Aubertoffel: Aubergine & Potato in a plant

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Harvest aubergines & potatoes from a plant? No problem! Grafting aubergines on potato plants is effortless with our instructions.

Aubergines and potatoes are not only a well-rehearsed team in the kitchen: With the Aubertoffel there is a plant with which you can harvest both vegetables at the same time. What sounds like expensive breeding or genetic engineering is actually an old trick that even amateur gardeners can do at home. Since both the aubergine and the potato belong to the nightshade family and are therefore related, they can be grafted (similar to fruit trees). This not only saves space, but is simply a real eye-catcher. In our instructions, we will show you how you can easily produce and grow such an Aubertoffel for your own garden.

Aubertoffel: materials and tools needed

1. Two plastic planters with a capacity of at least 20 liters
2. Pen and Ruler
3. Sharp Knife
4. Planting soil
5. Seed Potatoes
6. Aubergine seedlings
7. Tape and Hair Clip
8. Plant Pole
9. Slow release fertilizer (ideally organic)

Aubertoffel: Preparation

You should of course start with the right pot for the Aubertoffel. A size of at least 20 liters is ideal, so that the roots, which are later to carry the potatoes, have enough space. Now take one of the two plastic buckets and draw three viewing windows of roughly the same size. Now cut them out with a sharp knife (a carpet knife works best). Make sure that the bars between the windows are not too thin and that you do not accidentally cut your finger. Once this is done, you can put the pot with the viewing windows in its untreated counterpart and fill it up to about a third with soil. You can find detailed instructions on how to build a potato pot here.

Aubertoffel: Instructions

Once the pot or other planter is ready, you can start.

1. Put the potatoes in the ground. In principle, all potato varieties are suitable for growing an Aubertoffel: but if you like it particularly unusual, you can fall back on colorful varieties such as Viola. Larger potatoes can also be cut in half and placed cut side down on the soil.
2. After that, just fill the rest of the pot with soil and give the potatoes some time to grow.
3. After a few weeks, strong shoots should have developed. Now it's time for the potato to become an Auba potato: the refining process begins.
4. Now you need an aubergine plant whose shoots are about the same thickness as a shoot of your potato plant that you have already grown. Now separate the top part of the seedling and sharpen it in a V-shape. For all cuts, please use a sharp and clean knife (preferably a special finishing knife (from Tina)), so that the interfaces are clean (avoid fraying) or become contaminated.
5. Now it's the turn of the potato shoot, which is separated horizontally about 4 cm above the ground and then carefully split in the middle (about 1 cm deep).
   
6. Caution is absolutely necessary for the following step: Now carefully graft the cut, beveled eggplant shoot (also called scion) into the gap of the potato shoot (also called rootstock).
7. If both parts are plugged into each other, they should be wrapped with a finishing tape (e.g. Medifilm or Buddy Tape) until they have grown together. Fixing the shoot to a plant stick with a hair clip provides additional stability and gives the plant a straight growth direction.
8. From now on, the Aubertoffel only needs two things to thrive: time and a little care. Since aubergines and potatoes are both heavy feeders and need a lot of nutrients, you should fertilize the Aubertoffel for the first time after 3 to 4 weeks and repeat this regularly.
   
9. The Aubertoffel should also be watered regularly. The right mediocrity is required - if you water too little, the harvest will be smaller. On the other hand, if there is too much water, waterlogging can occur, which the Aubertoffel does not tolerate well. Also keep in mind that the Aubertoffel in the pot needs more water than potatoes or aubergines in the field due to the higher evaporation.
10. After another 5 to 6 weeks you can start harvesting the aubergines and potatoes. Harvesting the potatoes is particularly easy: You simply take the inner pot out of the outer one and you can get the fresh potatoes out through the viewing window - without digging up the plant.

Our tip: The same trick works for tomatoes and potatoes. Instructions for the so-called Tomoffel (also Tomtoffel) can be found here. Plants that have already been grafted can also be bought in specialist shops under the trade name TomTato®.

We recommend the following products:

• Tina's garden and tree nursery: grafting knife and gardening knife made of stainless steel.
• Graft Tape: Waterproof, flexible, stretchy, and self-adhesive grafting tape is important for graft site protection.
• Cuxin BIO natural fertilizer Orgasan: Organic BIO natural fertilizer for vegetables and ornamental plants with long-term effect. Optimal nutrient ratio for good growth, strong roots and tasty vegetables.

TINA MESSER 613 / 10.5 cm - copulating hip€92.50Details →Grafting tape, grafting tape 50 m, 25 mm wide, transparent€12.95Details →Cuxin BIO natural fertilizer with a 3-month long-term effect€12.54Details →

Many thanks to Cuxin for the support!

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