Aubertoffel: Eggplant & potato in one plant

Harvesting eggplants & potatoes from one plant? No problem! With our instructions, refining the aubergine on potato plants is effortless.

Eggplant 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 hobby gardeners can also 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, it is also a real eye-catcher. In our instructions, we will show you how you can easily make and grow such a Aubertoffel for your own garden.

Aubertoffel: materials and tools required

1. Two plastic planters with a capacity of at least 20 liters
2. Pen and ruler
3. Sharp knife
4. Potting soil
5. Seed potatoes
6. Eggplant seedlings
7. Duct tape and hair clip
8. Planting pole
9. Long-term fertilizer (ideally organic & 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 that will later carry the potatoes have enough space. Now take one of the two plastic buckets and mark three viewing windows of roughly the same size. Now cut them out with a sharp knife (a carpet knife is best). Make sure that the bars between the windows don't get too thin and that you don't accidentally cut your fingers. If this is done, you can put the pot with the viewing windows in its untreated counterpart and fill up to about a third with soil. A detailed guide to the Building a potato pot You will find here.

Aubertoffel: Instructions

If the pot or another planter is ready, you can start.

1. Put the potatoes in the soil. Basically all of them are suitable for growing an Aubertoffel Potato varieties: 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 on the ground with the cut surface facing down.
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 is time for the potato to become an Aubatoffel: the refinement process begins.
4. Now you need an aubergine plant whose shoot is roughly the same thickness as a shoot from your potato plant that has already been grown. Now separate the top part of the seedling and sharpen it in a V shape. Please use a sharp and clean knife for all cuts (preferably a special one Finishing chip (Fa. Tina)) so that the interfaces are clean (avoid fraying) or become contaminated.
5. Now it is 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 graft the cut, beveled Carefully place the aubergine shoot (also called noble rice) in the gap in the potato shoot (also called the base called).
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 with a hair clip on a plant stick also ensures stability and gives the plant a straight direction of growth.
8. From now on, the Aubertoffel only needs two things to thrive: time and a little care. There Eggplant and potatoes Both are heavy consumers 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 here - if you water too little, the harvest will be smaller. If, on the other hand, there is too much water, waterlogging can occur, which the Aubertoffel does not tolerate well. Keep in mind that the Aubertoffel in the pot needs more water than potatoes or aubergines outdoors due to the higher evaporation.
10. After about 5 to 6 more weeks you can start harvesting the aubergines and potatoes. Harvesting the potato is particularly simplified: You simply take the inner pot out of the outer one and can get the fresh potatoes through the viewing window - without the plant dig up.

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

We recommend the following products:

• Garden and tree nursery stick from Tina: Grafting knives and gardening knives made of stainless steel.
• Finishing tape: Waterproof, flexible, stretchable and self-adhesive grafting tape is important for protecting the finishing point.
• Cuxin BIO natural fertilizer Orgasan: Organic organic natural fertilizer for vegetables and ornamental plants with long-term effects. Optimal nutrient ratio for good growth, strong roots and tasty vegetables.

Many thanks to Cuxin for the support!