweet Potato I Forgot In My Pantry Looks Weirdly Pretty
elfin 5 years ago
How could anyone know if a gorgon were pretty? It's hard to talk when you're turned to stone.
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#20
This Is What Happens When You Leave A Bag Of Potatoes In A Closet For Almost A Year
ebony1k124 touch 5 years ago
Must not go in the pantry often. I would hate to see what other things have mutated in there.
Perfumista Perfumista 5 years ago
*sings* Attack of the killer potatoes, attack of the killer potatoes...
Lorrie Finley 5 years ago
Shopping For 1 or 2 People: Rule #1. Don't buy potatoes in bulk. Buy only what you need - 1 or 2 at a time is plenty. Better buy.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 5 years ago
Why do so many people leave their vegetables for such a long time? Are they all first-year students who didn't know before?
#21
Old Potatoes Planted This Morning
#22
I Forgot About The Last Of The Potatoes
#23
Found A Sprouted Potato At Work...
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
This is not an innocent potato, it is a venomous potato spider. Be very, very careful after it has grown the eighth leg!
WhatsUpKittyCat? (I wuv dogs too) 5 years ago
Lab experiment gone wrong. Brain for a head, spindly purple legs. Three two one run.
#24
These Sprouting Potatoes
#25
My Friend Forgot About A Bag Of Potatoes She Bought Six Months Ago.
Fran Stateler 5 years ago
You don't even need a yard. You can plant them in a large container on a deck or patio
Lorrie Finley 5 years ago
What's frightening is that you can tell how much synthetic. chemical fertilizer has been used with some of these by the amount and density of the sprouted vines. Scary in that sense alone.
#26
What Happens When You Leave Potatoes In The Cellar For 6 Months
#27
Left A Sprouting Sweet Potato In My Cupboard For A Little Over A Year. Here Are The Results.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 5 years ago
Why not put it in soil when you've already gone so far with the sprouting? This is just sad.
Fran Stateler 5 years ago
If you put the other end in water you will get a lot of transplants to grow more potatoes
#28
We Forgot About Our Bag Of Potatoes And They Sprouted...a Lot
#29
I Found This Sprouted Potato Today, Which Was Hiding In A Cupboard For Along Time. The Roots Tell The Whole Story That The Plant Cant Tell. .seems Like A Familiar Story? Welcome To The Lazy Gardeners Club
Daria B 5 years ago
I see a tired humanoid creature that's walking and carrying a heavy backpack.
#30
I Started Cleaning Out My Nest. I Began In The Kitchen, Here Are Some Potatoes That I Left In The Cupboard For Almost A Year.
#31
Found A Old Bag Of Potatoes Behind The Washing Machine...gone Alien With 3ft Roots
#32
Found A Monster In The Cabinet Sprouted Potato Grew Through The Funnel
#37
Have You Ever Reached Into A Dark Pantry And Scared The Living S**t Outta Yourself With A Potato? No? Me Either
#38
This Sprouting Potato
#41
My Housemate Left This Potato In Her Cupboard For So Long That It Started Growing An Entirely New Plant
#42
What Once Happened To Some Potatoes I Bought After Being Forgotten For 1,5 Months.
#44
I Forgot About My Potatoes For A Couple Months
#45
Sooo I Forgot I Had Potatoes
#46
Strange Potato
#47
I Told Rakesh He Was Getting These Sprouting Potatoes For Dinner...he Wasn’t Amused!
#48
These Potatoes In The Drawer.
#49
I Forgot This Potato At The Bottom Of My Fridge For 2 Months
#50
I Guess I Forgot About A Potato I Had. Found This At The Bottom Of A Bucket When I Went To Make Dinner.
#51
Sprouting Potatoes Breaking Through The Plastic Bag They're Trapped In
#54
Looks Like I'll Be Planting Some Potatoes Today
#55
A Forgotten Sweet Potato Turned Into A Sprouting Beauty. I Had It For Dinner But Really I Just Wanted To Leave It And Watch It Grow
#57
Sprouting Potatoes, Stuff Of Nightmares.
#59
This Bag Of Potatoes I Forgot About Have Grown Quite A Bit
#64
Me: "Mum, Do You Have Any Potatoes?"Mum: "Yes, Plenty In The Cupboard!"*opens Cupboard & Shrieks*🥔: "Feed Me, Seymour!"
#67
Sprouting Potatoes
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Lousha 5 years ago
Potatoes are not so bad. I once cleaned a cupboard that was neglected for a while and managed to reach into a bag of... liquid carrots. One of the most horrible smells ever, had to wash my hands about 99999999 times before the urge to chop them off went away.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
I had a few potatoes sprout in my cupboard years ago-but one didn't sprout. It liquefied like ur carrots. If the smell is anything like what u experienced I feel ur pain! (I actually cried a little while cleaning it XD)
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Tracey Hirt 5 years ago
I forgot about a bag of potatoes in the corner of my kitchen. They sprouted so high that my husband built a potato box in the garden to see if he could propagate them. We’ll see if he was successful in the fall!
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are not in the same family and should not be treated in the same way. Potatoes should never be stored exposed to daylight or too warm because the potato, when stressed, produces solanine which is poisonous. It will also produce green chlorophyll which is not poisonous. An unpleasant bitter taste indicates an increased level of solanine. Sprouts and 'eyes' are high in solanine, and it is not enough to cut the green parts away to avoid eating the solanine. Better not use any green potato at all! Potatoes that have sprouted can be put in the soil or in a large pot (rather deep - avoid the sun!) and grown to get more potatoes. If you want to grow sweet potatoes, then you can either cut away the sprouts and let them develop roots in some water before planting them or cut the sweet potato up in smaller pieces and plant them.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
I always wondered why my mum taught me to never use potatoes if they'd turned greenish ^-^
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tuzdayschild 5 years ago
I have been telling people this for years. Potatoes have an agenda and whatever it is does not bode well for humans. I don't even eat them unless they are french fried or mashed or Lays. Never Utz though!
Up All Night 5 years ago
Additional useful info: Sweet potato (batata) is safe to eat after sprouting, even the sprouts are edible! They are good to eat raw, too. But regular potatoes contain toxic solanine even when not green, it's just a very low amount. The original wild potato is highly toxic and resistant to insects because of that.
Malice Evil 5 years ago
sprouting is a common thing for potatoes if left for prolonged periods. But one should be careful since the sprouts are quite toxic, and also the fruit of the potato plant, yes potato plants make fruit. In this case, just be thankful that the did not rot, rotting potatoes produce the most insidiously putrid, foul, stomach-turning stench. I had one of these bad boys rot in pantry once...let us just say...until we found it...we were thinking of burning down the kitchen and calling an exorcist...
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
Yes! I commented above about that happening to me and I actually was pushed to tears (of horror) while cleaning it! That's nature saying stay away rotten and dangerous I guess
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Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
OK, I'm coming at this as someone raised on 1. a farm and 2. with an early childhood of not-enough-to-eat-for-real hunger... My heart hurts. THat's like a week of meals for my family back in the day, gone... If I even get *one* plant starting a sprout, I plant it for later eating. So, yes, I am very weird! (Still trying to imagine leaving th ehouse for more than 48 hours without seeing to the produce... *shudder* boil it and freeze it, have a feast, take it along...)
Lousha 5 years ago
Potatoes are not so bad. I once cleaned a cupboard that was neglected for a while and managed to reach into a bag of... liquid carrots. One of the most horrible smells ever, had to wash my hands about 99999999 times before the urge to chop them off went away.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
I had a few potatoes sprout in my cupboard years ago-but one didn't sprout. It liquefied like ur carrots. If the smell is anything like what u experienced I feel ur pain! (I actually cried a little while cleaning it XD)
Load More Replies... Tracey Hirt 5 years ago
I forgot about a bag of potatoes in the corner of my kitchen. They sprouted so high that my husband built a potato box in the garden to see if he could propagate them. We’ll see if he was successful in the fall!
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are not in the same family and should not be treated in the same way. Potatoes should never be stored exposed to daylight or too warm because the potato, when stressed, produces solanine which is poisonous. It will also produce green chlorophyll which is not poisonous. An unpleasant bitter taste indicates an increased level of solanine. Sprouts and 'eyes' are high in solanine, and it is not enough to cut the green parts away to avoid eating the solanine. Better not use any green potato at all! Potatoes that have sprouted can be put in the soil or in a large pot (rather deep - avoid the sun!) and grown to get more potatoes. If you want to grow sweet potatoes, then you can either cut away the sprouts and let them develop roots in some water before planting them or cut the sweet potato up in smaller pieces and plant them.
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
I always wondered why my mum taught me to never use potatoes if they'd turned greenish ^-^
Load More Replies... tuzdayschild 5 years ago
I have been telling people this for years. Potatoes have an agenda and whatever it is does not bode well for humans. I don't even eat them unless they are french fried or mashed or Lays. Never Utz though!
Up All Night 5 years ago
Additional useful info: Sweet potato (batata) is safe to eat after sprouting, even the sprouts are edible! They are good to eat raw, too. But regular potatoes contain toxic solanine even when not green, it's just a very low amount. The original wild potato is highly toxic and resistant to insects because of that.
Malice Evil 5 years ago
sprouting is a common thing for potatoes if left for prolonged periods. But one should be careful since the sprouts are quite toxic, and also the fruit of the potato plant, yes potato plants make fruit. In this case, just be thankful that the did not rot, rotting potatoes produce the most insidiously putrid, foul, stomach-turning stench. I had one of these bad boys rot in pantry once...let us just say...until we found it...we were thinking of burning down the kitchen and calling an exorcist...
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
Yes! I commented above about that happening to me and I actually was pushed to tears (of horror) while cleaning it! That's nature saying stay away rotten and dangerous I guess
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
OK, I'm coming at this as someone raised on 1. a farm and 2. with an early childhood of not-enough-to-eat-for-real hunger... My heart hurts. THat's like a week of meals for my family back in the day, gone... If I even get *one* plant starting a sprout, I plant it for later eating. So, yes, I am very weird! (Still trying to imagine leaving th ehouse for more than 48 hours without seeing to the produce... *shudder* boil it and freeze it, have a feast, take it along...)
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