To chop or not to chop

[Gillian]

I have a question... I am about to put my chitted potatoes in the ground. Should I chop them in half before I put them in or put them in whole? Some books show people putting them in whole and some magazines show how you should chop them up. Which is best?
Any advice much appreciated.

BTW my cucumbers are growing fine now - thanks Tim!

[Gillian]

[Nigella]

I am also a newbie - but have read that you can chop the larger ones. (Ideal size is a hens egg) When you chop them make sure each half has a sprout. Thats what I was planning to do with mine.  ???

Hope this helps   :)

[tim]

Great!

Chop? Do you really need more tubers than you have? If so, then yes, do cut the bigger ones. How? In the best way to leave buds on both pieces. If no, let them be!!

Best to dry out the cut before planting??

[Mrs Ava]

I was planning to..................but decided I had more than enough to be getting on with.

[tim]

I always have too many.

[jamie]

I never have and I never will cut seed potatos in half. Occasionally  woodlice/slugs/millipdes manage to start eating the potatoes when they are growing; I can only think that they will more likely to do this if they have a nice fleshy cut surface rather than a semi hardened potato skin to deal with.

Jamie

[Garden Manager]

If you realy want to make more potato plants you can do what Bob Flowerdew does; cut off the shoots and plant them in a seed tray in a propagator. You then plant them as plants rather than tubers.

Personaly i try to buy the amount i need. I have one bed for growing spuds each year and this is divided in to early and mains, i therefore have to be precise about seed quantity (if i can).

[RSJK]

cut them in half and dip them in lime to seal the cut, this stops the bugs, and though it sounds odd dipping them in lime it does NOT make the potatoes scabby

                              ;)