[3759allen]

hi all.

i'm new to the forum, and to gardening full stop to be honest. i'm trying to gain as much information as i can about what i need to do to get a half decent crop to feed myself this year.

i apologise for my absolute lack of knowledge, i will probably be asking many silly questions in the near future.

i have recently been browsing the internet about planting potatoes and have come across a few people cutting up seed potatoes so all the pieces have one or two sprouts, rather than planting the whole potato. is there anything to be gained by this method? or will it still produce the same amount of potatoes?

thanks for any help.

[Sparkyrog]

It will be more productive ,as you multiply the number of seed you get ! However it needs to be done correctly. The cut edges need to be dried up before planting. The arguments on the correct way of doing it are many ,I dip mine in wood ash 

[DD.]

Welcome to the forums.

It can be done, especially to make use of a large seed spud.

To be honest, in my opinion, seed is not all that expensive, and cutting them up gives a greater chance of infection and rotting before they can grow.

[maxie]

Ive done it myself with big seed and i wasnt very impressed with the results,so just put a full seed tatie in now.

[Italian Bob.]

Yes i have done this two years in a row

First year results good , second year bad

I think the person above has it right about drying the cut potatoes first , this was the only diferrence for me  between first and second years

Good luck

[pdblake]

The seed spuds I got this year worked out at, on average, around 30 seeds per 2.5kg bag. That makes for a good sized row or two anyway. Unless you're buying smaller quantities, of course.

[3759allen]

thanks for all responses.

i think i may try cutting one or 2 of the largest seeds of each variety i have and see what the difference in the crop is.

how long do you have to leave the cuts to dry? could you leave them to air dry?

thanks again everyone.