Concur. dominant sprouts will crowd the others out. Just relax an let nature do its thing. You can get overcowding, but its from planting too close not from using a whole potato. The main reason for cutting is too conserve seed, you can get 4-6 hills of potatoes from one whole potato. Seed potatoes are expensive.

I agree with above poster. I plant whole seed potatoes. I also have planted sprouting potatoes that I grew last year. Have fun. Enjoy the potatoes. Next year you can do things differently. I think they are too close to your other plants because they will need to be hilled up. I usually hill the first time with more soil but then do more covering with straw.

Lets say 14 inches in diameter for the hill.

I like to see about 4 sturdy stalks to a hill. sure, you can let 8 go and get a lot of smaller potatoes.

Here's what I copied from another website "The reason you hill potatoes is because the crop of potatoes form and develop along the stems ABOVE the seed potatoes you planted. At the same time, you can't allow these potatoes to see the light of day because then the skins turn green and develop alkaloids (toxins).

So, if you don't hill or cover with mulch, all your hard work will be for nothing. You want to cover up at least 8 inches or so of the stem.

Also, it turn out that more you bury the stems, the more potatoes may form (assuming you give them plenty of water and the soil nutrition is reasonably good -- you don't want to over fertilize potatoes)."

I lost some potatoes my first year (fingerlings) because they started growing out of the ground and the straw I had put around the stems didn't cover them well enough exposing them to sun. They were quite green which makes them inedible.

I wonder who came up with the idea of overcrowded plants from planting whole potatoes? Never heard that one. And yes, definitely do not trim back any of your plant growth. One stalk per plant is NOT a goal.

Since your potatoes are close to the other plants, you can start by hilling and finish by laying some deep mulch to keep them from greening.

<i>"I wonder who came up with the idea of overcrowded plants from planting whole potatoes? Never heard that one.</i>?"

Well, You can blame me AND you have heard it now LOL It's no skin off my potato.

<I wonder who came up with the idea of overcrowded plants from planting whole potatoes? >

Fairly common knowledge far as I know. Same as with over-crowding any plant. Over-crowded plants tend to produce less and produce smaller results even when you over-compensate with nutrients.

Of course it all depends on the size of it and how many active eyes are in the whole potato you plant. You could get only a single stem or you could get 20. But even a single stem produces potatoes.

All of which begs the real question - why would anyone plant a whole potato unless they didn't know better when you can more than triple your production by cutting it into halves or thirds or quarters? [shrugs]

Dave

Curiously, cutting up potatoes is not only unusual over here, it is generally considered to be bad practice and likely to lead to rot. We plant seed potatoes, preferably certified, which are about the size of a small hen's egg. Somehow we manage to grow potatoes despite apparently doing it all wrong and having hopelessly crowded plants.

So probably it makes no difference at all whether you cut them up or not.

Ha! What I'd always heard was at least two eyes per piece, and that you get less seed rot if you use small whole potatoes --about the size of an egg. So Wayne (and/or Dave), if you're looking for 4 stalks per plant, does that mean if you had a small whole potato but it had more than 4 eyes, you'd cut it to prevent overcrowding?

I always planted full seed pototates and usually get 5-10 lbs per seed

I don't understand the rotting of cut potatoes. I don't have that problem. Out of about 150 pieces, I only had 1 plant that just won't make anything. I don't cut the small/medium potatoes, but I do cut large ones into 2 pieces usually....3 would be ok too.

Elisa, if i had a small potato with more than 4 eyes, I would not cut it, but would rather rub off some of the eyes. An eye can make several stalks!!!!!! I believe that the eyes are compound.

But I would think that if you rubbed off some of the eyes, they would just grow back, no? Anyway, always looking to improve my potato yields, so this is interesting new info.

And I think that the rotting is a problem in heavy soils with wet springs, which is what I have as well.

< have never planted potatoes before, but this year got some new sunny garden space to work with, so I wanted to try it. I had some sprouting potatoes in the basement at around planting time>

My comments are based on the understanding that the OP that was using store bought potatoes, not seed potatoes which are normally much smaller than any store-bought..

Dave

Elisa, I only plant potatoes in amended soil that is sandier than silty clay loam. I also only cover the piece with about an inch of soil...so that it isn't such a wet cold soggy mess down there.

Maybe the rotting is more likely here where the ground is likely to be very wet and cool at potato planting time.

I'm just too lazy to cut. Most of my seed potatoes are small. We've had some wet Junes. This is only my 3rd year of growing potatoes. Like all gardening, I learn more each year.

Always plant full potatoes here. It really is comical to see my potato plants compared to my neighbors when they cut theirs and their plants are 1/3 the size and 1/2 the production or less. My neighbor has tried for years to convince me I'm wasting money the way I do it yet my neighbors has no problem excepting my excess crop when they run out.

I planted full potatoes as I had plenty to fill up the space... they were small seed potatoes anyway. And it sure worked out well this year, at least as far as what is going on above ground. It is nice to see vigorous plants in Spring. They are Kennebecs and it was actually recommended to plant them close to avoid overly large tubers. We'll see what the harvest looks like. I planted them in a trench so they have plenty of room to sprawl out laterally underground, as they are not going to be sending out tubers from buried stem, and I can bury them very shallow to get those sprouts above ground ASAP. This was as recommended by Ronniger Potato Garden.

Kennebec, full seed potatoes, 12" spacing, planted mid April.

Sounds like there are a few differing opinions on this! I do believe it was a comment from digdirt2 (Dave) on here that gave me the idea that planting a whole potato was not the way to go. Dave, I've seen your advice in other forums here over the years and it's always quite good, so I will just have to see how it goes. I will report back at harvest time to share what I'm able to produce. I did move some of my plants around to give the potatoes more room. I need to mulch them yet, but I'm hesitant to use straw, as I've had problems with grass sprouting even from "weed free" sources. Any other ideas on a good mulch are welcome. Here is the latest photo (the little guy on the far back left is a broccoli.)

'it's always quite good,' No - it's always very good ;-)

I think the potato cutting question is the only time I've ever disagreed with him.

I got the Classic Keepers potato sampler from Moose's Tubers in Maine. Almost all the potatoes were small and even the biggest seemed to have just 3 or 4 eyes so I didn't cut any. I had great luck last year but got different varieties this year. There was just enough potatoes of each kind for a short row of each in a bed I am devoting to potatoes.

I've got some Kennebecs on a table that I did not need to plant. they are green sprouted. Some eyes have up to 8 shoots. I believe that nice sized seed pieces provide more starting food than small ones, but small ones that are fertilized are ok. I do cut large potatoes in 2 pieces usually and rub off some of the eyes....they do not rot for me.

If you're fussy about weeds, you won't like my mulch of choice: hay. Are you near a bay? Eel grass is very effective mulch and has no weed seeds.