Potato Mine

The Potato Mine is a cheap single use explosive plant. They're inexpensive, but take approximately 15 seconds to arm themselves before popping out of the ground. After that, they will detonate the first time a zombie enters their square.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Potato Mine

Potato Mines pack a powerful punch, but they need a while to arm themselves. You should plant them ahead of zombies. They will explode on contact.

Damage: massive

Range: all zombies in a small area

Usage: single use, delayed activation

Some folks say Potato Mine is lazy, that he leaves everything to the last minute. Potato Mine says nothing. He's too busy thinking about his investment strategy.

Cost: 25

Recharge: slow

Strategy
Because of how cheap they are, they can be very effective early in levels. After that, the long arming delay makes them difficult to use, try putting them at least 4 squares before the zombie. This is enough for a zombie that travels at the same speed as the normal zombie.

Placing a Potato Mine behind a defensive plant (Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin) can maximize its effectiveness; when the zombies break the wall, assuming there are no faster zombies such as the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie and Flag Zombie, they will all be within the explosion range of the Potato mine when the first one reaches it. They can also be planted behind Wall-nuts or Pumpkins to catch any Pole Vaulting zombies that try to vault over them. Similarly, they can be planted to make a Pole Vaulter jump early, in addition to catching later zombies.


 * Note: If they are planted inside Pumpkins, some zombies, such as the Football Zombie,can trigger them without eating the Pumpkin as they jump over the Pumpkin

Potato Mines are also effective against Digger Zombies. When they try to dig under an active Potato Mine, it will explode. If the potato mine isn't ready yet, the Digger Zombie will eat the potato mine while it is still underground. Surprisingly, Potato Mines actually can be used against Gargantuars, but you probably won't end up doing so. It is extremely effective against Zombie Bobsled Teams, killing the bobsled along with all four zombies if armed and planted next to the ice.

In ZomBotany and ZomBotany 2, Potato Mines cannot be hit by peas, even when armed.


 * Note: Potato mines cannot be planted on Lily Pads, since there's no room "inside" or under the lily pad.

Achievements
The Potato Mine is the source for the Spudow! achievement. Kill a zombie with a Potato Mine to receive the achievement.

Trivia

 * If an unarmed Potato Mine is smashed by a Gargantuar, Zomboni or Catapult Zombie, a flattened version with the red light steady of an armed Potato Mine appears instead.
 * Potato Mines can only be taken by Bungee Zombies while arming; as a Bungee Zombie will die in the explosion if it encounters an armed Potato Mine.
 * On the Xbox Live Arcade version's loading screen, the Potato Mine's red light will flash when the game is done loading.
 * The Potato Mine is the only plant that shows half of its body above ground
 * In Online Version, the replacement of the Potato Mine is a Squash