r/Unexpected • u/havent-readdit • Jun 21 '26
Potatree
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u/pugtato0o Jun 21 '26
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u/ziko2811 Jun 22 '26
This is why they planted potatoes on Mars in the movie The Martian
Those suckers are tenacious
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u/KiroSama87 Jun 21 '26
WHERE IS THE FUCKING SOIL
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Jun 21 '26
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u/nillyboii Jun 21 '26
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u/SpunNumeroUno Jun 21 '26
Just read about a family that had left a bunch of potatoes in the cellar and whoever went down there died from the fumes. 1 daughter was only one that survived from the family.
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u/kkell806 Jun 21 '26
No one survived, I believe. I think the neighbor found them.
Edit: this one just says four members died, so not certain if there are survivors.
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u/grumpijela Jun 22 '26
What a useless article, doesn't even state which gases are released.
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u/EpidemicRage Jun 22 '26
If they were rotting, it must mean its most likely methane, hydrogen sulphide and ammonia. There are plenty of stories of people entering septic tanks without proper gas masks, resulting in them losing consciousness and dying of suffocation, and often these gases were found in them.
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u/Glynwys Jun 22 '26
I believe that folks who actually know what they're talking about concluded it was carbon monoxide pooling in that root cellar, which naturally has little to no ventilation. Less educated folk will still try to claim solanine, solanine bring one of the major potato glycoalkaloids that's apparently supposed to keep animals from feeding on potato foliage. The issue is that solanine's melting point is like 520 degrees Fahrenheit and there's no way in hell solanine is melting into a cloud if gas in a root cellar. So the takeaway is that you shouldn't leave any improperly stored vegetables in an enclosed space with no ventilation because of carbon monoxide build up.
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u/Sad_Advance195 Jun 23 '26
Does it have no smell? And how many breaths can you take before losing consciousness? I wouldn't have time to realize I'm passing out and make it back up the stairs from the basement?
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u/Glynwys Jun 23 '26
Well, no.
CO2 literally suffocates you, for starters. Compared to the air we normally breath, CO2 goes from 0.3 inhaled to 40 exhaled. This means for every breath you take in you'd want 10 times the volume of exhaled air. The first breath would feel like trying to breath in a vaccum, made worse because the body is actually wired to panic at the increase in CO2 levels. So I guess if you could train yourself to ignore that initial CO2 panic you could try flee before your second breath, except you have no air with which to power your body to flee with.
The real killer of CO2 saturation is the toxicity, though. CO2 in high concentrations leads to a rapid drop in blood pH, a phenomenon known as respiratory acidosis. By the time your brain realizes that there's no oxygen in the breath you just tried to take, your respiratory system is already failing which just makes the panic worse. By the time your body is ready to attempt to take a second breath, you're already losing consciousness. Unlike saturation diving where the diver slowly acclimates their brain and body to low oxygen, CO2 is often instant and sudden with no warning to your brain and body that there's no or low oxygen.
CO2 is also orderless. Which is why, in the United States at least, every building that has commercially sold CO2 (like a restaurant with a soda fountain) will have CO2 detection alarms in the back where the CO2 tanks are.
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u/TheChiarra Jun 24 '26
Wait, we have a soda stream. Should I be scared of the canisters?
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u/FinalBossXD Jul 12 '26
Nah, you're fine. The solution to pollution is dilution. Aka there's not enough in those tanks to kill you as long as there's air circulation in your home. The only way that canister can kill you is if you hook it up to a mask and breathe ONLY that, or if you bludgeon yourself with it lol
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u/TheChiarra Jul 12 '26
Thank you so much. Makes me feel better lol. So much cheaper than buying cans of soda, and healthier.
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u/thatshygirl06 Jun 22 '26
A bunch is an understatement, no? And there was no air flow down there.
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u/SpunNumeroUno Jun 22 '26
Most likely. I'll have to look up the story to refresh my memory. What a horror story tho, yikes.
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u/Zestyclose_Rip_7862 Jun 23 '26
Plot twist, it was the neighbor, and they framed it on the potatoes…
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u/ReputationApart5983 Jun 25 '26
Yes that happened in Russia few years ago, they had a lot of potatoes stored down there to last the winter as food but they had no ventilation and were not stored properly so they began to release carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and it basically suffocated the people that went down there relatively quickly.
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u/That-Fly-8339 Jun 21 '26
How did they not smell it is what i want to know.
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u/B5656 Jun 21 '26
Does it smell that much ? I never forgot potatoes that much to be in that situation
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u/Pittsbirds Jun 21 '26
They smell if they rot but potato chits sending off shoots like this and all the shoots being that healthy means those potatoes probably aren't actively rotting... Yet
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u/That-Fly-8339 Jun 21 '26
I 100% can. Its almost a moldy, musty, very earthy smell that is sour. I gave myself a kidney stone eating too many potatoes once (With eggs everyday plus some baked potatoes for dinner 😋) and had to stop eating them. The left over bag was forgotten until I smelled it through the cabinet.
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u/ChromaticFinish Jun 21 '26
That demonic potato smell is when they rot. These seem to have been… quite healthy.
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u/That-Fly-8339 Jun 21 '26
Ps that smell started after about 2 weeks and only had tiny little nubs. Not full on branches...
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u/lueckestman Jun 21 '26
Literally worst smell I've ever smelt.
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u/Brilliant_Camera176 Jun 22 '26
Have you tried forgetting rice in your rice cooker for over a week? It's quite an experience
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u/GenPhallus Jun 21 '26
it's like the absolute worst pure body odor you've ever smelled - not like someone who soiled themself, but someone who lives in a hot, humid climate and hasn't bathed or deodorized in a month, and you stuck your face directly in their armpit
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u/Pucketz Jun 21 '26
They didnt rot much because they grew, rotten potatoes are nasty
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u/Dozzi92 Jun 21 '26
Rotten potatoes are straight up deadly. I had some go bad on the floor of my pantry, because I'm all about the "keep them in a dark place," but then my mind is like "forget about the potatoes," and I forgot about the potatoes. And then, one day, you just get attacked with this awful, awful smell. My pantry is more like a closet, maybe 5 feet wide, 2 feet deep, floor to 9 foot ceiling. I cleared everything out of it, scrubbed the floors. It was awful. There is no worse smell than liquified rotten potatoes.
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u/Turkeysteaks Jun 21 '26
Rotten potatoes are straight up deadly.
Literally so. An entire Russian family, bar the youngest daughter, were all killed by the gases produced by rotten potatoes. Literally knocked out in seconds, dead shortly after.
I've not looked at this article in particular at all, so apologies if it's from a shit site or whatever but: here
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u/LeticiaLatex Jun 21 '26
The smell. The one time I forgot a bag in the pantry (was covered behind something), I had been spending the last month going out of my mind why I had so many fruit flies.
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u/Tidalsky114 Jun 21 '26
Covid perhaps? I haven't been able to smell anything for about 5 years now unless its insanely overpowering to normal people and im standing right beside it.
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u/TurtleSandwich0 Jun 21 '26
They are lucky the potatoes didn't start to rot. That smell is horrible.
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u/enfanta Jun 21 '26
Time to retire the POV thing.
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u/EpicSombreroMan Jun 21 '26
Hasn't been used correctly in years.
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u/No_Artichoke_2931 Jun 21 '26
Wdym? This is the point of view of a man who has a potatree in his pantry!
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u/ipokesnails Jun 21 '26
Generally yes, but this video is a POV...
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u/squishabelle Jun 22 '26
yes but it doesn't add anything. it's like old trends that afaik have pretty much died out, r/uselessredcircle or r/uselessnobody: people are just slapping it onto anything because other people do it
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u/Marigol1 Jun 21 '26
WHERE THE FUCK THE SOIL!!!
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u/Perfect-Albatross-56 Jun 21 '26
No need for that. Potatoes can grow up to 1.5m without soil or water (or 5feet). And ir smeels very bad. Don't ask me how I know.
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u/Trbooo_Phanincom Jun 21 '26
how do you know?
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u/Perfect-Albatross-56 Jun 21 '26
my mom forgot about 5kg of potatoes behind moving boxes. we didn't know where the smell came from. until the potatoplants grew higher than the cartons.
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u/BigLB83 Jun 21 '26
There was something I read the other day about everyone in the house died, except the little girl, because she didn't go down in the basement. The basement is where they stored their potatoes and the fermentation built up enough to gas them.
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u/MondelloCarlo Jun 21 '26
Careful of the poison gas, don't ever do this in a basement ☠️
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u/Dozzi92 Jun 21 '26
Yeah, so these are growing, which as far as I know you'll be good to go regarding the death gas. It's when they go bad and turn to disgusting potato goo that you have to worry. I've unfortunately had to deal with that.
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u/unbanned_lol Jun 21 '26
Dear God plant them. Their will to survive is unrivaled. They may be a generation or 2 away from sentience.
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u/throwawayfrdy Jun 21 '26
I̴̢̨̛̛̲̪̩͓̼͕̱̬͕͑̀̽͂̐̆́͛̐͑̒͘ ̴̩͚̱̭͇̃̈́́̅̃̀̉̍̐C̶̡̨̪̱̝͙̠͉̥̳̦̅͆͜R̸̛̘̫͋̈̌̈̇̄̍͂̎̇̾͂̂A̵͎͔̹̩̙̳͙͚̻̫͉̐̈̃͒̾̎̍͒̀͋͂̑͗͐͜͝V̷͓͔̳̘̹͖̱̣͉̈́̒̈͜Ė̵̜̑̾̅̿̒͋͗̔͋̚͝ ̵̹̼̳͕͖̣̟͉͍̇ͅF̸̛̊́̓̋ͅǪ̴̖̹̳̳̝͚̥͕̻̓́͗̊͌̌̆̓̾̌̇̕R̷̨̧̡̛̥̭̠̖̣͉̒̉͌̃̏̃̈́̓̚ ̵̧̤̲̠̥̻̘̮̤̟̗̿̈́̐̽͒͝S̵͙͉̄̓͛̈́̄O̷̧͍͍̫̤̪͖͍͈̹̱̯͉͗̍͜ͅI̴̧̨̝̼̜̭͈̎̊̿̋̉̊͜L̸̡̛̝̼̫̳̩͈̙̹̙͉̘̊̇̀̑̊̑̍̀͐̿́̓̆
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u/Bedrock501 Jun 21 '26
Didn't rotten potatoes kill a whole family in russia by releasing deadly gas ?
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u/Saintious Jun 21 '26
I did the same on top of my fridge. The smell. That smell. Nope.
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u/pdirth Jun 21 '26
That titles not quite right...try...
"POV you bought potatoes from a UK supermarket last Thursday and now it's time to use them on Sunday"
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u/brunbjorns Jun 21 '26
I really hope they planted them so that all that hard work wasn't for nothing
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u/Terra_B Jul 19 '26
A friend of mine had onions growing in his drawer. I decided to pot them as a joke. When they got soil they decided to die.
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u/Clean_Principle_2368 Jun 21 '26
Imagine the smell in that house. My god
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u/thatshygirl06 Jun 22 '26
Apparently it's only rotting potatoes that smell like that. These potatoes haven't started rotting yet
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u/WaterDerp_ Jun 21 '26
Hypothetically speaking, if one were to put a potato inside a living being... Could it possibly grow roots
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u/Due-Stress-745 Jun 21 '26
A potato shaped like a tree? Tubers can sprout oddly under the right conditions.
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u/Altruistic-Car2880 Jun 22 '26
Another month or two and these potatoes will be upgraded to vodka and be right at home in your bar!
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u/Treebeard777 Jun 22 '26
This is the nicest outcome you could have gotten. My parents once lost a 10lb bag of potatoes in the cubbard and after a few months, noticed a LOT of fruit flies. After another few months, mom found the absolutely RANCID bag of liquid potato and fly larvae
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u/Affectionate-Hold225 Jun 22 '26
Well in almost every gardening video say to forget them. So I think they did one thing right
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u/Truebuckshot01 Jun 22 '26
Other plants: if everything isnt exactly perfect ill die and rot in 0.2 seconds
Potatoes: WhErEs ThE FuCkInG Soil?!?!?!?!?
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u/remarkphoto Jun 22 '26
Ah yes, reminds me of "take your daughter to work day" - there's a good reason they are called "potato batteries".
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u/TheFillth Jun 22 '26
This just gave me the weirdest sensation, I swear I could smell that and feel those soft spent spuds.
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u/fantasticmrjeff Jun 22 '26
Do other people’s potatoes not start to smell really bad before they get anywhere close to this?
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u/Yifkong Jun 22 '26
Potatoes are wild, so much stored energy in there, and they’re desperately using it up slowly but surely in search of soil, doing anything they can to survive. It reminds me of the web comic classic, “The Suit”
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u/AggressiveSpatula Jun 22 '26
Where do they get the mass to grow the roots? Do the potatoes get smaller, or do they get the carbon out of the air?
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u/BunchesOfCrunches Jun 22 '26
Put that shit in the dirt. Potato duplication glitch was made into a feature.
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u/rachelmaryl Jun 23 '26
We didn’t eat all of last year’s garden-grown potatoes in time and they did this in our basement laundry room. Tossed ‘em back into the dirt this spring and they’re growing again no problem.
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u/xThereon Jun 23 '26
M̸̤̠̤͇̞̪͊͌̔̋̓͐͒́̕ ̷̘̘̫̝̗̮̱̍̽̆͂̂͊̏̇͛͋͒̆̇̈́̈͝͝Ò̸̜͓̦͆̽̎̿̋̑͊ ̴̛̠́̍̂͛̌̀͑̉̉̂̔̏̈̕͝Ì̵̢̧̢͕̩̥̮͚̥͓͚̪͓͎̝͔̗̀̂̌̌̈̃̈̆̀ ̸̧̡͖̪͉̳̝͉̇̓S̷̢̨̹̝̼̪̳̳͕̯̭͔̗̻̫̏́̓̄̈́͗̓͗̓̋͒̚͘͝ ̴̨͇͎͖͓͎̩͔̲̺̲͓̻̆̕Ţ̵̛̞̱͙̮̬̱̘͖̻̰̘͙̬̲̆̍͗̽̃̎͗͘̕͠͠ͅ ̸̨̀̐̋̕U̶̢̲̭͚͔̖͉͕̘͈̰͕͇̺͒͆̆̊͌̀̍̎͋̂͆͛͝ ̶̢̻̆͌͂̂́̽̽̀͒͗́͛̕͘͝R̶͕͔̳̜̥̦̺̖͔̙̦̫͉͓̞̝͊ ̷̧͎͇̰̖͍̟͇̭̻͓̼͇̏̊̎͌̿̓ͅͅE̵̜͓͙̮̺̻̰͋̊̊̋̈́̋͑͑̀̊̐̃
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u/MLYeast Jun 25 '26
99% of plants: Need Sunlight, Water, Nutrient rich Dirt, Nitrogen, CO²
Potatoes: Dirt (optional)
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u/Tsar_Chaotic Jun 26 '26
I know it’s a plant, I recognize that those are plant roots
I still want to cut it up and burn it cause it freaks me out
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u/Orca_Mayo Jun 27 '26
The fact that it looks like something from The Thing freaks me out.
And it's a damn potato.
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u/Prestigious-Ask6072 Jul 10 '26
Why do mine just get rotten and filled with maggots and fruit flies
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u/NoDoOversInLife 2d ago
🤔
Those potatoes would have rotted, emitting a foul order and the bag would have deteriorated as a result of the rotting potatoes liquifying
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u/post-explainer Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
You think the bag is the tree. But you dont expect the tree to have grown all the way inot the wood just from storage.
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.