Spongegirl
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Potatoes: to cut between eyes or leave whole?

Greetings from Kentucky...with Spring around the corner I now have so many gardening questions. Pardons if this has been discussed before but there is so much info to search thru when looking for something. I have heard to take a potatoe and cut between eyes and I have heard that it is better to just put the potatoe whole into the ground. I am wondering what your personal experience is. This is my second attempt at potatoes and I am determined to get it right.

DoubleDogFarm
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If you can find seed potatoes about the size of a golf ball, I would plant them whole. Most likely not, so I would go for two eyes per segment.

This is my second attempt at potatoes and I am determined to get it right.
jal_ut, that's your cue. :D

Eric

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GardenRN
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I'm with Eric. Unless you have the small ones, cut em up! You'll get more plants out of them that way. But if you cut them (don't know if you are aware) you should let them sit out on a paper towel or paper bag for a few days so that the cut side callus over and don't rot before the plant gets going.

Good luck! What kinds are you growing?


BTW walmart has a bunch of different kinds of seed potatoes out as of today by me! and asparagus, and onions, and garlic....and...... :lol:

DoubleDogFarm
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But if you cut them (don't know if you are aware) you should let them sit out on a paper towel or paper bag for a few days so that the cut side callus over and don't rot before the plant gets going.
Some wait for the potato to callus, I do not. I throw caution to the wind.


Eric

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GardenRN
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Daredevil! lol I'm a total doofus when it comes to that stuff. I'll grow 10 seedling when I only need 5 in case I have some bad ones, then when all ten grow well I will refuse to throw away a perfectly good plant. It's a feeling like having 10 lottery tickets and having to throw away 5 before you scratch them. You never know which one might have been the winner. So I end up crowding or expanding.

:roll:

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Gary350
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My Grandfather and Father both cut the potatoes into pieces with an eye on each piece. Till the soil, lay the pieces on the surface of the soil about 8" apart. Then cover the pieces over with about 3" of soil. When the plants come up through the soil cover them with more soil. You end up with a hill of soil about 8" to 10" tall.

I live in Tennessee I don't have good luck growing potatoes here. When I lived in Illinois I could grow good potatoes without trying. I have tried seed potatoes and grocery store potatoes and different varieties. I have best luck with RED Grocery store pototes in TN. I think the weather here is too hot and soil too bad for white potatoes. I buy a bag of potatoes and kept them in the kitchen window so they get plenty of light so they sprout. In a few weeks they are ready to cut and plant. Grocery store potatoes are 65% cheaper than seed potatoes at the garden store.

I don't have any problem growing sweet potatoes in TN. Cut off the end with all the sprouts, cover it with dirt and let it grow. I typically get about 8 large sweet potatoes per plant.

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rootsy
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I always cut my spuds. I also toss them with some sulfur to keep the bugs away once they are in the ground. So my process is this.

Cut spuds a week or so before I plant. Immediately after cutting toss with some sulfur to cover them with a dusting. Then I let em sit and dry up on the outside, generally just in the shed in some sort of container...

I'll plant multiple replications through-out the spring from a single batch I cut when I buy seed potatoes.

Also, buying certified disease free spuds is a wise choice to avoid unwanted disease in your plants later on.

Incidently, a sprinkling of sulfur on top of radishes after seed sowing or soon after germination will prevent the maggots / worms from devouring them.

TZ -OH6
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This might help


https://www.cipotato.org/library/pdfdocs/TIBen5099.pdf

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jal_ut
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I am with Eric. I just cut them and plant them. I never let them dry and never treat them. I just do it this way because both my father and my grandfather did it this way. It works, so I have never had a need to try something else.

I usually cut them such that each piece has 2 eyes. On the one end of a tuber the eyes are more numerous and close together. Depending on the induvidual tuber, I may get one or two pieces out of a tuber that has three or more eyes. I don't like to end up with pieces any smaller that a walnut.

The trouble with planting the whole tuber is that each tuber may send out six or more shoots. You will get tuberrs on each shoot, but the size of the tubers will be smaller than if you had only two eyes on the tuber. It comes back to the concept of giving a plant enough room to do its thing. Each shoot can be considered an individual plant, and if they are crowded too much, they compete for sunshine, water and nutrients, so the result is smaller tubers.

Oh BTW, no part of any grocery store bought potato ever gets put in my garden nor compost heap. This is to guard against diseases coming with the potatoes. I either save my own seed potatoes or buy certified seed.



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